Review and evaluation of E-commerce solutions for SMEs Dissertation

Review and evaluation of E-commerce solutions for SMEs - Dissertation Example Apart from that SMEs have been also supported with financial assistance, management training, legislative & policy support, and counselling services. The SME sector of a country is considered as one of the pillars of the economic growth of a country. The statement SMEs are a major source of entrepreneurial skills and creativity and contribute to economic and social cohesion. They hold the key to innovation and are also emerging as global players, by participating in worldwide production and supply chains made by the Deputy Director- General for Enterprise and Industry clearly reflects the importance of SMEs in a country. According to reports SMEs contribute significantly towards the total GDP of a country and are also responsible for generating large number of employment opportunities. The definition of SME however differs from one country to the other. In simple terms the criteria for a company to fall in the category of SMEs differs from one country to the other (Asia Pacific Econo mic Cooperation, 2004). In order to ensure growth of this sector, government as well as the private sector played active roles. There have been several programs in the past initiated by different establishments to ensure growth of SMEs. In addition, adoption of different technologies by the SMEs is also another obvious factor. The latest to this is the implementation of e-commerce technology by several small and medium sized companies. The principal reason behind the implementation of this technology is to drive growth and profitability. However before getting further deep into the study, a brief overview of the e-commerce technology is provided below. ... In order to ensure growth of this sector, government as well as the private sector played active roles. There have been several programs in the past initiated by different establishments to ensure growth of SMEs. In addition, adoption of different technologies by the SMEs is also another obvious factor. The latest to this is the implementation of e-commerce technology by several small and medium sized companies. The principal reason behind the implementation of this technology is to drive growth and profitability. However before getting further deep into the study, a brief overview of the e-commerce technology is provided below. E-Commerce: A Brief Overview Over the past few decades, e-commerce has evolved as one of the fully functional application for carrying out business transaction through electronic medium. During the early days of internet commercialization, the data transmission speed used to be extremely slow. It used to be characterized with the slow dial up connections. At that time, Netscape came into light and changed the scenario of internet browsing. Along with increased data transmission speed, it also succeeded to provide great internet surfing experiences to the user. Thus, several eminent scholars and individuals of the online business industry consider Netscape as the reason for the arrival of this new business dimension. This development has also led to the concept of e-commerce, where people can carry out business transaction over the electronic network. Thus, e-commerce is defined as a system of conducting business activities with the help of internet and other information technologies (Zongqing, 2004). Moreover, considering the current business environments, a number of scholars believe that companies must