The process by which small firms (SMEs) invest in and gain benefit from information systems (IS) is little understood. This paper analyses two alternative models of IS-based strategic change--the Focus-Dominance model (Levy et al., 2001) and stages of growth models as applied to SMEs. An...

Amid the turmoil of the current economic crisis, the wild expectations for business-to-business electronic marketplaces or ‘e-hubs’ as transformative modes of exchange for all industries have subsided. However, e-hubs continue to elicit interest in industries such as car production....

The allocation of research grants is a typical rationing problem in that demand exceeds supply, compounded by notions of fairness and legitimacy. Segmentation of fund seekers may offer the potential to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of delivery by targeting scarce resources more...

Purpose – Chief executives (CEOs) have turned to blogging. This research asks: do CEO blogs attract commenters leading to genuine discussion and community building? Design/methodology/approach – The 30 most popular CEO blogs are analysed, community structure is graphically represented using...

Web‐based technologies are becoming an important way for small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) to acquire information systems capabilities to support business transformation. This paper investigates the business, technology, and IS drivers for component‐based applications. Web service...

Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are a major component of all economies and are generally considered to be flexible, adaptive organisations. Although lagging behind their larger counterparts, SMEs are beginning to invest in information systems. Using data derived from a set of...

This paper investigates the reasons underpinning the diverging adoption rates of different types of inter‐organisational systems (IOS) amongst small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). It explores the evolution of IOS from traditional proprietary and closed systems to Internet‐based...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the risks managers and individual supply chains perceive from e-business. Design/methodology/approach – This research takes a long-term, staged view of the risks managers and individual supply chains perceive from e-business. By taking a...

Strategies for Growth in SMEs explores for the first time the role of information and information systems (IS) concepts in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Most IS research focuses on large firms, yet the majority of firms in most economies are SMEs. The book considers the...