Sme E-Business Development: an Interaction based Approach

E-business stage/maturity models for SMEs have been criticized for their predominantly technocentric and rather mechanistic character, not suited for this kind of firms. Based on a conceptual and qualitative research, the paper proposes an e-business development model to factor in the interaction sparked by the coming together of technology and organization. Given that e-business is distinguished by different levels of supplier/customer information exchanges, the model (tested in three small firms) envisages five digital and non digital interaction levels so that small business owners can better understand and evaluate the interplay of organization and technology in relation to business opportunities.