How ICT Introduction is changing processes in manufacturing SMEs

1 HOW ICT INTRODUCTION IS CHANGING PROCESSES IN MANUFACTURING SMEs Made by: Javier Soler Calvo Abstract: Information and communication Technologies (ICTs) have the potential to help notably to economic growth. Given their many profits, small and medium businesses are bringing in ICTs to support their profitability, productivity and competitiveness. Nevertheless, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have different behaviours than larger organization because of the particular characteristics of SMEs, such us resources constrains. This paper studies some aspects of ICT adoption trying to explain why organizations should introduce them in their processes, such as the key factors that influence the adoption and use of ICTs, the direct and indirect effects of ICT introduction or some drives, risks or barriers that organizations will have if they are thinking about introducing ICTs in their processes. Keywords: SMEs, ICT, manufacturing processes, digital transformation, digital evolution, smart factory, internet of things, industry 4.0, digital divide, e-commerce, ebusiness, social media networks (SMN), supply chain, co-working, manufacturing enterprises. 2 Contents Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 4 1.1 Online interconnections between firms. Two concepts: E-business and E-commerce....................................................................................... 5 1.2 The case of myBot .................................................................................... 7 1.3 Social media networks: Online meeting between firms ............................ 9 1.3.1 Cloud computing: A way to improve business ............................. 10 1.4 Working online between firms: Supply chain .......................................... 11 1.5 Sharing office space but not necessary sharing work: Co-working .......... 12 1.6 From being a driver of marginal efficiency to an enabler of fundamental innovation and disruption: the evolution of digital technology.............................................................................................. 16 1.7 “Smart factory”, from digital to intelligence ........................................... 12 1.8 The fourth industrial revolution: Industry 4.0 ......................................... 15 1.9 Gap between demographics and regions about ICT: Digital Divide.......... 13 1.10 Internet of Things (IoT): Digital interconexion of everyday items with Internet .................................................................................................. 14 Chapter 2 Papers ....................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.1 Importance of ICT adoption in SMEs. Models of ICT adoption ................. 18 2.1.1The diffusion of Innovation (DOI) Theory ..................................... 19 2.1.2The technology, Organization, and Environment (TOE) Framework .................................................................................. 20 2.2 Factors of ICT adoption ........................................................................... 21 2.2.1 Economic factors ......................................................................... 21 2.2.2 Social factors ............................................................................... 21 2.2.3 Other factors ............................................................................... 21 2.3 ICT impact on SMEs ................................................................................ 22 2.4 Relationship between ICT use and diversification of SMEs ...................... 25 2.5 Direct and indirect effects of ICT on SMEs performance ......................... 26 2.6 SMEs Internationalization: ICT as facilitator ............................................ 29 2.7 The mediating effect of business development....................................... 30 2.7.1Alignment between ICT and business strategy at the process level ............................................................................................ 31 2.8 Customized products. Business networks ............................................... 34 3 2.9 Drives, outcomes, risks and barriers of ICT adoption .............................. 35 2.9.1 Adoption of ICTs using the concept of Digital Divide .................... 39 2.10 The bond of union between broadband connected employees and labour productivity ...................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.11 ICT role in Collaborative Product Development (CPD)Error! Bookmark not defined. 4 Chapter 1 Introduction This work will discuss how the introduction of ICT is changing the manufacturing processes within SMEs. In order to do this, the first step will be to look into what a manufacturing enterprise actually is. Manufacturing enterprises are complex organizations consisting of a number of departments with activities that are closely interrelated 1 . The purpose of a manufacturing organisation is to create a product or a possible service, which can then be sold to either a wholesaler, retailer or end consumers depending on the firms supply chain. Some manufacturing companies are independent companies; however, other companies can be a joint venture between two or more firms. Manufacturing companies are created to achieve specific goals. Production companies are generally created for generating profits in the production and sale of goods. Manufacturers work in a factory and use personnel and equipment to convert raw materials into finished products. Some manufacturers rely heavily on mass production equipment. Others rely on personalized or high quality products. Manufacturing companies play a very important role with regards to traditional distribution. Distribution channels are groups of companies that take charge of the process of products starting from the ´Input´ stage right through your ´Transformation´ stage and lastly your ´Output´ stage. Manufacturing companies are responsible for the finished product or service that will then intact reach the end consumers. For this process to triumph, consumers must know the value of the goods they acquire. This value comes from a quality product at a reasonable price 2 . Once we know what a manufacturing company is, our objective is to focus on studying 1 https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-8248-9415-4_22 2 https://bizfluent.com/facts-6148898-define-manufacturing-enterprise.html 5 the entire process of production and manufacturing of SMEs. It is clear that SMEs are of great value to the business world as they supply 99% of the countries within the European Union (EU) as well as a large amount of other nations around the globe. With the use of online articles and textbooks we can see how SMEs are modifying and digitizing their production and manufacturing processes in order to remain competitive and achieve higher profits. To gain a competitive advantage and retain their profits, organisations are beginning to modify and switch their old production methods for new and improved digitized production. It is necessary to develop new production processes, as this is where ICT plays a crucial role. 3 Within this day and age, one of the first things to introduce within a manufacturing process is the new and improved ICTs. Using ICTs, enterprises increase revenues and sales. Thus, being said it is not always easy to introduce ICTs, but indeed extremely crucial for an organisations and their success. A manufacturing organisation must always try to reduce waste within the production line of work. This is a clear example of why ICT is so important within a business as it can help an organisation to reduce waste and save time and money. The introduction of ICTs can allow companies to interconnect with other similar companies within the same field of work, which in return will allow valuable information to be shared amongst one and other. 4 1.1 Online interconnections between firms. Two concepts: Ebusiness and E-commerce E-business (or electronic business) consists in the realization of online business, this includes sales and purchases of products, production control management, supplies and 3 Sebastian Molinillo, Arnold Japutra. (2017) Organizational adoption of digital information and technology: a theoretical review 4 https://www.evaluandosoftware.com/incorporacion-tic-sector-productivo/ 6 services, service to each client, process payments, collaborate with business partners, and recruitment. 5 E-business was first created in 1996 by IBM’s company 6 E-business is similar to E-commerce, but the difference between them is that E-business is not only focused on the purchase-sale of products-online service, but also includes a wide range of business processes, such as the supply chain, the management of relationships with each customer and the processing of orders electronically. Therefore, these electronic business processes in most of the cases help companies to operate more efficiently and effectively if it is incorporated correctly. 