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IS Challenges for Small and
Medium Size Enterprises
(SMEs)
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IT Management
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Dr Anastasia
Papazafeiropoulou, Email:
Anastasia.Papazafeiropoulou@brunel.ac.uk
School of Information
Systems Computing and Mathematics, Brunel
University, UK
Phone: +44(0) 1895266035
Dr. Yogesh Kumar Dwivedi, Email:
y.k.dwivedi@swansea.ac.uk
School of Business & Economics, University
of Wales Swansea, UK
Phone: +44 (0) 1792602340
Description:
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Information systems adoption seem to be related to the size of the
adopting company, as smaller business units are less likely to invest in
new technologies and use the Internet. The phenomenon has raised the interest
of policy makers world-wide as they have realized that SMEs are in need
for support and encouragement in order to invest on new technologies.
Small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) represent a significant part of
the world economy. In the European
Union, for example, there are 18 million SMEs. They employ 66% of the workforce and
are responsible for 55% of turnover. Nevertheless, IS uptake is lower in
smaller firms than in larger firms, while reports from various OECD
counties confirm that there is a correlation between the rate of adoption
of the Internet and the firm size. Studies have shown that the wide
acceptance of IS by SMEs has been slowed down by several country-specific
barriers as well as resistance to change, lack of education/awareness
about the potentials of IS/ICTs, lack of flexible software, shortage of
skilled labor, lack of government assistance, inadequate technical
training of employees and limited access to knowledge created by research
institutions. Besides the barriers there are number of SMEs, which have
managed to overcome initial problems and come up with interesting and
workable solutions for their business or industry sectors. The purpose of
this mini-track is to provide a basis for presentation and discussion on
related key issues, challenges as well as opportunities related to the
adoption of and use of IS by SMEs. Authors are encouraged to submit
papers on IS/ICTs related issues within the context of SMEs.
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The mini-track will focus on:
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Barriers and
drivers of IS/ICTs adoption by SMEs
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Decision
process and IS evaluation issues within SMEs
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Similarities
and differences of IS adoption by SMEs and their larger counterparts
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Relationships
of power between smaller and larger firms within industry sectors
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Level of
employees’ ICTs skills & expertise in for SMEs
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IS/ICTs personnel
recruitment processes within SMEs
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IS Development
vs outsourcing within SMEs
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SMEs and the
adoption of e-commerce/enterprise systems (ERPs and
CRMs)
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SMEs and the
adoption of open source software
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SMEs and
adoption of broadband & wireless technologies
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Policy issues
related to IS diffusion to SMEs
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