An exploratory examination of the relationship between business-to-business e-commerce adoption and competitive advantage of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Abstract

Business to Business Electronic Commerce (B2B EC) adoption has been growing at a quicker pace in recent times and it has become one of the critical ways to help small and medium-sized enterprises to gain and sustain competitive advantage. A firm’s resource capabilities and endowments influence the different levels of B2B EC adoption that leads to competitive advantage gain and sustained in proportion to that level of adoption. The purpose of this research is to offer an exploratory analysis into the relationship between B2B EC adoption and competitive advantage. A survey of 315 responses was received from managers and owners of manufacturing SMEs in Ghana. A canonical correlation analysis is used to explore this relationship. The results support the view that there is a positive relationship between B2B EC adoption levels and competitive advantage.