His expert help was the source guide to continue and refine my guidance, his constant persuasion encouraged me to apply my ideas, knowledge and perceptions on e-commerce adoption in Botswana. Literature highlighted the fact that the adoption of e-:-commerce by organizations in Western economies has resulted in tremendous returns in terms of profitability, efficiency, competitive advantage and survival itself. Adoption of e-commerce has the potential to bring such benefits to economies in developing countries such as Botswana.
The researcher pointed out little evidence of research on the adoption of e-commerce in developing countries as the key motive for conducting this study. The findings indicated that the adoption of e-commerce in Botswana is currently predominant in large organizations such as banks, chain stores and some government departments. Most researchers have placed little emphasis on the adoption and diffusion of e-commerce in the developing economies.
The objective of this study is to determine the level of adoption of e-commerce systems by marketing organizations in Botswana. The development of e-business IS dependent on the development of websites, since websites are the main gateway to the Internet for any type of e-business.
Hypothesis
Marketing has a unique opportunity to lead the way in developing insights into heterogeneous cyber consumers and business-to-business-to-business customers, as well as marketing-driven valuation methods. E-business measures should be based on the company's success in engaging consumers and gaining their loyalty. In addressing these issues, a key task for a company is to implement the adaptive experimentation philosophy.
This should encourage the development of new customer-centric business incubators to develop and launch an innovative business "out of the box" that addresses evolving customer needs (Wind and Mahajan, 2001.
Research objective
Importance of the study
Research design
Measurement in st rument s and data analysis
Nature and form of the result
Plan of the study
Conclusion
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction
- Internal data
- Marketing Intelligence
- Marketing research
This does not go well with people and they perceive e-commerce as a risky venture. Forecasts indicate significant growth in e-commerce in developing countries in the first decade of the twenty-first century (McConnell, 2000). This is the latest development of e-commerce, when e-commerce begins to affect the national economy and business activities in the country.
Managers can readily access and work with information in the database to identify opportunities and problems, plan programs and. Because internal information is collected for other purposes, it may be incomplete or in the wrong form to make marketing decisions. It is a systematic collection and analysis of publicly available information about competitors and developments in the marketing environment.
The marketing research process has four steps as shown in the diagram below (Armstrong and Kotler, 2003). It should focus on potential adopters and address their characteristics in the context of the environment in which they will use the technology.
CHAPTER 3
- Research methodology 3.1 Introduction
- Method of research
- Instrumentation
- The population and sampling
- Procedure data collection
- Criticism against the use of questionnaires
The questions in the questionnaire were structured in such a way that they matched the four hypotheses and research objectives cited in the first chapter. For example, the third hypothesis “E-commerce will have an adoption rate to grow” is covered by question 9 of the questionnaire, which deals with diffusion of e-commerce applications. The total population that will be questioned in this research will be 200 in 20 selected organizations in Gaborone.
A formal letter will be issued explaining the purpose of the study, granting respondent anonymity and organization, and giving instructions on how and who should complete the questionnaire. A questionnaire will be the best data collection tool in investigating the adoption of e-commerce by organizations in Botswana. Quantitative methods will be used for data analysis, mainly in the form of frequency tables.
Summary of findings
CHAPTER 5
Conclu s ion s and recommendation s
Conclu s ion s
Many companies in Botswana are also using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to trade and communicate with customers and suppliers. The findings show that the adoption of e-commerce ts mainly among companies that have existed for at least 20 years in the market. Apparently these are the companies that have large financial reserves to invest in the infrastructure that supports e-commerce applications.
Younger companies seem to only use existing infrastructure such as network connections to deploy e-commerce applications. The findings also showed that the level of use of e-commerce is still low compared to its non-use. This can be explained by the fact that e-commerce is a new technology in developing countries and the fact that small and young businesses (which form the majority of businesses in Botswana) do not use e-commerce much compared to large organizations.
The level of diffusion of e-commerce applications in organizations in Botswana is highest in e-mail, followed by e-banking, then e-customer service, e-advertising, online shopping and e-procurement come last. This can be explained by the cheapness of e-mail applications and the emergence and adoption of e-commerce applications by banks in Botswana. Unfortunately for many organizations there is no management support given to individuals who are.
However, there is evidence that decisions affecting individuals and organizations are not shared with those individuals before they are implemented. There is also little sharing of information in organizations and a lack of respect for those who try to be creative. Findings indicated that individuals in organizations do not view innovations as too complex to evaluate prior to implementation.
This may indicate that individuals have the full theoretical framework as far as e-commerce innovation and implementation is concerned. This is supported by the fact that the same people have a clear plan for what to do when implementing an innovation. The results also show that most organizations do a cost-benefit analysis before acquiring a system.
Recommendations
Leaders in e-commerce adoption are the government of Botswana, large corporations and banking institutions. These i n s tit uti ons have the financial and technological resources to adopt and implement e-commerce. Their efforts to introduce and implement e-commerce will help to pull their customers and suppliers in the same direction.
For example, organizations may use online banking because of its convenience, flexibility, and time savings. The use of e-commerce applications such as electronic data interchange needs support from individuals who are innovative in organizations. Currently, such individuals lack support and respect from their management when they come up with new ideas that can lead their organizations to adopt and implement e-commerce technologies.
Financial institutions like banks should have policies in place to help small and new businesses with financial assistance that will enable them to purchase infrastructure to support e-commerce activities. Currently, it IS mostly the government and large organizations that make full use of e-commerce applications because they can afford to invest by using their financial resources. Management can influence the release and channeling of funds for investment in e-commerce applications and technologies.
Information sharing and collaboration must be promoted in organizations so that e-commerce technologies are diffused through organizations and related stakeholders. Currently, there is very little evidence to support extensive information sharing in organizations, particularly on issues of toe-trafficking. Employees should also be given incentives related to their efforts to ensure that organizations adopt e-commerce.
