Micro-enterprises’ Use of Internet Technologies and E-business Solutions: a Structural Model of Sources of Business Value

In most countries, micro-enterprises make up the majority of firms. Canada has more than 500,000 employer micro-enterprises, representing 77% of all firms (Industry Canada, 2001); if we include owner-operated firms with no employees, the number and proportion of microenterprises would be much larger. Although the development potential of this group of firms would seem to be huge, micro-enterprises face numerous obstacles to growth. And, although information and communication technologies (ICTs) would seem to provide major advantages to micro-enterprises, the uptake of ICTs among SMEs, including micro-enterprises, is occurring much less vigorously than anticipated. Furthermore, most research on e-commerce adoption among SMEs has focused on SMEs in general. Very little has been published specifically about the technological behavior of micro-enterprises. Moreover, much of the research on SMEs’ use of e-commerce focuses on adoption patterns and barriers to adoption, rather than on business outcomes.