Ict in Marketing a study of The Use of Internet and Mobile Phones in Five Selected Companies in Dublin

Figure 2.3: Internet Users in Europe
The growth rate in Europe is higher than that of the Americas between 2000 – 2008 
but various articles and research show that the know-how is yet to be perfected.
This growth rate in Europe is interesting because this study focuses on selected 
companies in one of the European states (Rep. of Ireland), and would be nice to 
know if it is reflected positively in this study.
According to
Bengtsson et al.,
(2007) the process of adopting and developing 
Internet applications in firms can be very rapid because of the international diffusion 
of computer and Internet technology. Furthermore, stage models are derived mainly 
from studies of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Similar adoption 
processes also take place in large organizations but are weakly covered in the 
literature.
Studies suggest that a more basic use of the Internet is adopted before more 
advanced applications are developed. However, they neither elaborate adequately on 
the challenges of introducing more advanced applications, nor on how the 
introduction of different innovations is stimulated or hindered.
Basic use of the 
Internet
includes
online presentation of the firm, its products or services, and 
simple information exchange via email
. 
Advanced use of the Internet
assumes 
more sophisticated 
two-way interaction and data processing
, and includes 
online 
ordering and payment, collecting feedback from customers and integrating the 
homepage with the firm’s internal functions 
(
Bengtsson et al., - 2007
).
A number of studies have only focused on basic use of the Internet but have only 
touched upon its advanced use, or have not distinguished clearly between the two 
(
BarNir et al., 2003; Cohen et al., 1987; Höst et al, 2001
).
19

---

However, the distinction between basic and advanced use of the Internet is signifi- 
cant and has far-reaching implications for the adoption process. Lets look at some 
earlier studies in this area before moving to more specifics like, emails and 
SMS/MMS.