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This study aims to examine usage and deployment trends of e‐business technologies within the small and medium‐sized enterprise (SMEs) community in Wales, since the turn of the millennium. Analysis of prior surveys such as the Department of Trade and Industry and Federation of Small Business reveals poor adoption levels of basic information and communication technology deployment and minimal uptake of sophisticated technologies in comparison to other UK regions. Uptake of e‐business was assessed through a quantitative survey of SMEs and contrasted against prior studies undertaken within Wales since 2000 to identify trends and levels of adoption.

The study is comprised of a survey of 500 SMEs including a representative population from diverse geographical and economic regions within Wales. The survey deployed a proportionately stratified and representative sampling technique, whereby two‐thirds of the enterprises selected were micro sized classified enterprises with no employees to ensure compatibility with the Welsh SME population.

Levels of e‐business uptake within prior surveys varied significantly, due to the contrasting nature and size of the samples. As a consequence, several previous surveys presented an overly optimistic picture of e‐business adoption and results must, therefore, be treated with caution. The authors' own survey revealed lower utilisation levels of e‐business than prior studies, suggesting sophisticated use of e‐business was limited, especially within the smaller SME size classifications.

To achieve increased e‐business uptake, it is critical that there is a long‐term strategic vision by policy makers to ensure coordinated action by relevant public and private sector groups. Short‐term strategies must be avoided and policy makers must drive an agenda for change by ensuring bodies, such as enterprises support agencies, academia and public and private sectors undertake complimentary activities that encourage e‐business adoption. This study will be of value to academia, the SME community and key public sector stakeholders in the formulation of policy for e‐business development and deployment.

This paper aims to investigate the way in which blockchain technology is likely to influence future supply chain practices and policies.

A systematic review of both academic and practitioner literature was conducted. Multiple accounts of blockchain adoption within industry were also consulted to gain further insight.

While blockchain technologies remain in their infancy, they are gaining momentum within supply chains, trust being the predominant factor driving their adoption. The value of such technologies for supply chain management lies in four areas: extended visibility and traceability, supply chain digitalisation and disintermediation, improved data security and smart contracts. Several challenges and gaps in understanding and opportunities for further research are identified by this research. How a blockchain-enabled supply chain should be configured has also been explored from a design perspective.

This systematic review focuses on the diffusion of blockchain technology within supply chains, and great care was taken in selecting search terms. However, the authors acknowledge that their choice of terms may have excluded certain blockchain articles from this review.

This paper offers valuable insight for supply chain practitioners into how blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt existing supply chain provisions as well as a number of challenges to its successful diffusion.

The paper debates the poential social and economic impact brought by blockchain.

This paper is one of the first studies to examine the current state of blockchain diffusion within supply chains. It lays a firm foundation for future research.

The development of Ecommerce within Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Wales is restricted by a number of barriers. Various projects initiated by government and academic bodies exist to assist SMEs overcome these barriers. However, whether these projects represent the needs of SMEs is debatable. The opportunity for SMEs to exploit information communication technology has increased due to the improved affordability and sophistication of computing equipment, along with the development and utilisation of the Internet. This progress has seen the emergence of Ebusiness and Ecommerce, whereby SMEs can operate, communicate and trade in global markets. Recent surveys by academia, government and trade bodies have identified Wales as the worst performing region for Ebusiness in the UK with sceptical attitudes towards its increased adoption. This paper reports on a quantitative study investigating Ebusiness utilisation within SMEs in Wales. Specifically this paper focuses on the key barriers influencing the adoption of Ebusiness within SMEs in Wales. The survey of the Cardiff Chamber of Commerce (CCC) membership was undertaken in 2001. The CCC is a trade body of approximately 1000 SMEs encompassing a geographical area covering Cardiff, Bridgend, Newport and the Valleys areas. The postal survey and telephone follow up achieved a response rate of 100 SME classified enterprises, a response rate of approximately 10%. Academic research has identified these barriers as deficiencies in financial resources, time, information and skills; concerns over security, legal issues and competition and doubts over the applicability of Ebusiness to their business practices and cultural and infrastructure issues. These barriers are a major influence as to how Ebusiness will develop within SMEs and this paper identifies the significance of each factor in constraining growth. The paper concludes by investigating the assistance for SMEs from academia, government and trade to develop Ebusiness activities and questioning whether these are representative and effective mechanisms for this sector. This paper contributes to knowledge by appraising and contrasting existing barriers to Ebusiness literature and comparing it with the relevant SOGM literature. Secondly it classifies barriers in two ways by type and time of occurrence. Finally the paper recognises that the support mechanisms for Ebusiness within SMEs remain unproven and require further investigation to verify their effectiveness.

