A Model for E-Readiness Assessment of Iranian Small and Medium Enterprises

The current dynamic and turbulent business environment has forced companies that are competing in global markets to change their traditional methods of conducting business. Recent developments in applying Information Technology (IT) offer the most exciting business opportunities in the marketplace. Organizations must re-evaluate every aspect of their strategies and quickly move to a working mode where the electronic commerce is essential for their success. One of tools that can be used for measuring the diffusion rate of IT is e-readiness assessment. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are critical to the economies of all countries, including developing ones. They cannot be left behind and many are already demonstrating their entrepreneurship strength by grasping opportunities offered by IT. The concept of e-readiness assessment for SMEs has received limited attention in the literature. This paper first studies e-readiness assessment models proposed for countries and then tries to develop a model for measuring the e-readiness of SMEs (ESME) by an exploratory study. Finally, the proposed model is used for the assessment and comparison for e-readiness of three considered Iranian SMEs.