7 The term E-commerce (or electronic commerce) is based on the online purchase-sale of goods and services, besides the transfer of both data and money to be able to perform transactions correctly. This term can sometimes refer to online sales of physical products, but also to any type of online commercial transaction. The difference is that E-commerce focuses on transaction of goods and services whereas E-business focuses on all aspects of operations of an online business. The first online sale, on August 11, 1994 was the period of when electronic commerce first began. It consisted in the sale of a CD by a Sting band through a web platform called Net-Market, which in fact was the first E-commerce sale. Since the first online operation, there have been many improvements made to make these products conducted easier by retailers and online markets. This has resulted with benefits from SMEs. It is estimated that by 2020 it will reach 27 billion dollars in global sales of electronic commerce 8 . Today clients are interconnected by the use of the internet. For customers, it is usually more convenient to make their purchases digitally, through the use of their own phone, 5 https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/e-business 6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_business 7 https://www.techopedia.com/definition/1493/electronic-business-e-business 8 https://www.shopify.com/encyclopedia/what-is-ecommerce 7 tablet, or computer. This saves the consumer time instead of physically entering a store or business to purchase their product or service. This can be easily done quickly from your home within a few minutes. Board of directors and their manufacturers must establish a clear communication system or relationship between them, their end users and their current and potential consumers of their goods and services through the use of business to consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B), in order to digitize the purchasing habits of consumers. 9 The European Union established in 2010 the need for an industrial Europe, in which of every four jobs in the private sector, one corresponds to manufacturing industry. Knowing this, companies are gradually introducing ICT in their manufacturing processes in order to achieve that goal. They are pursuing advanced manufacturing, which consists of linking ICT with manufacturing processes of each company. Countries like the USA or China have an advantage over Europe since they have been introducing ICTs in their manufacturing processes for years. Thus being said, Europe has to work hard and focus on digital transformation by increasing its investments in ICT, which will then have a knock-on effect on their competitive opportunities against countries such as the USA and China. 10 . 1.2 The case of myBot Developed countries are already aware of the importance of introducing E-commerce within their organisations. Applications installed on mobile devices and social media networks (SMN) are revolutionizing the world of E-commerce. On the other hand, the lack of knowledge due to its premature introduction is causing problems due to the fact that research is still being developed within this area. The next step is to explain how Ecommerce is applied to SMEs, and what factors will influence this application. 9 https://www.manufacturing.net/article/2018/06/role-b2b-e-commerce-modernmanufacturing 10 http://www.interempresas.net/Robotica/Articulos/142896-El-papel-de-las-TICs-en-la-cuartarevolucion-industrial-la-fabricacion-inteligente.html 8 MyBot, a firm created to the purpose of developing the rural-based handicraft industry in Botswana, took advantage of the innovative ability to bond with old customers to receive a boost and use Facebook to its maximum potential. MyBot works from an area in which resources such as ICT applications and other operating system tend to be scarce. This allows the application to capitalize on the ease of using Facebook to do business. To achieve the correct adoption of E-commerce through Facebook, it must be advertised in a social environment where trust is at the forefront. This creates a strategic relationship between myBot and customers within the United States. Studies on this topic show the importance of Facebook in advancing E-commerce in myBot. Through the use of previous studies, MyBot indicated that social media networks (SMN) have a leading role in the development of E-commerce in SMEs. None the less, this is not the only thing that myBot indicates on, but also other tools such as Internet or email must also be used to achieving a leading role. Another fact to keep in mind is that on the first day of myBot´s launch, the payment method was only possible through credit or debit card, thus, having a knock on effect and creating a possible disadvantage because some people may not have a credit or debit card but may prefer to only pay in cash this cause issues for MyBot. The findings of MyBot corroborate what was said in the study, particularly in the concept of market orientation. In the US, this niche market provides an extension of the business spirit of E-commerce. In addition, the work that is done in China presents a similarity. China predicted that social networks can be implemented with a web technology and achieve an economic benefit in the company. It should be noted that in myBot your website is still unlimited, except for advertising on your products. Regarding to the limits of the application on the web, these findings confirm what was said in previous findings as 11 in Malaysia, 12 in Tanzania, and early research findings by 13 in Canada. 11 Ramayah, T., Ling, N. S., Taghizadeh, S. K. and Rahman, S. A. 1(2016) 12 Kabanda & Brown (2017) 13 Lefebvre, et al., (2005) 9 Regarding to what factors influence the introduction of E-commerce using SMN, the two key factors that should be highlighted are both the innovation and the commitment of the manager. This has as a difference with respect to the findings of previous studies that know the ICT methodology to innovate in the adoption of E-commerce, not as in 14 , 15 ; What the manager of myBot did is to look for alternative ways to establish links with buyers to improve the position of their company in the business area. The manager of myBot has been brave and has done business using Facebook beyond what was done in Botswana. These findings give the answer to what was said in 16 and 17 . As predicted, at the end of a purchase process, trust should be analysed as a key factor: the Lerato manager, both of myBot and global consumers. This aligns with the part of being cognitive and behavioural, trustworthy aspects. By having contact with consumers, a relationship of trust can be established and, therefore, orders can be repeated. These results coincide with 18 , who affirms the need to establish a relationship of trust through the SMN. In summary, with the application of contextualism, it is possible to understand the operation of an E-commerce enterprise, as well as its application in SMEs. 19 . 1.3 Social media networks: Online meeting between firms In the previous section, we have been talking about the convenience of doing online businesses between companies. For this, the first thing to do is to know each other. And here is where social networks come into play. Social media networks are a key tool if what you want is to expand your contacts, whether commercial or social, through social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn 20 . In business and in companies, social media networks are used 14 Kabanda & Brown (2017) 15 Alyoubi, (2015) 16 Ghobakhloo & Tang, 2013 17 Ghobakhloo, et al., 2011 18 Alsaad, et al., 2017; Bocconcelli, et al., 2017 19 E-commerce and entrepreneurship in SMEs: the case of myBot 20 https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/ social-networking 16 Being fully involved in Industry 4.0, the manufacturing industry is the place where more IoT projects are carried out and, therefore, where companies deposit more investment. IoT is a central pillar that supports both the industrial Internet and Industry 4.0. According to a study carried out in 2017, the manufacturing industry invested $ 178 billion in 2016 in IoT, more than double the second section with more expenses, transportation 37 . 