eBusiness as a driver for regional development
| Date | 02 February 2010 |
| Pages | 17-36 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13287261011032634 |
| Published date | 02 February 2010 |
| Author | Paul Beynon‐Davies |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
eBusiness
for regional
development
17
Journal of Systems and Information
Technology
Vol. 12 No. 1, 2010
pp. 17-36
#Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1328-7265
DOI 10.1108/13287261011032634
eBusiness as a driver for
regional development
Paul Beynon-Davies
Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain the case of a major knowledge
transfer project conducted over seven years within a region of the UK.
Design/approach – As part of this project a large survey is conducted on an annual basis which
aims to track eBusiness adoption amongst small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region
and the effects of such adoption upon regional development.
Findings – The paper presents findings from this longitudinal study and discusses these findings in
terms of conceptions of eBusiness and the importance of developing more sophisticated instruments
for assessing eBusiness maturity amongst SMEs. From the research there is clear evidence of the role
of eBusiness adoption as a driver of regional development. The benefits from the initial Opportunity
Wales programme are still materializing several years after the completion of the first three years of
the seven year project.
Research limitations/implications – This is a study of one region in Europe. Further regional
cases are required to support the findings.
Practical implications – The findings should help regional planners and national governments
assess the value of eBusiness initiatives.
Originality/value – This paper describes the case of a programme funded by the European Union
involved with the transfer of eBusiness knowledge to SMEs conducted over the period April 2001 to
September 2007 within a major region of the UK. The scope of the research project and its
longitudinal nature make the study original.
Keywords Regional development, Wales, Small to medium-sized enterprises, Electronic commerce,
Knowledge transfer
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
For over a decade, the adoption of eBusiness by small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) has been considered important within the policy literature on regional
development. However, although there has been a vast amount of funding directed
at improving adoption of eBusiness amongst SMEs in Europe there are few well-
documented accounts of the process by which this money was spent. There are even
fewer attempts to reflect on this experience in terms of the impact of suc h projects upon
regional development.
This paper describes the case of a programme funded by the Europe an Union (EU)
involved with the transfer of eBusiness knowledge to SMEs conducted over the period
April 2001 to September 2007 within a major region of the United Kingdom. As part of
this programme a major survey was conducted on an annual basis which aimed to
track eBusiness adoption amongst SMEs in the region. Benchmarking was also
conducted amongst supported SMEs with the aim of assessing the impact of the
support programme upon regional development. The current paper presents findings
from this evaluation work and discusses these findings in terms of conceptions of
eBusiness and the relevance of models of eBusiness maturity for SMEs.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1328-7265.htm
The work described in this paper was conducted as part of the Opportunity Wales (OW)
project funded from European Structural Funds, the Welsh Assembly Government and project
partners.
JSIT
12,1
18
The structure of the paper is as follows. First, we describe the context to our study:
Wales as a region and the Opportunity Wales (OW) project. Second, we describe the
ways in which data was collected in order to evaluate the state of eBusiness within the
region over a number of years. Third, we describe results from the survey. Fourth, we
consider these results in terms of definitions of eBusiness maturity and the relevance of
this concept to the SME experience of information and communication tec hnology
(ICT). Fifth and finally, we consider some of the implications of our study for SME
eBusiness as well as for future business engagement projects in this area.
2. The OW project
Wales has a land area of just 8,000 square miles and a population of approximately
3 million. It is 170 miles long and 60 miles wide, located in the South-west of the UK,
bordered by England to the East and by sea in the other three directions. The main
population and industrial areas are in South Wales, situated around the urban
conurbations of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport.
Parts of Wales have been heavily industrialised since the 18th century. Mining,
quarrying and steelworks attracted large numbers of immigrants during the 19th
century, particularly into the valleys North of Cardiff. Much of the North and central
area of the country is mountainous and due to the poor quality of the soil, much of
Wales is unsuitable for arable farming. Hence, livestock farming particularly of sheep
has been the primary focus of agriculture. Wales’ beautiful and diverse landscape has
resulted in major developments in tourism in recent years. Whilst light engineering is
still an important activity in the main population areas of the North-east and So uth
Wales, the service sector is the main focus of the economy.
The EU designated West Wales and the valleys of industrial South Wales an
Objective 1 status, for the period 2000-2006. This was because the average gross
domestic product(GDP) was 75 per cent or less of the Europeanaverage. The aims of the
funding programmewere to raise per capita GDP in the region from 73 per centto 78 per
cent of the UK average; create around 43,500net additional jobs; and reduce the number
of those who were economically inactive by 35,000. 1,853 million euro (£1,165m) was
allocated by the EU over the life of the programme. This was matched by funding from
the UK publicand private sectors of around £860and £430 m, respectively.
SMEs defined as firms employing fewer than 250 people (EC, 2005), play a
central role in the economy and are an essential source of employment, innovation,
entrepreneurship and growth. In the UK as a whole, SMEs make up 99.9 per cent of all
enterprises and account for more than half (58.5 per cent) of the private sector
workforce and over half (51.3 per cent) of UK turnover (SBS, 2005). In Wales small
businesses also represent more than 99 per cent of all businesses and are both socially
and economically vital, accounting for approximately 60 per cent of all Welsh private
sector employment and over 40 per cent of business turnover (SBS, 2004).
Over the last decade much European, national and regional funding has been used
to promote the adoption of ICT amongst SMEs (EC, 2002). The rationale for such
investment is normally portrayed in the following terms (Quayle, 2002). Greater
adoption of ICT is seen to lead to clear business benefit such as greater business
competitiveness. For example, ICT adoption is seen to facilitate the location
independence of business while also permitting small business to access global as well
as local markets. In other words, ICT adoption allows small business to ‘‘level the
playing field’’ with large business in many areas. In turn, since SMEs form the vast
majority of businesses and SMEs are typically also seen as the growth agents within
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