ASSESSING ADOPTION OF E _ COMMERCE BY SMES IN WESTERN PROVINCE

Abstract

Today, small and medium-sized enterprises have a large share in the industrial activities at various countries of the world. Also, small and medium-sized enterprises have a significant share of industrial production. Currently, these firms have many structural, legal, technological, financial, and other problems and are not able to produce competitive products in world's markets. It seems that e-commerce is one of the strategies to improve the status of these firms to compete in global markets. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive insight into the assessing adoption process of electronic commerce by small and medium-sized enterprises. The researches show that factors such as relative advantage, competitive pressure, IT knowledge, security and government support affect the e-commerce adoption. Primary data that has been used for the study were obtained from 400 SMEs who are located their current businesses in Western province of Sri Lanka Data was collected using a questionnaire, the collected facts were analyzes using descriptive statistics and inferential analysis applying statistical package for social science(SPSS) and correlation analysis and data presented in tables. The result indicated that relative advantage, competitive pressure, IT knowledge, security and government support were high levels among SMEs. As well as result intricate that there is a statistically and strong positive relationship of relative advantage, competitive pressure, IT knowledge, security, government support with adoption of E-Commerce by SMEs in Western Province, if it exists