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IT and Small Business: An Unhappy Marriage

IT and Small Business: An Unhappy Marriage
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Author(s): Gilbert Silvius (University of Professional Education of Utrecht and Business Consultant at Getronics, The Netherlands)
Copyright: 2004
Pages: 3
Source title: Innovations Through Information Technology
Source Editor(s): Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, D.B.A. (Information Resources Management Association, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59140-261-9.ch081
ISBN13: 9781616921255
EISBN13: 9781466665347

Abstract

The use of information technology (IT) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is one of the spearheads of small business stimulation policies. The relative backlog in IT adoption that SMEs show, compared to larger companies, is considered one of the reasons for their slower development. With the IT industry shifting its focus to smaller and medium sized companies this situation could be changing, but will the typically reluctant small business entrepreneurs be convinced? The sharp fall of the e-business hype strengthens the skepticism about the value of IT. In 2002 the average IT spending in Dutch SMEs was below 0.5% of their revenues (Ravesloot et al., 2002). On average large companies spent between 1.8% (industry) and 9.3% (telecom) on IT (Wijbenga et al., 2003). How does this fact reflect on the productivity of SMEs? Does the lower IT investment rate in small business, compared to larger enterprises, correlate with a lower productivity?

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