This paper aims to present a meta‐model for electronic government (e‐government) which takes account of the broad nature of this contemporary socio‐technical phenomenon. As such it contains within it a number of possible “business models” for the development of e‐government – strategies for e‐government focused around key business processes and information systems.

This meta‐model is built from literature taken from the domains of informatics, business and public administration. It is also built on established academic, policy and practitioner literature from the domain of e‐government itself.

The paper demonstrates and validates the use of this meta‐model in three ways. First, it is used as an explanatory tool to help review the contemporary experience of e‐government in the UK. To help in this process we position specific case examples of e‐government against the model from this experience. Second, it is used to evaluate a number of existing models of e‐government, particularly those which provide an explicit framework of e‐government progress. A number of deficiencies in such models are identified from this evaluation. Third, the meta‐model is proposed as a framework for evaluating and potentially benchmarking e‐government. The intention is to raise the perspective of evaluation and benchmarking in this area beyond its contemporary focus on electronic service delivery.

To demonstrate the worth of this approach, the paper describes the application of elements of this meta‐model in two evaluation/benchmarking exercises undertaken by the author in the context of regional e‐government.

In this paper we discuss an area of information systems management and development that appears to have been practised by many major European and US organisations: the area of corporate data modelling. However, rather suprisingly perhaps, it is clear that there is little theoretical or empirical literature devoted to this important issue. There is little empirical evidence to indicate the actual scale of adoption of this practice, and there is certainly little analytical material devoted to questions of the efficacy of this activity or considerations of good practice in this area. The main aim of this paper is to begin to offer some early empirical and analytical material on corporate data modelling. We have been conducting a study of a number of organisation’s experience of corporate data modelling in the UK. We would hope that an examination of the current corporate experience of corporate data modelling will stimulate a clearer discussion of the purposes and practices of this important area of modern information systems planning.

In this paper we discuss some of the particular features of user involvement in information systems (IS) development projects with reference to the idea of the trajectory of development being a political/cultural process. The main aim is to attempt to supply more depth to an understanding of the pragmatics of user involvement in IS development projects. We illustrate how in one particular project, differences in organisational sub‐cultures, and in particular the way in which the technology was ‘framed’, led to differences in the way in which an information system was conceived. These differences, in turn, contributed to elements of organisational conflict between stakeholder groups over the future trajectory of the IS development. We conclude with a critique of some generally held assumptions concerning user involvement.

This paper aims to examine the central place of the list and the associated concept of an identifier within the “scaffolding” of contemporary government order.

These terms are deliberately chosen to make strange and help unpack the constitutive capacity of information systems and information technology within and between contemporary government agencies. We draw upon the substantial body of work by John Searle to help understand the place of lists in the constitution of the order of governance.

To enable us to ground our discussion of the potentiality and problematic associated with lists, we describe a significant and modern instance of list-making, situated around the issue of digital identity management.

The theoretical framework discussed allows us to better explain breakdowns in the institutional order characteristic of this domain.

The purpose of this paper is to unpack some of the socio‐technical relationships inherent in contemporary notions of personal identity management. For this purpose it considers the issue of personal identity management in terms of a framework, which distinguishes between the related processes of authentication, identification and enrolment.

The conceptual model described in this paper is reflected against an important recent case in which issues of personal identity management are being enacted: the introduction of a UK national identity card. Both this issue and case are particularly examined in the light of the growth of e‐Government in the UK.

The paper relates issues associated with the technical infrastructure of e‐Government with some of the costs and benefits associated with the social infrastructure of e‐Government. This device offers a useful framing for a whole range of issues surrounding individual‐organisation interaction in the Information Society that rely on elements of personal identity management.

In the paper the issue of personal identity management is under‐represented in the Information Systems and Information Management literature. The conceptual approach adopted in the paper is used to identify areas of further research in terms of issues relevant to the technical infrastructure of e‐Government.

The paper identifies a number of personal identity management issues embedded in the technical infrastructure required for effective e‐Government.

This paper raises the importance of personal identity management to the success of the e‐Government agenda. It also links classic information management issues to the issue of personal identity management and identifies the challenges for e‐Government within this.

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.

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.

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.

This is a study of one region in Europe. Further regional cases are required to support the findings.

The findings should help regional planners and national governments assess the value of eBusiness initiatives.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to consider factors affecting the effective utilisation of information and communication technology (ICT) and the adoption of more sophisticated ICT solutions in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in Lagos, Nigeria.

The study adopts a case study approach. Semi‐structured interviews in 25 SMEs were used as tools for data collection.

The paper identifies eight key factors that affect the effective utilisation and adoption of more sophisticated or advanced ICT solutions in Nigerian SMEs.

