E-Commerce and Export Markets: Small Furniture Producers in South Africa

摘要

Excluding government transactions, approximately 90 percent of global e-commerce is conducted among businesses (Mansell 2001). Increasingly, international wood furniture buyers are using the internet to transform the way they do business and by which they collaborate with trading partners. In particular, many of them are using the internet to trade online and to develop close knowledge-based links with suppliers. E-commerce technologies are, in turn, becoming increasingly important for South African small wood furniture producers (SWFPs) as they are integrated into global value chains and are exposed to more sophisticated markets.