Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
THE AUSTRALIAN PERSPECTIVE
At the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), various reports on business activity in
Australia were produced, and of the estimated 1,107,000 private-sector businesses operating
during the 1998-1999 year, 1,055,300 were classified as small businesses employing 3.1 million
people, or approximately 50.2% of the total workforce (ABS, 2000). In the Yellow Pages Small
Business Index (2000), a small business is identified as one that has “up to 19 full-time
employees including the proprietor if he or she is part of the workforce [and] medium-sized
business employing between 20 and 200 full-time persons.” In addition to this definition,
those at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) identified another category of business
operators within this sector, the “Very Small Business (VSB) who employ fewer than five
employees” (ABS, 2000).
Approximately 25% of small businesses and 56% of medium businesses surveyed in
the “Survey of Computer Technology and E-Commerce in Australian Small and Medium
Business” (NOIE, 2000) reported having a homepage. Using the Internet for e-commerce sales
accounts for only 0.4%, and only 6% of Australian businesses at all levels are classified as
Internet commerce active at the end of June 2000. What is more startling in these sets of figures
is that only 2% of businesses generate 50% or more of their sales over the Internet (ABS, 2000).
It is unfortunate that the ABS figures do not provide a greater breakdown of Internet active
SMEs by industry sector, as we would have a greater understanding of the e-business
potential for our graduates. Then, we would focus on course content that can deliver specific
objectives to increase awareness of the benefits of Internet technology adoption rather than
developing generalized course outcomes. An analysis of the stated objectives from a sample
of course outlines from the 30 Undergraduate and Postgraduate Electronic Commerce/
Electronic Business courses located on the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee Member
Universities (http://www.mis.deakin.edu.au/elsieEC/au_U.htm), identifies that existing
courses and programs have been designed to provide a broad knowledge of commerce- and
business-related topics, together with in-depth knowledge needed to acquire expertise in
electronic commerce systems.
While course outlines detailed specific technologies for online transaction processing,
the supply chain; Web page design, development, and implementation; programming
languages; text formatting and script writing; data communications; analysis; metrics; and
other techniques for conducting business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer
(B2C) commerce, there is little emphasis placed on providing course content that integrates
business principles and practices with specific e-commerce skills expertise for the graduate
who will be developing the e-business strategy with the SME.
In the final report, “SME Electronic Commerce Study,” by PricewaterhouseCoopers
(1999) for the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), on the adoption of electronic
commerce, reasons are listed for not adopting Internet technologies provided by the 21
member nation economies, and these include the following:
Low use of electronic commerce by customers and suppliers
Concerns about security aspects of electronic commerce
Concerns about legal and liability issues
High costs of computer and networking technologies
Limited knowledge of e-business models and technologies
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