An Institutional Perspective on E-Commerce Adoption of Internationalizing Retail SMEs

• The purpose of our study is to explore the institutional pressure aspect of internationalizing retail SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce by examining how firms respond differently to these pressures. A qualitative longitudinal case-study research design is employed to conduct in-depth analyses of two Swedish SMEs in the retail business. The cases are selected from the auction and the book industries, which arguably are among the industries most affected by the spread of e-commerce. Two trajectories of organizational responses to mimetic pressures to adopt e-commerce by retail SMEs are identified.These are: (1) Split adoption – full compliance, and (2) complementary adoption - dismiss. Our study also suggests organizational, environmental and relational factors that lead to these responses. Institutional theory suggests that organizations face pressures to conform to practices and polices widely deemed to be legitimate in their environments. Internet use and e-commerce is easily one of the mega-trends in international business. Our study suggests that institutional perspective has much to offer when understanding the motivations behind e-commerce adoption by internationalizing SMEs in this context and what happens afterwards.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)