1.11 From being a driver of marginal efficiency to an enabler of fundamental innovation and disruption: the evolution of digital technology Digital transformation that industries are suffering favours both the industry they belong to and society in general. These rapid advances that are taking place are remodelling what is the world in general. From 10 years ago, digital technology has evolved considerably. A high-end smartphone that cost $ 499 10 years ago, can now be obtained with similar features for approximately $ 10. Therefore, these advanced technologies are revolutionizing both business and society. In addition, digitalization could produce benefits that exceed the value created by the industry 38 . Most industry leaders share the idea that digital technology is changing in a very fast way, since it has gone from being an almost marginal efficiency factor to being an efficiency factor that facilitates innovation and interruption. In 2015, the DTI (digital transformation of industries) concept was launched. The World Economic Forum as part of the Future Internet Challenge initiative launched it. This initiative serves as a focal point for the initiation of new opportunities and emerging issues related to the latest trends and developments in the digitalisation of both society and business. One of the 37 https://www.i-scoop.eu/internet-of-things-guide/internet-of-things-in-manufacturing/ 38 http://reports.weforum.org/digital-transformation/an-introduction-to-the-digitaltransformation-initiative/ 17 strengths of the DTI is the quantification of the value at stake, whether for society or for business, during the next decade, from the digital transformation of 6 industries 39 . 39 https://www.accenture.com/t00010101T000000Z__w__/ruru/_acnmedia/Accenture/Conversion-Assets/DotCom/Documents/Local/ru-ru/PDF/Accenture-DigitalTransformation.pdf 18 Chapter 2 Literature analysis 2.1 Importance of ICT adoption in SMEs. Models of ICT adoption 40 Within this day and age, ICT implementation in organizations contributes to increase the potential required to achieve significant economic growth. Due to the great benefits that ICTs have provided to SMEs that have already implemented within their processes, the rest of the SMEs are betting on adopting ICT to improve their profitability, productivity and competitiveness. Nevertheless, it exists a difference in ICT adoption between SMEs and large companies due, among other things, to the limited resources that SMEs have. Article 41 shows that for ICT research have been used a number of theories about technology adoption. In these theories are included the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), developed by 42 , the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) proposed by 43 , and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) conceptualized by 44 . These theories explain individual’s intentions of ICT’s use, their attitudes towards them and their adoption and acceptance 45 . At organization level, the most popular theories on ICT adoption are the Diffusion Of Innovation theory (DOI) 46 , and the Technology, Organization and Environment framework (TOE) 47 . To explain ICTs adoption by organizations, the previous theories have been used, for either a combination with each other or others 48 ; 49 ; 50 ; 51 . ICT 40 Paul Taylor, (2015) 41 Taylor, P. (2015) 42 Davis (1989) 43 Ajzen, (1991) 44 Venkatesh, Morris, Davis and Davis (2003) 45 Chen, Li & Li, (2011) 46 Rogers, (1995) 47 Tornatzky & Fleischer, (1990) 48 Ghobakhloo & S.H., (2011) 49 Huynh, Huy, Rowe, & Truex, (2012) 50 Martins & Oliveira, (2008) 51 Thong, (1999) 19 adoption is different in SMEs than in larger organizations, due to the spenvecific characteristics of SMEs, such as the limited access to technology, the required capabilities and skills needed and the resources constrains. 52 ; 53 . Thus, to enable better appreciation of the key factors in organizations ICT adoption in developed and developing countries, is necessary to understand the theoretical models that have been used. To do this, two theoretical models that explain ICT adoption in enterprises will be explained in order to understand which are the key factors that influence the adoption and use of ICT by organizations. 2.1.1The Diffusion Of Innovation (DOI) theory The Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory says that organizational structure, internal characteristics, external characteristics and individual characteristics of the organization are essential antecedents to organizational innovation 54 . Based on DOI theory, at organization level, innovation capacity is related to independent variables such as external factors of the organization, internal organizational structural factors and individual factors. (Scheme 2.6.1). Individual factors describe leaders’ attitude towards change. Internal factors of organizational structure include the ICT knowledge and expertise of staff, organizational culture, financial slack, firm size and industry type. External factors include the extent to which the organization relates to and is affected by the external environment. Such factors include competitive pressure, as well as the availability and the access to external support. Scheme 2.1.1: Diffusion of innovations (DOI) Model, Rogers (1995) 52 Avgerou, (2008) 53 Ghobakhloo, Sabouri, Sai Hong, & Zulkifli, (2012) 54 Rogers, (1995) 20 2.1.2The technology, Organization, and Environment (TOE) Framework 55 Developed the Technology, Organization and Environment (TOE) framework. The framework present three aspects of an organization's context (environmental, organizational and technological) that influence ICT adoption process. (Scheme 2.6.2) Scheme 2.1.2: Technology, organization and environmental framework adopted from Tomatzky & Fleischer (1990) This theoretical model describes how the organization context influences ICT adoption and implementation. The TOE framework is an organization-level that explains the 55 Tornatzky & Fleischer (1990) 21 technological, the organizational and the environmental context of an organization’s context that influence adoption decisions. 2.2 Factors of ICT adoption We are going to analyse the economic, social and other factors that influence ICTs adoption 56 . 2.2.1 Economic factors The relevant economic factors include rank, wealth, return on investment, revenue, income, Gini coefficient and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Typically, these factors are available publicly to researchers as well, making second data a real and adequate option, and sometimes, low-effort option for researching on the economic factors related to ICT adoption in a global context. 2.2.2 Social factors The three most important social factor are the lack of education, security and digital divide. Technology has the power to provide opportunities for education through online earning, to increase security through standards and to access to the Internet through telecenters. 2.2.3 Other factors Other factors that are considered drivers of global ICT adoption are cognitive, environmental and legal factors. In this area, research problems evident deal with declining environmental resources, corporate risks and cultural barriers. They include telecommunication methods and technologies that rise related services demand, mobile technologies for bill payments and hardware improvements for lower energy use. 56 David M. Weber ⇑, Robert J. Kauffman, (2011) 22 2.3 ICT impact in SMEs Globalization, economic effects and knowledge society affect the existence of separate countries, organizations and individuals 57 . The rapid development of ICTs influence in an important way the diffusion of the previous processes. It is known that the adoption and use of ICTs is closely related to fundamental aspects for an organization such as competitiveness and economic growth for organizations that can incorporate them 58 ; 59 ; 60 ; 61 . Besides, ICT impact in the social and economic development of organizations had become an important topic during the last decades. 62 Emphasizes that there have been many studies that have analysed how ICT adoption affects organizations. For this, two types of studies have been differentiated:  Related to the environment (findings of recent research confirmed that ICT has impact increasing the efficiency of energy and reducing greenhouse) 63 .  Related to productivity In the coming years, the SME sector has an important role in the employment creation, the poverty reduction and the economic development of the development economies. UK study identified three different stages in ICT use in SMEs 64 .  