e-business competencies in smes conceptual model and empirical results hØgskolen i agder agder...
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E-business competencies in SMEs
Conceptual model and empirical results
HØGSKOLEN I AGDERAgder University College
Dr. Dag H. OlsenAgder University College
Overview
• The ANTRA project
• Motivation
• E-business and Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs)
• IT competence
• Empirical findings
HØGSKOLEN I AGDERAgder University College
The ANTRA project• Project to assist SMEs in the strategic use of
e-business technology
• January 2000 - December 2002
• Identify critical competencies
• Identify supply of training related to e-business
• Establishment of a dynamic tool to assist SMEs in self-assessment of ICT (e-business) competence and training needs
HØGSKOLEN I AGDERAgder University College
Motivation
• National and international programs to help SMEs adopt e-business– Leonardo (EU), eNorge, VeRDI
• The success of SMEs is important for tomorrows economy
• Competitiveness of Norwegian economy, European economy
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E-business and IT investments• IT is the most important tool for restructuring and
increased productivity– innovativity and competitiveness
• Large potential benefits from IT-investments are not achieved– critical competence is missing
• The largest productivity gains from IT investments come in organizations that combine it with training and process redesign
• This subject is still too little investigated and understood
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IT competence in SMEs
• European companies’ lack of knowledge and competence is the most important inhibitor of adoption of e-business (Forrester Research, 1999)
• SMEs have little access to training due to low capacity and inability to define relevant training needs. One important reason is the missing overview over the need for IT competence (European report 1224, 1997)
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Meta-level models
Business strategy
Organizational processesand e-business solutions
Technology
Strategic level
e-business modelsAwareness
Systems and Technological level
Solutions, Applications and technology
HØGSKOLEN I AGDERAgder University College
Initial conceptual
model
Conceptual model
Operationalmodel withindicators
Survey instrument
Literature reviewColleagues
Interviews with SMEsObservationPeer reviews
PopulationSettingMeasurement scaleindex generation
Literature review
Operational model
Colleagues
Phases in the development of a conceptual model and survey instrument.
HØGSKOLEN I AGDERAgder University College
Conceptual work
• Literature reviews on:– the e-business concept and models to find ways
to classify e-business. We proposed an E-business model hiererchy
– E-business competence– Competence in general and competence related
to the use of IT in organizations
• Synthesized a e-business competence model and operationalized it
HØGSKOLEN I AGDERAgder University College
Previous research on IT competence
• No consensus about:– what IT competence consists of– whether it should be seen as a general and
normative concept or context dependent– whether we should address the individual or the
organizational level
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The concept of competence
Competence
Comptence in the use of IT/IS in organizations
Skills -- Capabilities -- Know-howExplicit -- Tacit
Organisation level Strategic
Individual level
IS/IT managers
Business managersHØGSKOLEN I AGDER
Agder University College
Table 1Approaches to the study of IS competence
Level of analysis Definition of competence
Van der Heijden (2000) Organizational level and ITmanagement
IT core capabilities:organization-specific routines,processes, skills and resources
Feeny and Willcocks (1998) Organizational level and ITmanagement
IS core capabilities:organization-specific routines,processes, skills and resources
Sambamurthy and Zmud (1994) Organizational level and ITmanagement
Capabilities, skills and tacitknow-how
Bharadwaj, Sambamurthy andZmud (2000)
Organizational level Critical IT capabilities
Basselier et al. (2001) Individual level and businessmanagers
IT related explicit and tacitknowledge
Lee and Trauth (1995) Individual level and ISprofessionals
Critical knowledge and skills
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E-Business competence in SMEs
Strategy and vision
IT-Business integration
IT Management
Systems and Infrastructure
Sourcing and Alignment
E-Business
SMB
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Strategy andVision
Processes integrationIT and business
Systems andInfrastructure
Alignment
E-businessSuccess
Sourcing
IT management
Figure 1: The conceptual model
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Interviews with SMEs in Norway
• Interviews as a relevance test, and to guide the focus of the items under each category of competence.
• The responses pointed to the same competencies
• Increased level of detail and additional items for the categories Strategy and vision, Sourcing and alignment and IT-business process integration
• Lower level of detail for the other categories.