The data for this research are drawn from a particular region in Nigeria, therefore, the findings are not generalisable to SMEs in other regions. Also, the data are collected from various industry sectors hence, it is not possible to have sector‐specific conclusions.

Effective utilisation of sophisticated ICT solutions in SMEs has great impact on SMEs' competitiveness. Also, the study could assist owner‐managers, policy makers and stakeholders to better understand the major challenges faced by Nigerian SMEs and create various initiatives to assist these SMEs.

The study provides insight into the adoption of sophisticated ICT solutions within Nigerian SMEs that is of value to owner‐managers, policy makers and academic researchers. The study further suggests means to achieve a successful and sustainable technology adoption in SMEs.

This paper seeks to investigate the key drivers and barriers of adopting mobile customer relationship management (mCRM) services in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and proposes an mCRM strategy framework.

Previous SME technology adoption literature has used different models to explain how SMEs accept or reject technology innovations. There is a lack of research in mobile technologies such as mCRM services. Using a secondary research method, this study critically analyses the impact of mCRM services adoption by UK SMEs.

Rapid development in mCRM applications enables SMEs to gain competitive advantages. This paper argues that mCRM services help SMEs to create different levels of relationship bonds with their customers, which in turn can create value proposition and improve business performance.

This study suggests that SME owners/managers need to understand their business needs and processes, and the mobile technology, to focus on their CRM strategies, and allocate resources in order to successfully adopt mCRM services to exploit the full potential. The conceptual model needs to be tested empirically.

This study demonstrates that business values and core services can be specific to mCRM strategy. It proposes and discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the mCRM strategy framework and suggests further research directions.

This paper seeks to understand how strategic information systems (IS) alignment takes place in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).

The paper employs a qualitative and quantitative analysis of data from 27 cases.

A contingent model allows re‐interpretation of earlier findings that appear to be inconsistent. First, benefit realisation depends on alignment between IS and business strategies. Second, IS investment is frequently limited to supporting operations and transactions. Third, organizations with more sophisticated IS tend to perform less successfully than those with less complex systems, the greatest alignment and highest performance are reported for systems to improve efficiency, and organizations that adopt a low‐cost approach are unlikely to use IS strategically.

The paper extends understanding of the contingent nature of SMEs' investment in, and use of, IS, and of the effect of market position on IS management. It provides guidelines by describing the dominant paths to alignment. The limitations are that the SME sample is not random, the scoring protocols rely on author coding, whether the research identifies cycles of alignment, alternative interpretations of path hierarchy, and if an SME's location uniquely defines its alignment path.

Performance is a function of the alignment between IS strategy and other business domains. However, prior research has focused on outcomes, rather than the processes by which alignment is developed. Using multiple case data, this paper investigates alignment in SMEs, explaining why different SMEs follow different paths to alignment. Four paths are identified, with the path chosen contingent on an SME's market position.

Small and mid‐sized enterprises (SMEs) are facing challenges in an increasingly fierce environment. This paper aims to explore the promise of information systems (IS) in enhancing the survival and competitiveness of SMEs in a dynamic environment. To address this issue, the paper draws upon the dynamic capability theory and develops a research model of IS‐enabled dynamic capabilities to examine the role of IS competence for enhancing SMEs dynamic capabilities in a competitive business environment.

An empirical study is conducted by using survey data from senior managers of 120 SMEs in China.

The analytic outcomes support the research model and confirm that IS competence significantly contributes to SMEs' dynamic capabilities for gaining competitive advantage.

This paper contributes to the literature on IS impact on dynamic capabilities of SMEs by incorporating IS competences into a research model of IS‐enabled dynamic capabilities and articulating the relationships between IS competences and dynamic capabilities of SMEs in a changing business environment. The research findings enrich dynamic capabilities theory by justifying IS as an enabling antecedent for organizational capability development. The findings may empirically convince SMEs owners and management to effectively invest in and deploy IS for enhancing SMEs' dynamic capabilities and performance.

A capability‐building perspective is used to examine how IS can leverage SMEs' capabilities to enhance their competitive advantage in a dynamic environment.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of such demographic variables as age composition, gender sensitivity, experience, homogeneity/heterogeneity and educational attainment of top management teams (TMT) on small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs)' information technology (IT) adoption behaviour.

The data collection method was primarily field survey guided by the five working hypotheses and research objectives. Analysis of the data was made with multiple regression analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient as there were five independent variables that entered into the equation, though at different stages/times.

As the study unravelled, the age composition, experience and gender sensitivity of TMT members of SMEs were found to have significantly strong power of predicting the extent of adoption of IT. Group homogeneity, in terms of functional track, has negative impacts and education has weak impacts, contrary to many previous inquiries.