Basic – minimal usage of ICT  Substantial – several machines and applications in use  Sophisticated – integrated several systems and constantly developed use of technology 65 Argues that can be observed a staged progression in terms of harnessing technologies. As organization expands/grows, is more likely to need a specific department or function. Besides, the stage of harnessing infrastructures, technologies and ICT skilled personnel are closely related and could determine the positive ICT impact. Could be expected a 57 Asta Tarutė, Rimantas Gatautis, (2013) 58 Vehovar & Lesjak, (2007) 59 Higon, (2011) 60 Ollo-Lopez & Aramendia-Muneta, (2012) 61 Steinfield, LaRose & Chew, (2012) 62 Ollo-Lopez & Aramendia-Muneta, (2012) 63 Hall, Lotti & Mairesse, (2013) 64 Matthews, (2007) 65 Matthews, (2007) 23 positive impact in private sector if there are enough budged to invest in ICT, ICT personnel skilled and certain infrastructure. According to 66 , ICT platforms (internet, mobiles or PCs) have four main contributions to organizations:  Allow organizations to overcome traditional trade barriers  More visibility to business organizations  Facilitate financial transactions  Provide more information to SMEs ICT influences organizations flexibility as well. Organizations that adopt ICTs tend to navigate better in market and differentiate services and products 67 , directly or indirectly, depending on sectors and to have a good potential to support a sustainable development. Social media network, e-commerce or e-mail use have significantly cut down the physical transportation involved in buying goods, advertising, banking and sending emails 68 . Nevertheless, we must know that the positive impact of ICT occurs after a while, not instantly. Therefore, we must emphasize the importance of ICT investment thinking on the future 69 ; 70 . We must know that the role played by ICTS in SMEs is always an issue that must be paid attention and be studied correctly by companies. For a company, to complete its correct internationalization, it must be studied how to export, with what intensity and in what way that export process should be carried out. ICTs have different capacities such as the percentage of employees that the company can provide broadband, its online presence upper secondary ICT education and online transactions. It must be taken into account that when an organization incorporates ICTs, it must adjust its structure, make internal changes, in addition to reorganize and prepare staff to be able to perform their new functions. 66 Manochehri, Al-Esmail and Ashrafi (2012) 67 Ollo-Lopez & Aramendia-Muneta, (2012) 68 Manochehri, Al-Esmail and Ashrafi (2012) 69 Consoli, D. (2012) 70 Bayo-Moriones, A., Billon, M., & Lera-Lopez, F. (2013) 24 71 Previously studied ICT impact in organizations and then identified and categorized the main ICT effects in four groups: new products, expansion, growth and performance (Scheme 2.2). Scheme 2.2 presents the four main groups about where the greatest ICTs impact occurs. Each group has several dimensions such as product quality, productivity or efficiency. Studies show that the investments made in ICT organizations had a positive impact on economic growth and productivity labour force 72 , 73 Besides, ICTs increase manufacturing productivity in organizations and make it easier to market services 74 . Recent studies confirm a significant and positive effect on productivity. Other studies indicate that not only the effect of productivity is significant and positive, but also increases both in the public sector and in the private sector. 75 Found out that Lau and Tokutsu (1992) analyzed the influence of ICT investment on US economic growth. Between 1960 and 1990, studies show that half of the economic growth in the EE.UU was caused by ICT investment. Reference is also made to the studies conducted in that period by the World Bank, which show a faster increase in employees, higher productivity, and sales increase faster due to ICT investment. 76 Supported this approach and stated that some empirical study shows that SMEs that use ICT have greater profitability and scope, and, therefore, can better position themselves for future expansion. ICTs not only function as a growth engine, but can also function as growth. 71 Consoli, D. (2012) 72 Manochehri, Al-Esmail and Ashrafi (2012) 73 Sabbagh,Friedrich, El-Darwiche, Singh & Ganediwalla,(2012) 74 Manochehri, Al-Esmail and Ashrafi (2012) 75 Matei, A., & Savulescu, C. (2012) 76 Matthews, (2007) 25 Researchers have focused more on studying the direct effects (gains, productivity or growth), and less on indirect effects. 2.4 Relationship between ICT use and diversification of SMEs Diversification concept could be explained as the degree or extent that an organization is operating at the same time in more than one industry in its field of activity and, therefore, in its corporate strategy 77 . The intensive use of ICTs in operational processes are related to productivity increases of diversified companies. Also, ICT adoption should lead to a positive increase in business results in organizations with several business lines. A greater diversification degree requires a greater need for coordination information processing and assets within multi-business organizations. According to 78 , ICT demand is higher in organizations with diversified business lines related because these organizations need more resources coordination than organizations with unrelated businesses lines. The technologies impact on businesses is greater for organizations involved that for unrelated. Organizations that do not follow the unrelated diversification pursue diversification strategies and should prioritize the ICT adoption in operating activities. Therefore, organizations can use ICT capital to coordinate their capabilities and resources across different markets, ICT capital can allow organizations to operate in several markets simultaneously and thus facilitate the realization of scope economies. 77 Omar A. León, Juan I. Igartua, Jaione Ganzarain, (2016) 78 Dewan, S., S.C. Michael, and C.-K. Min. Firm characteristics and investments in information technology: Scale and scope effects. Information Systems Research 1998; 9: 219-232 32 tool. One of the most common ways of measuring alignment, the use of profile alignment, is significant in this sense because when using square or Euclidean distances between ideal and real ICT, it treats as a misalignment all deviations. Thus, a deviation such as the ICT deficit can be a misalignment in the case of real use of ICT less than what an organization would need to support the commercial strategy that is finished or will be finished. To support a business, organizations use the actual use of ICT. There are people who question whether these cases are too much for what organizations would need. Sometimes people argue that this is not a misalignment. When an organization has enough resources to cover the company's back, it means that there is ICT inactivity. Depending on the level you see, you can consider the ICT gap as a change in business strategy with ICT requirements, or as a waste. It is simple but essential to change the way in which the deviation of the deficit profiles and lack of ICT is measured to trigger a confrontation on how ICTs can better be used by institutions. In a more sophisticated study, it was found that the ICT value has a negative relationship with the ICT deficit, while the ICT business value has a positive relationship with the ICT gap. In the critical processes, the effects of ICT slack were greater, although in absolute terms they seemed to have less ICT slack. Therefore, ICT executives could see the alignment as a portfolio of securities they need to manage and change according to the conditions of each moment. A non-adjustment of the clearance of the alignment measures would cause that ICT clearance to be incorrectly measured. Although it is unusual that there are situations in which the ideal use of ICT is exceeded by real use, researchers believe that it is time to analyse more deeply how to calculate the alignment, because if the alignment is measured correctly, changes could be significant 101 . 101 McLaren et al., 2011 33 Alignment is more than a simple ICT deficit, and lack of ICT do that companies have in mind to adjust business strategy with an ICT strategy to improve their profits. This will convince researchers that the time has come to think carefully about their alignment measures. Achieving a reduction in the gap between business strategy and ICTs would generate a debate about it. 102 Also talks about the alignment between ICT and business process. It explains this alignment based on an emergent stream of research that considers business strategy and ICT at process level. Because research often sees this alignment form through the lens of ICT support for business strategy, it does not take into account that new business strategies can be developed with ICT. Consequently, it conceptualizes alignment between business strategy and ICT at process level using the lens of ICT shortfall (a support shortage for business activities) and ICT slack (too much ICT than needed to support business activities at the time). 317 EE.UU organizations have been studied and the results show that ICT shortfall is negatively correlated with ICT business value, whereas ICT slack is positively correlated with ICT business value. Besides, it notes that ICT shortfall existence and ICT slack depends on organizations differences in business strategies and whether a process is critical or non-critical to reach that strategy's success. 