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STRATEGY AND VISIONThe concept of e-business
Our company has a high level of knowledge: totally totally N/A
6. about how e-business technologies disagree agree
can be of value to our business 1 2 3 4 5 6
7. about how our main competitor(s)
use IT to support similar business areas 1 2 3 4 5 6
8. In general, the concept of e-business
is well understood by our company 1 2 3 4 5 6
Strategic planning
Our company has: totally totally N/A
9. a high level of knowledge in disagree agree
strategic planning 1 2 3 4 5 6
10. a well developed set of strategic
planning techniques 1 2 3 4 5 6
11. in general, strategic planning is well
understood by our company 1 2 3 4 5 6
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SOURCING AND ALIGNMENT
Sourcing competencies
in our company we have a high level of knowledge: totally totally N/A
12. on issues related to outsourcing of disagree agree
activities to business partners 1 2 3 4 5 6
13. on how to use competencies in our
business partners 1 2 3 4 5 6
14. in general, we are very skillful in utilizing
competencies in our business network 1 2 3 4 5 6
Alignment competencies
in our company: totally totally N/A
15. business and IT managers very much agree disagree agree
on how IT contributes to business value 1 2 3 4 5 6
16. there is effective exchange of ideas between
business people and IT people 1 2 3 4 5 6
in general, we are good at using:
17. the competencies we already have
in my company 1 2 3 4 5 6
18. the competencies represented in our
business partners 1 2 3 4 5 6
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IT-BUSINESS PROCESS INTEGRATION
Competencies in Process Integration
19. in our company we are actively working totally totally N/A
with the impact of e-commere on disagree agree
our business processes 1 2 3 4 5 6
20. in general, we are good at working smarter
to utilize new information technology
in my company 1 2 3 4 5 6
MANAGEMENT OF IT
in our company:
21. our IT resources are effectively managed 1 2 3 4 5 6
22. we are good at achieving the anticipated
benefits from IT investments 1 2 3 4 5 6
SYSTEMS AND INFRASTRUCTURE
in our company:
23. our systems infrastructure is very flexible
in relation to future needs 1 2 3 4 5 6
24. our IT systems make us able to effectively cooperate
electronically with business partners 1 2 3 4 5 6
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E-BUSINESS SUCCESS
Efficiency
As a result of our e-business strategy: totally totally N/A
25. we have reduced costs by using electronic, disagree agree
online order taking 1 2 3 4 5 6
26. we can deliver faster 1 2 3 4 5 6
27. we have a more efficient
market communication 1 2 3 4 5 6
Complementarities
As a result of our e-business activities: totally totally N/A
28. our products or services complement disagree agree
those of our business partner 1 2 3 4 5 6
29. our business partner offer products or
services that complement ours 1 2 3 4 5 6
30. our supply chain has been strongly
integrated to our partners’ supply chain 1 2 3 4 5 6
Lock-in
As a result of our e-business activities: totally totally N/A
31. business partners have high switching costs disagree agree
(i.e. replacing us creates extra costs) 1 2 3 4 5 6
32. products and services offered to customers
are personalized 1 2 3 4 5 6
Novelty
As a result of our e-business activities: totally totally N/A
33. our company is recognized as a pioneer in disagree agree
utilizing e-commerce solutions 1 2 3 4 5 6
34.we cooperate with our business partners
in a new and innovative way 1 2 3 4 5 6
General
35.in general, we have very positive effects from
our e-business efforts in our company 1 2 3 4 5 6
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OTHER/CONTROL
Leader vs. Follower totally totally N/A
36. our company has to adjust to what our major disagree agree
partners decide in relation to e-business 1 2 3 4 5 6
37. our company is good at implementing
changes in our organization 1 2 3 4 5 6
38. overall, my company’s competence for
utilizing e-business technology is very good 1 2 3 4 5 6
Preliminary findings
• Our research model is supported
• General theory is supported
• We find relations between competence and success in the adoption of e-business
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Preliminary findings and implications
• Success factor: Efficiency
• 65% varaince explained by:– Working with the impact of e-business on
business processes– Ability to cooperate effectively electronically
with business partners
HØGSKOLEN I AGDERAgder University College
Preliminary findings
• Success factor: Complementarities
• 54% of the variance explained by:– competence about competitors’ use of IT to
support similar business areas– the understanding of the e-business concept– the ability to implement changes in the
organization.
HØGSKOLEN I AGDERAgder University College
Preliminary findings
• Success factor: Lock-in
• 33% of the variance explained by:– investments in systems that makes it possible
for suppliers to see information about supply and demand
– ability implement changes in the organization
HØGSKOLEN I AGDERAgder University College
Preliminary findings
• Success factor: Novelty
• 29% of the variance explained by:– size (number of employees)– effective exchange of ideas between business
people and IT people
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Preliminary findings
• Sourcing and Alignment– both factors were found to have positive
correlation with e-business success
• Size positively correlated to success
• Governance negatively correlated to alignment
HØGSKOLEN I AGDERAgder University College