University of Twente Proceedings

Virtual Supplier Diversity: The Business-to-Business implications of low-tech Entrepreneurial Ethnic Minority Businesses in a virtual environment

Beckinsale, Martin John James and Pancholi, Darshan and Shah, Mayank (2006) Virtual Supplier Diversity: The Business-to-Business implications of low-tech Entrepreneurial Ethnic Minority Businesses in a virtual environment. In: The 14th Annual High Technology Small Firms Conference : May 11-13, 2006 + May 10, 2006 Doctoral Workshop, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands., 10 May 2006 - 13 May 2006, Enschede, The Netherlands .

PDF
119kB

Event:	The 14th Annual High Technology Small Firms Conference : May 11-13, 2006 + May 10, 2006 Doctoral Workshop, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands., 10 May 2006 - 13 May 2006, Enschede, The Netherlands
Abstract:	The evidence of limited ICT adoption and use among Ethnic Minority Businesses is growing, supported by the work of Ram and Smallbone (1999), Foley and Ram (2002) and SBS (2004). The reasons discussed are many including firm size, lack of skills, culture, markets and sectors (SBS, 2004 and Allinson et al, 2004). However, existing examinations of ICT adoption and use by EMBs have failed to consider business-to-business (B2B) activities especially by firms in sectors where B2B activities are rapidly developing and increasingly the norm. Given, the increasing economic impact of EMBs in the UK and the growing push towards international trade the paper identifies the factors that both aid and limit B2B development among EMBs and potential International partners. The focus of B2B development is the UK’s first Virtual Trade Fair bringing UK EMBs, US EMBs and US Corporates together virtually. The paper identifies a number of factors creating and limiting B2B development and the formation of any international strategic alliances including: limited ICT use; limited understanding and use of virtual trade fair technologies, operating sectors and markets. The recommendations to overcome such issues include greater inclusion of EMBs in UK government backed e-procurement programmes, improved matching of sectors between buyers and sellers and raised ICT awareness and adoption in the EMB community.
Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Link to this item:	http://purl.utwente.nl/proceedings/159
Organisation URL:	http://www.utwente.nl/bms/nikos/
Export this item as:	BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager

Show download statistics for this publication

Repository Staff Only: item control page