2.7.2ICT role in Collaborative Product Development (CPD) Within this day and age, SMEs innovation is an important need for being present in the industrial business environment 103 . Success of manufacturing organizations has to do with their ability introducing new or developed items of high quality to the market speedily at relatively low costs. It is a risk for most organizations to introduce or develop a new product to the market. Many organizations do not individually have all necessary 102 Paul Tallon, Magno Queiroz, Tim Coltman, Rajeev Sharma, (2016) 103 Chathurani Silva, Sanjay Mathrani, and Nihal Jayamaha, (2014) 34 resources and capabilities to develop new products with specific features and, therefore, collaborative product development is a useful solution. CPD is an organizational strategy that is used to develop improved or new products through integration with two internal partners (for example, multifunctional teams) or with two external components (for example, customers and suppliers). Decisions to review new products development (NPD) projects made by development teams are more effective than the decisions made individually. Collaborations help to reduce or share risks related to NPD projects, in addition to develop new products at reduced time and cost. Collaboration time between companies is variable, being possible their collaboration throughout different stages (marketing, development and conceptualization) of the process of product development (PD). Manufacturing organizations are increasingly investing collaborative product development (CPD) as a strategy to achieve an advantage with regard to rest of organizations through joint synergies in new products introduction in the market. Is evidenced recently a substantial increase in ICT use in CPD, consequently of the enhanced collaboration effectiveness and the extended spans between collaborative partners. 2.8 Customized products. Business networks Within this day and age, SMEs are obliged to collaborate with each other in order to take advantage of the opportunities that the market offers them. Organizations must collaborate in business by stablishing non-hierarchical and dynamic business networks. In order to develop the previous designed products successfully, it must be paid attention to both the simultaneous work and the exchange of information between organizations in real time. To transmit information in real time correctly, the e-mail and 35 the telephone are not enough. Web-based technologies (ICT) must be used to guarantee information exchange in real time between SMEs and thus, to achieve a correct manufacturing and development of manufactured products. Using ICT like virtual organizations (VO), organizations could improve their products collectively, as well as the delivery of personalized products. With this, organizations also improve the potential for innovation and the collaboration is encouraged. Besides, the delivery time and the cost are reduced as well. 2.9 Drives, outcomes, risks and barriers of ICT adoption It is always important for SMEs to know the way in which ICTs are adopted for the correct fusion with them. Organizations should review the results obtained after merging with each other. To understand why the inclusion of ICT translates into an increase in competitiveness for an SME, three theories explained together will help us to understand it. These theories are diffusion of innovation theory, technology organization environment and institutional theory. Benefits such as the reduction of information process and internal costs, or the greater facility that a manager has to control their employees are the most significant benefits. Having said that, we can make a list of the nine best E-business drivers: • Reduction of operating costs. • Reduction of sales and purchase costs. • Increase the quality and range of services to customers. • Improve the speed of shipments. • Increase the number of providers. • Get ahead and avoid the loss of market share. • Improve market share. • Possess market intelligence. • Improve the relationships between clients and partners. 36 With ICT’s use in marketing area, organizations manage to maximize the investment made with the consequent improvement in production effectiveness, marketing effectiveness and financial effectiveness. Once ICTs have been introduced, the improvement in customer satisfaction will have a positive effect on improving business efficiency. According to the number of clients, SMEs carries out an inversion in IS (information systems) to achieve the strategy compliance and the market position. Thus, we can distinguish four competitive markets to make investments in information systems: • Coordination (looking for maintaining relationships with the oldest customers. • Efficiency (ISs are used to control business). • Innovation (getting the IS at the centre of the business strategy). • Collaboration (exchange of information with communication and customers). Business opportunities and the assessment of internal capacity are the two aspects that business evaluation process is based. The knowledge/skills of ICT, the business model or the availability of resources to be used never give problems to adapt. However, relationship with customers, support and advise or broadband fast access are very important aspects when organizations configuring the perceptions of an organization by comparing the value of ICT with them. Organizations want to introduce ICT to change owner’s mentality about ICT values, to improve the possibility of reaching offline goals or to know the results about corporate sustainability. Taking care about last points, organizations can see if ICT's adoption have changed SMEs processes. In order to have a positive impact on ICT's efficiency, and in particular in the e-business, organizations must first do a correct MO (market orientation). 37 Investments in interorganizational technology usually support market orientation capabilities. In smaller companies, if organizations see their business improved by investing in capacity to improve their results, they also will suffers a positive impact. Interest in adopting technologies could increase due to the location of organizations in a dynamic environment. According to Internet, organizations could be classified according to their collaborative approach such as: • Exchange innovative ideas from several sources (partners, customers and suppliers). • Have speed to meet the needs of the client and greater flexibility. • Have easy access to all information about customers and competitors at the same time. Internet is very important to collect information related to environmental changes and once the information is available, share it and find responses to satisfy the needs that market offers. The responses always are supported by marketing orientation behaviours. Internet informs about the possibilities that exist to change marketing functions, such as automatization of sales force, disintermediation, CRM or massive personalization. Slow adoption of E-commerce in UK is explained by the risk that organizations perceive when they implement it, taken both psychometric and technological risks. The risk is subjective, since is affected by cultural, demographic or social factors. Risks that organizations think could exist investing in ICT mark investment decisions in ICT. Usually, small organizations do not have available complex tools for analyze investment decisions, and high charges of small organizations often have less perception of risk than high charges of high organizations because small organizations usually do not work with E-commerce. 104 States that risk can be categorized in these eight sections: 104 Sukumar and Edgar’s (2009) 38 • Cultural, personal and leadership risks. • Dependency and outsourcing risks. • Tax and legal risks. • Threats to security (internal or external). • Risks at the strategy level. • Brand risks • Risks of customer expectations and reputation. • Increase in technological risks. Implementing ICT sometimes has problems of cyber security. The three most important risk of cybersecurity are those related to virus, denial of service attacks and card fraud. Other risk categorized less important are those related to legal risks, employees-related risks and those related to compliance. Apart from risk, there are also barriers to e-business adoption. We can detect four barriers of SMEs e-business:  Cost (i.e. the need for immediate return on investment, limited financial resources and implementation costs)  Security (i.e. concern on fear of fraud and confidentiality)  Management (i.e. insufficient experience of industry sector, insufficient time spend on planning or insufficient knowledge)  Technology (i.e. lack of trust in external industry sector suppliers, complexity requiring new skills, limited in house industry sector skills and existing industry sector limiting future development) E-commerce sometimes has failures. Many of these failures are caused for oversights at the time of taking into account different within the online sphere to a "traditional" business model, necessary for having operative and strategic success. Organizational readiness, firm size (which positively influences technological capabilities and negatively influences perception costs), barriers, risk perception (which is higher for SMEs), or knowledge deficits should be always controlled. 39 To sum up, ICT adoption makes organizations more competitive and increase their efficiency, particularly in marketing area. To invest in ICTs not only play an important role in innovation aspect, also in collaboration aspect. Coordination and performance are less important in ICT's inversion. 