STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT OF E-BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT - Performance Outcomes for Manufacturing SMEs

摘要

Facing pressures from an increasingly competitive business environment, manufacturing SMEs are called upon to implement strategies that are enabled and supported by information technologies and e-business applications. Based on the Internet and Web technologies, these include applications such as e-communication, e-commerce, e-business intelligence and e-collaboration. From a contingency theory perspective, and using survey data obtained from 107 Canadian manufacturing SMEs, this study examines the alignment of e-business development with business strategy, based on Miles and Snow's strategic typology. The performance outcomes of this alignment in terms of growth, productivity and financial performance are also examined. Results indicate that the ideal e-business development profiles vary in the relation to the firms' strategic orientation, whether it is of the Defender, Analyzer or Prospector type.