Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Electronic Commerce, 2000

<P>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</P><br>The proposed objectives for the study were to explore the use and barriers to use of electronic commerce by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Great Britain. By means of a postal questionnaire, the study sought to understand:<br>
which SMEs are using electronic commerce (e-commerce) applications and for what business activities?<br>
What benefits they are reaping - are these consistent with those forecast for larger corporations or can SMEs gain unique advantages from adopting e-commerce?<br>
What are the challenges faced in developing and adopting such services - what are the key success factors for SMEs achieving business benefits from e-commerce?<br>
In particular, it was intended that the research would demonstrate the following: the characteristics and incidence of SMEs adopting e-commerce; the business applications it is being used for in those companies; the benefits and challenges of e-commerce adoption; best practice for deployment of e-commerce.<br><B>Main Topics</B>:<BR><br>The dataset contains responses to the postal questionnaire, and is available from the UKDA in either Excel or SPSS format. Each case is identified by a unique respondent number. Variables are numbered according to the question order on the questionnaire, e.g. Q1P2P1 contains the responses to Question 1, Part 2, item 1.<br>
Topics covered include use of e-commerce, factors driving consideration/use of e-commerce, exactly which activities it is used for, company information systems, benefits and challenges of e-commerce, and background information.