2.9.1 Adoption of ICTs using the concept of Digital Divide There are many studies about ICT adoption. Nevertheless, only a few of them study ICTs adoption using the second order of the digital divide concept, related to the effective use of ICTs by organizations. The first index studies ICTs use. This study shows that technology and Internet access are related factors with a more intense use of ICTs by organization. It is not the same Internet access for a small organization than for a big organization despite of some surveys reveal the contrary. The results show that aspects like the availability of network technology (intranet, extranet or LAN), the speed of access or the type of connection (fiber, cable or 3G) are related to ICTs use. This prove that public policies that deal with quality technology access remain important. Once an organization start to use internal and external systems to be connected with their customers and suppliers, speed connection and availability become more important. Thus, 3G and 4G conexions point to this greater dependence. The issue of digital divide as a matter of ICT's access remains, but now also the quality access (stability and connexion speed) necessary to systems integration, customer’s chain and companies suppliers. Problems related to ICT abilities measured by "the employee’s percentage who use Internet" and "operative system use of open source" or the attitude related to ICT measured in this research through "update or introduction software" are related to ICT use for both organization sizes. This means that ICT investment on learning and training (e-literacy) and innovation attitude through new system introduction are related to an intense use of ICTs. 40 Both small and big organizations had these variables with the highest values for the standardized Beta coefficient. This prove the high importance of organizational aspect in computerization of companies processes, related to the managerial concern with ICTs use, with the professional and owners’ training in the company for its proper use and reflected in software updates. Related to the alignment between company strategies and ICT investments, professionals dedicated to ICTs or the relevance of an area increase as the organization rise and they need to expand ICTs use. Also, external factors are correlated with the index. Those that were considered subcontract ICT services had an increase in the index in small organizations. Also in small organizations, the study remarks the inputs purchase through the Internet, which may show that the integration with customers or larger suppliers in the value chain can boost ICT adoption. Finally, these results also indicate that external environment factors can also influence the ICT use by organizations. This prove the relation between organization's sector and the use in both sizes, small and big companies 105 . 2.10 The bond between broadband connected employees and labour productivity Within this day and age, association between labour productivity and ICT intensity play an important role. Looking at some studies that were made in fourteen European countries between 2001-2010, we can say that results show that the proportion of broadband internet-enabled employees approximates ICT intensity. This value not only measure ICT adoption, but also diffusion among and within organizations. Data have been acquired by means of the distributed microdata approach (DMD) from registers on education, trade and business. 105 Cesar Alexandre Souza, Érica Souza Siqueira, Nicolau Reinhard, (2017) 41 This approach allows access to confidential information related to other organizations in dimensions very different from previously. The estimations are based on 400,000 observations of representative and harmonised datasets. Data show that in most of the countries exist a positive and significant relationship between labour productivity and the proportion of broadband internet-enabled employees in organizations 106 . This is also justified in 107 , that affirms that manufacturers in eight out of fourteen and service firms in ten out of fourteen show an important relationship between labour productivity and broadband employees. Estimations show an increase in the proportion of broadband internet-enabled employees. This confirm the productivity effect. Table 2.5.1 show a ranking of the countries related to the same use intensity of ICT. Typically, countries where firms are already intensive ICT users, the increases in productivity is less remarkable. The deeper shades that are showed in the index column show larger estimations. Table 2.10.1. Intensity and impact of broadband internet-enabled workers in enterprises Note: Two aspects are compared in this table. The first column show a classification of countries with broadband internet-enabled workers in the organizations during 2010. 106 Eva Hagsten (2015) 107 Eva Hagsten, Michael Polder, Eric J Bartelsman, Patricia Kotnik, (2013) 48 significant estimate of 0.107 while manufacturing organizations have an average significant estimate of 0.149. Organizations of countries that are already intensive in employee connectivity mark a positive temporary tendency because they exhibit to a lesser extent a link to labour productivity. The specific characteristics of the broadband variable and the time play an important role. The quantitative variable proportion of broadband internet-enabled employees has an advantage comparing with not only indicate adoption but also the dissemination across and within organizations. Besides, the variable does not reach saturation in all the period studied. There are indications in a smaller group of countries that have a high level of employee’s connectivity that embedded ICT are important for productivity. These variations in estimates magnitude between countries are not surprising and could be related to the industry structure, labour market rigidities or broadband connectivity general degree. Data have been acquired by means of DMD from surveys on ICT usage, innovation activities and production as well as registers on education, trade and business. Although this approach still needs some fine-tuning, this work allows access to confidential information linked firm level and micro aggregated (MMD) in dimensions never available before. Analyses depend on IT system, local operator and dataset for being more o less advanced. Besides, the number of times that data providers accept to re-run analytical codes could be restricted. Unfortunately, difficult problems are not automatically solved by distributed access. Among these problems, we can find designs of sample surveys at statistical offices. In most of the times, these surveys produce accurate macro statistics without imposing responses too much high for organizations. This leads to small surveys overlaps. The latter is difficult to deal with in impact analysis since are needed sophisticated econometric methods to handle endogeneity and to provide precise estimates. The 49 results should be interpreted as associations instead of causal effects due to methods used. Panel data model use could be benefited if it existed an increased coordination of sample surveys. Besides, another useful thing that it could do is to move the analysis to a micro-aggregated level where panels without attrition are available. Depth analysis of how different ICT tools in organizations substitute or complement each other or other production factors could benefit future studies. Results show two policy implication types. On the one hand, the adoption and dissemination of broadband among employees is very important for growth, particularly when saturation is not reached. If it already exist a high intensity level of broadband connectivity, efforts could be redundant. On the other hand, the results show that data compilation strategies aimed to reduce the response burden of organizations, often very demanded by policy-makers, sometimes lead to serious difficulties in the search of impacts and drivers in the economy. However, relationship strength varies across organizations and countries. Service organizations receive 50% smaller estimates than manufacturing organizations, and services organizations experience with more frequency the positive association. 50 Chapter 3 Conclusions Close to 2020, ICTs adoption has converted as one of the most important things that organizations need to implement to keep growing. In general, firms that adopt and use ICTs grow faster, invest more, and are more productive and profitable than those that do not. These are the conclusion that most of the organizations have had previous their multiplex studies about it. Besides, organizations that implement ICTs in their production processes are going to increase their possibilities of internationalization, increasing their export sales and expanding their brand, which is very important within this day and age. The use of ICT at various stages, on one hand, simplify business processes and transactions while, on the other hand, it improves information and knowledge management for better decision making. With all this, the change of technology in an organization or in a place always is a great challenge, since it generates in the human resource something very well-known called resistance to the chance; this is a fear caused towards what is considered as unknown or new within the usual process handled. We must therefore these changes of manufacturing processes not as such, but as a progress that will allow us to face and face the new and different challenges in this globalized environment. References:  Hagsten, E. & Kotnik, P, (2016), "ICT as facilitator of internationalisation in small and medium sized firms”, Small Bus Econ (2017) 48: 431. