Ict, e-business and Small and Medium Enterprises

Unsuitability for business 

The leading reason given by businesses for not engaging e-commerce is that it is not suited to the 

nature of their business (OECD, 2002b). A recent survey of SMEs with fewer than 250 employees in 

19 European countries shows that around 40% do not use the Internet for selling because they consider that 

Internet e-commerce does not suit their type of business and/or products (Figure 7). Other reasons for not 

conducting on-line sales include lack of personnel with appropriate ICT skills, concerns over unbalanced 

costs and benefits, insufficient customer access to Internet and technology concerns, such as on-line 

security. In Canada, among businesses that did not buy or sell over the Internet, 56% believed that their 

goods or services did not lend themselves to Internet transactions.