The implementation level of the electronic commerce instruments in the companies involved in the study is illustrated in Table 3. Comparing the current level to the level three years ago indicates an increase in the implementation of electronic commerce instruments. As is it
discussed in the previous sections, significant in- creases of implementation are expected in the near future as the SMEs gain more awareness. SMEs may gain competitive advantage against large scale enterprises and access to markets at low cost performance through increasing their electronic commerce abilities. As it is known, one of the major obstacles constraining electronic commerce activities of SMEs is distribution systems. However, it is possible to overcome this obstacle through utilizing distribution chains of large scale companies or outsourcing from the service suppliers in this field.
The results in Table 4 indicate that the com- panies aim to utilize time advantage of
electronic commerce for accessing new markets. In general, SMEs face problems in accessing new markets because of reasons such as limited financial resources, insufficiency of qualified labor, and locality of marketing and distribution systems. Electronic commerce seems to provide advatages to overcome these problems. If compared to traditional commerce, SMEs obtain significant benefits of electronic commerce implementation against large scale companies as they move from local markets to global competition. Indeed, SMEs have acquired important advantages against large