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-016-9781-2  Cecilia Lindh,Emilia Rovira Nordman, (2017) "Information technology and performance in industrial business relationships: the mediating effect of business development", Journal of Business &Industrial Marketing, Vol. 32 Issue: 7, pp.998-1008, https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-122016-0282 51  Shamsuzzoha, A., Tosano, C., Carneiro, L., Kumar, V. and Helo, P. (2016) ICT-based solution approach for collaborative delivery of customised products. Production Planning&Control,27(4).pp.280298.ISSN 0953-7287. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2015.1123322  Sebastian Molinillo, Arnold Japutra, (2017) "Organizational adoption of digital information and technology: a theoretical review", The Bottom Line, Vol. 30 Issue: 01, pp.3346, https://doi.org/10.1108/BL-01-2017-0002  Cesar Alexandre Souza, Érica Souza Siqueira, Nicolau Reinhard, (2017) “DIGITAL DIVIDE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES: AN ANALYSIS OF INFLUENCING FACTORS USING THE TOE THEORY”, Mackenzie Management Review (Rev. de Adm. Mackenzie – RAM), 18(2), 15-48 • SÃO PAULO, SP • MAR./APR. 2017 ISSN 1678-6971 (electronic version) • http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/167869712017/administracao.v18n2p15-48  Shemi, AP and Procter, CT, (2018) “Ecommerce and entrepreneurship in SMEs : the case of myBot”, Research output of the University of Salford http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSBED0320170088  Eva Hagsten (2016): Broadband connected employees and labour productivity: a comparative analysis of 14 European countries based on distributed Microdata access, Economics of Innovation and New Technology, DOI: 10.1080/10438599.2015.1105547  Eva Hagsten, Michael Polder, Eric J Bartelsman, Patricia Kotnik, (2013) “The Multifaceted Nature of ICT: Final report of the ESSNet on linking of microdata to analyse ICT impact”, Eurostat Grant Agreement 50721.2013.001-2013.082, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282859838  Stefanie A. Haller and Sean Lyons, (2012) “Broadband adoption and firm productivity: evidence from Irish manufacturing firms”, The Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin https://mpra.ub.unimuenchen.de/42626/  Paul Taylor, (2015) “THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICTS): AN INTEGRATION OF THE EXTANT LITERATURE ON ICT ADOPTION IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES”, University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica Vol. III, Issue 5, May 2015 ISSN 2348 0386 http://ijecm.co.uk/  Paul Tallon, Magno Queiroz, Tim Coltman, Rajeev Sharma, (2016) “Business Process and Information Technology Alignment: Construct Conceptualization, Empirical Illustration, and Directions for Future Research”, journal of the Association for Information Systems · October 2016 DOI: 10.17705/1jais.00438  Z. M. Bi, Chengen Wang, (2014) “Internet of Things for Enterprise Systems of Modern Manufacturing”, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics · May 2014 DOI: 10.1109/TII.2014.2300338  Chathurani Silva, Sanjay Mathrani, and Nihal Jayamaha, (2014) “The Role of ICT in Collaborative Product Development: A Conceptual Model Based on Information Processing Theory”, International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, Vol. 5, No. 1, February 2014 DOI: 10.7763/IJIMT.2014.V5.484 52  Asta Tarutė,*, Rimantas Gatautis, (2013), (2013) “ICT impact on SMEs performance”, Procedia - Social and .Behavioral.Sciences..110.(2014).1218–1225 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042813056085  David M. Weber ⇑, Robert J. Kauffman, (2011), “What drives global ICT adoption? Analysis and research directions”, Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 10 (2011) 683–701 doi:10.1016/j.elerap.2011.01.001  Silvia Fernandes, Ana Belo, Guilherme Castela, (2015), “Social network enterprise behaviors and patterns in SMEs: Lessons from a Portuguese local community centered around the tourism Industry”, Technology in Society 44 (2016) 15e22 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2015.11.004  Jones, Nory; Borgman, Richard; Ulusoy, Ebru, (2015), “Impact of social media on small businesses”, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Volume 22 (4): 22 – Nov 16, 2015 https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/emerald-publishing/impact-of-social-media-on-small-businessesMib2Q59QFs  Dario Assante, Manuel Castro, Ileana Hamburg and Sergio Martin, (2016), “The Use of Cloud Computing in SMEs”, Procedia Computer Science 83 ( 2016 ) 1207 – 1212 doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2016.04.250  Omar A. León, Juan I. Igartua, Jaione Ganzarain, (2016), “Relationship between the use of ICT and the degree and type of diversification”, Procedia Computer Science 100 (2016) 1191 – 1199 doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2016.09.138  Irina Harris, Yingli Wang, Haiyang Wang, (2015, “ICT in multimodal transport and technological trends: Unleashing potential for the future”, Int. J.ProductionEconomics159(2015)88–103 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2014.09.005  V. Kanti Prasad, K. Ramamurthy and G. M. Naidu, (2001), “The Influence of Internet-Marketing Integration on Marketing Competencies and Export Performance”, Journal of International Marketing, Vol. 9, No. 4 (2001), pp. 82-110 https://www.jstor.org/stable/25048870  Sukumar, A. and Edgar, D, (2009), “E-Business, SMEs and Risks: Towards a Research Agenda”, International Journal of Management Innovation Systems ISSN 1943-1384 2009, Vol. 1, No. 2: E4 www.macrothink.org/ijmis  Roberta Bocconcelli, Marco Cioppi, Alessandro Pagano, (2017) "Social media as a resource in SMEs' sales process", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 32 Issue: 5, doi: 10.1108/JBIM-112014-0244  Subhanjan Sengupta Arunaditya Sahay , (2017)," Social entrepreneurship research in Asia-Pacific: perspectives and opportunities ", Social Enterprise Journal, Vol. 13 Iss 1 pp. - http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/SEJ-11-2016-0050  Mohd Irwan Dahnil*, Kamarul Mizal Marzuki, Juliana Langgat, Noor Fzlinda Fabeil, (2014), “Factors Influencing SMEs Adoption of Social Media Marketing”, Procedia - Social and Behavioural Sciences 148 ( 2014 ) 119 – 126 doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.07.025  Chrisanthi Avgerou & Boyi Li, (2013), “Relational and institutional embeddedness 53 of Web-enabled entrepreneurial networks: case studies of entrepreneurs in China”, Info Systems J (2013) 23, 329–350 doi:10.1111/isj.12012  T. Ramayah ⇑, Niu Swee Ling, Seyedeh Khadijeh Taghizadeh, Syed Abidur Rahman, (2016), "Factors influencing SMEs website continuance intention in Malaysia”, Telematics and Informatics 33 (2016) 150–164 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2015.06.007  Kabanda, S., Brown, I., (2017), “A Structuration Analysis of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Adoption of E-commerce: The Case of Tanzania”, Telematics and Informatics (2017), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.01.002  Louis-A. Lefebvre, Elisabeth Lefebvre, Elie Eliaa, Harold Boeck, (2005), “Exploring B-to-B e-commerce adoption trajectories in manufacturing SMEs”, Technovation 25 (2005) 1443–1456 doi:10.1016/j.technovation.2005.06.011  Adel.A.Alyoubi, Ph.D, (2015), “E-commerce in Developing Countries and How to Develop Them During the Introduction of Modern Systems”, Procedia Computer Science 65 ( 2015 ) 479 – 483 doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2015.09.127  Morteza Ghobakhloo, Daniel Arias-Aranda and Jose Benitez-Amado, (2011), “Adoption of ecommerce applications in SMEs”, Industrial Management & Data Systems Vol. 111 No. 8, 2011 pp. 1238-1269 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0263-5577 DOI 10.1108/02635571111170785  Morteza Ghobakhloo and Sai Hong Tang, (2013), “The role of owner/manager in adoption of electronic commerce in small businesses”, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development Vol. 20 No. 4, 2013 pp. 754-787 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1462-6004 DOI 10.1108/JSBED-122011-0037  F.Liébana-Cabanillasa, M.Alonso-Dos-Santos, (2017), “Factors that determine the adoption of Facebook commerce: The moderating effect of age”, J. Eng.Technol.Manage.xxx(2016)xxx–xxx