The paper takes a sample of subjects across industries from where findings are specifically generalized. Extended data and measures are required for further in‐depth investigation in specific areas and industries not covered by this work in order to build external validity and further expand knowledge. Also, the paper suggests that marketers of IT infrastructures are encouraged to focus more on individual and group idiosyncrasies of decision makers measured by age, gender and experience in order to accurately predict and timely package programmes that win trial, loyal, switching and viral/advocacy behaviours in this global age.

The paper bridges a knowledge gap by replicating and complementing upper echelon theory on the extent to which IT adoption is determined and shaped by the demographic factors of members of TMT in Nigeria, where such studies rarely exist.

This paper aims to examine information and communications technology (ICT) adoption among small hotel businesses in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

This qualitative research is based on seven case studies that fall within the South African and European Union small and medium enterprises (SMEs) definitions. The case studies are constructed on the basis of 60 semi‐structured interviews and supporting secondary data. The authors adopt the Gibbs et al. model which identifies and brings together ICT adoption factors that include government role, environmental attributes, owner/manager attributes, organisational attributes and social networks. Archer's epistemological bootstrapping technique is applied for analysing the data. In addition, Zappala and Gray's stage model is used to gauge the level of ICT uptake reached by each case study. In this way, the authors incorporate an important additional element for examining ICT adoption.

Apart from providing rich insights into the ICT adoption process, the results highlight the individual distinctive behavioural characteristics as well as the stage of ICT adoption reached by each case study. The paper finds that case studies that operated in a stable business environment; with organisational readiness; financial and owner manager support seemed readily engaged in ICT adoption. Social networks played a crucial role, especially among those small businesses with resource constraints.

The findings from seven individual cases in the three South African Development Community (SADC) countries have limited cross‐case and cross‐national comparisons owing to the distinctive organisational characteristics of the SMEs. Furthermore, the selection of case studies from a single sector of small hotel businesses results in data which only reflect the experiences of SMEs in typical urban locations of Johannesburg, Gaborone and Harare. The implications of these limitations mean that further data are needed from other small firm sectors and more SADC countries in order to gain a better understanding of ICT adoption among SMEs in the region.

The findings contribute to the literature on ICT adoption among SMEs in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. The results bring new insights from small hotel businesses and help to explain ICT adoption, which is relatively under‐researched in these SADC countries.

The purpose of this research is to show that the provision of an increasing range of remote, electronic access channels by private and public sector bodies is predicated on a critical mass of citizenry utilising such access channels. However, a major concern is that the increasing use of ICT for private and public sector transactions is seen as potentially creating a “digital divide” between those with access to technology and those who do not. This paper adapts an index of the digital divide documented in previous work and utilises this instrument to analyse the depth and breadth of this phenomenon in a UK region – Wales.

The paper discusses the construction of a “digital divide index” (DDIX) for Wales based upon the previous established work of Husing and Selhofer. The DDIX is applied to data collected as part of a major European‐wide project – UNDERSTAND.

The DDIX situates four citizen segments in terms of internet access and usage – gender, age, education and income. There are no significant digital divides evident within the Welsh region in terms of gender and income. However, there are significant digital divides in terms of age and education.

The DDIX as formulated considers a limited range of possible dimensions, both in terms of citizen groups and internet access and usage. Other possible dimensions for consideration are discussed in the paper.

Our application of a DDIX has been useful in highlighting the multi‐faceted nature of this phenomenon within a regional context. Further research is required both to refine such an important information society metric and to apply it in further domains of analysis.

The paper will be of interest both to academic researchers and policy‐makers interested in understanding and measuring the digital divide.

In this paper, we consider the synergy between two areas of information system (IS) literature: that concerned with the evaluation of IS and that concerned with explaining the phenomenon of IS failure. On the basis of an analysis of both areas, a model is presented which attempts to integrate IS evaluation into the life cycle of IS development. The model links the issue of failure assessment with the evaluation process and constitutes a strategy for stimulating organisational learning in relation to IS development. The paper concludes with a description of our attempts to validate aspects of the model and plans for further empirical work in this area.

This paper seeks to describe a deep investigation of the phenomenon of internet engagement amongst older people. The likelihood of internet engagement has been shown in previous work to rapidly decrease with age, and patterns of disengagement are most pronounced amongst older people.

The study comprises a qualitative investigation consisting of observation and interviews conducted within a programme of internet literacy workshops funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.

The reflection of previous research with data collected has led to the development of a model of older people's internet engagement. This model helps us better understand the context for patterns of engagement and disengagement with the internet.

The model of internet engagement is used to highlight a number of strategies that should be considered in future policy intervention in the area of digital inclusion.

The model described offers a more sophisticated instrument for understanding the issue of the digital divide amongst this excluded group and potentially may be applied more generally in understanding the complex nature of this issue.