The issues of interest to entrepreneurs in SMEs include the following:
What are the competition and business partners doing about e-commerce?
Does e-commerce represent a significant opportunity for the business?
What are the benefits to be expected?
What will be the pace of development and impacts of new technologies such as broadband and 3G?
What resources are needed to trade on the Internet?
How can the firm best launch and manage an e-commerce operation?
What significant barriers need to be overcome?
Where are the risks in e-commerce and how can these be managed?
Where is help available to acquire the necessary skills and resources?
The research described in this article was aimed at exploring these issues within an important local region of the UK.