http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jengtecman.2017.03.001  Abdallah Alsaad, Rosli Mohamad, Noor Azizi Ismail, (2017), “The moderating role of trust in business to business electronic commerce (B2B EC) adoption”, Computers in Human Behaviour 68 (2017) 157e169 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.11.040  Aarno Airaksinen, Andrea de Panizza, Eric Bartelsman, Eva Hagsten, George van Leeuwen, Mark Franklin, Mika Maliranta, Patricia Kotnik, Peter Stam, Petri Rouvinen, Shikeb Farooqui, Simon Quantin, Stefan Svanberg, Tony Clayton, Yoann Barbesol, (2008), “Information Society: ICT impact assessment by linking data from different sources”, Eurostat Agreement No. 49102.2005.0172006.128 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/341889/725524/2006-2008-ICT-IMPACTSFINAL-REPORT-V2.pdf/72f0967d-a164-46ad-a6d0-246be5a6d418  Arthur Grimes • Cleo Ren • Philip Stevens, (2011), “The need for speed: impacts of internet connectivity on firm Productivity”, J Prod Anal (2012) 37:187–201 DOI 10.1007/s11123-011-0237-z  Robert Kenny Charles Kenny, (2011),"Superfast broadband: is it really worth a subsidy?", info, Vol. 13 Iss 4 pp. 3 – 29 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14636691111146127 54  Fred D. Davis, (1989), “Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Sep., 1989), pp. 319-340 https://www.jstor.org/stable/249008  ICEK AJZEN, (1991), “The Theory of Planned Behaviour”, ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR AND HUMAN DECISION PROCESSES 50, 179-211 (1991) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/074959789190020T  Viswanath Venkatesh, Michael G. Morris, Gordon B. Davis and Fred D. Davis, (2003), “User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward a Unified View”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Sep., 2003), pp. 425-478 https://www.jstor.org/stable/30036540  Shih-Chih Chen, Shing-Han Li, Chien-Yi Li, (2011), “RECENT RELATED RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE MODEL: A LITERATURE REVIEW”, Australian Journal of Business and Management Research.Vol.1No.9.[124-127]|December-2011 ://ajbmr.com/articlepdf/AJBMR_19_04i1n9a14.pdf  EVERETT M. ROGERS, (1995), “DIFFUSION OF INNOVATIONS”, THE FREE PRESS A Division of Simon & Schuster.Inc.1230.Avenue.of.the.Americas.New.York,.NY.10020 https://web.stanford.edu/class/symbsys205/Diffusion%20of%20Innovations.htm  Tornatzky, L., & Fleischer, M., (1990), “The Processes of Technological Innovation”, Chapter · January 1990 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291824703  Morteza Ghobakhloo, Tang S.H, (2011), “Barriers to Electronic Commerce Adoption Among Small Businesses in Iran”, Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, 9(4), 48-89, October-December 2011 DOI: 10.4018/jeco.2011100103  LE Van Huy, Frantz ROWE, Duane TRUEX, Minh Q. HUYNH, (2012), “An empirical Study of Determinants of E-commerce Adoption in SMEs in Vietnam an economy in transition”, Journal of Global Information Management (JGIM) v 20(3) July-Sep 2012 https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b530/fcc9a266d5cca9027bdb2882ce08fd96c22a.pdf  Martins, F.O.M and Oliveira, T, (2008). “Determinants of Information Technology Diffusion: a Study at the Firm Level for Portugal.” The Electronic Journal Information Systems Evaluation Volume 11 Issue 1, pp. 27 - 34, available online at www.ejise.com  JAMES Y.L. THONG (1999), “An Integrated Model of Information Systems Adoption in Small Businesses”, Journal of Management Information Systems I Spring 1999, Vol. 15, No.4. pp. 187~214 http://ssrn.com/abstract=1977980  Chrisanthi Avgerou, (2008), “Information systems in developing countries: a critical research review”, Journal of Information Technology (2008) 23, 133–146 doi:10.1057/palgrave.jit.2000136  Morteza Ghobakhloo, Tang Sai Hong, Mohammad Sadegh Sabouri and Norzima Zulkifli, (2012), “Strategies for Successful Information Technology Adoption in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises”, Information 2012, 3, 36-67 doi:10.3390/info3010036  Leon Kappelman, Ephraim McLean, Vess Johnson, Natalie Gerhart, (2014), “The 2014 SIM IT Key Issues and Trends Study”, December 2014 (13:4) | MIS Quarterly Executive 55 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269102386_The_2014_SIM_IT_key_issues_and_trends_ study  Tim S. McLaren, Milena M. Head, Yufei Yuan and Yolande E. Chan, (2011), “A Multilevel Model for Measuring Fit Between A Firm's Competitive Strategies and Information Systems Capabilities”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 4 (December 2011), pp. 909-929 https://www.jstor.org/stable/41409966  Vasja Vehovar Dušan Lesjak, (2007),"Characteristics and impacts of ICT investments: perceptions among managers", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 107 Iss 4 pp. 537 – 550 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02635570710740689  Dolores Añón Higón, (2011), “The impact of ICT on innovation activities: Evidence for UK SMEs”, International Small Business Journal 30(6) 684–699 DOI: 10.1177/0266242610374484  Andrea Ollo-López ⇑, M. Elena Aramendía-Muneta, (2012), “ICT impact on competitiveness, innovation and environment”, 0736-5853/$ - see front matter _ 2011 Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.tele.2011.08.002  Charles Steinfield , Robert LaRose , Han Ei Chew & Stephanie Tom Tong (2012) Small and MediumSized Enterprises in Rural Business Clusters: The Relation Between ICT Adoption and Benefits Derived From Cluster Membership, The Information Society, 28:2, 110-120, DOI: 10.1080/01972243.2012.651004  Charles Steinfield , Robert LaRose , Han Ei Chew & Stephanie Tom Tong (2012) Small and MediumSized Enterprises in Rural Business Clusters: The Relation Between ICT Adoption and Benefits Derived From Cluster Membership, The Information Society, 28:2, 110-120,DOI: 10.1080/01972243.2012.651004  Bronwyn H. Hall , Francesca Lotti & Jacques Mairesse (2013) Evidence on the impact of R&D and ICT investments on innovation and productivity in Italian firms, Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 22:3, 300-328, DOI: 10.1080/10438599.2012.708134  PAUL MATTHEWS, (2007), “ICT ASSIMILATION AND SME EXPANSION”, Journal of International Development J. Int. Dev. 19, 817–827 (2007) DOI: 10.1002/jid.1401  Nick-Naser Manochehri, Rajab A. Al-Esmail, Rafi Ashrafi, (2012), “EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICT) ON ENTERPRISE PRACTICES: A PRELIMINARY PERSPECTIVE FROM QATAR”, EJISDC (2012) 51, 3, 1-16 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279687038_Examining_the_Impact_of_Information_an d_Communication_Technologies_ICT_on_Enterprise_Practices_A_Preliminary_Perspective_from_Q atar  Domenico Consoli, (2012), “Literature analysis on determinant factors and the impact of ICT in SMEs”, Procedia - Social and Behavioural Sciences 62 ( 2012 ) 93 – 97 doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.016  Alberto Bayo-Moriones Margarita Billón Fernando Lera-López, (2013),"Perceived performance effects of ICT in manufacturing SMEs", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 113 Iss 1 pp. 117 – 135 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02635571311289700 56  KARIM SABBAGH, ROMAN FRIEDRICH, BAHJAT EL-DARWICHE, MILIND SINGH, SANDEEP GANEDIWALLA, RAUL KATZ, (2012), “Maximizing the Impact of Digitization”, The Global Information.Technology.Report.2012.CHAPTER.1.11 http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GITR/2012/GITR_Chapter1.11_2012.pdf  Ani Matei, Carmen Savulescu, (2012), “Empirical analysis of ICT, economic growth and competitiveness in the EU”, Proceedings of the International Conference on ICT Management (ICTM.2012),.Wroclaw,.Poland.September.17-18,.2012 http://apas.admpubl.snspa.ro/bitstream/handle/2010/463/ICTM2012_Matei%26Savulescu.pdf?seq uence=1  Ting-Peng Liang, Jun-Jer You and Chih-Chung Liu, (2010), “A resource-based perspective on information technology and firm performance: a meta analysis”, Industrial Management & Data Systems Vol. 110 No. 8, 2010 pp. 1138-1158 DOI 10.1108/02635571011077807  Juliana Bonomi Santos, Luiz Artur Ledur Brito, (2012), “Toward a Subjective Measurement Model for Firm Performance”, BAR, Rio de Janeiro, v. 9, Special Issue, art. 6, pp. 95-117, May 2012 www.anpad.org.br/bar  Syed Shah Alam, Mohd. Kamal Mohammad Noor, (2009), “ICT Adoption in Small and Medium Enterprises: an Empirical Evidence of Service Sectors in Malaysia”, International Journal of Business and Management Vol 4, No 2, February 2009 www.cesenet.org/journal.html  Sean Marston, Zhi Li, Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay, Juheng Zhang, Anand Ghalsasi, (2011), “Cloud computing — The business perspective”, Decision Support Systems 51 (2011) 176–189 doi:10.1016/j.dss.2010.12.006  Sanjeev Dewan, Steven C. Michael, Chung-ki Min, (1998) Firm Characteristics and Investments in Information Technology: Scale and Scope Effects. Information Systems Research 9(3):219-232. http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.9.3.219