The extent to which the adoption of e-commerce has facilitated business in clearing and forwarding firms in Nairobi

Abstract

The study focused on the Clearing and Forwarding firms in Kenya based in Nairobi. The objectives of the study were to establish to what extent CIFs have adopted e-commerce. Forty firms were selected at random and a self administered questionnaire dropped at their offices. The finding of this study was that despite the fact that the CIFs have Internet and domain addresses, they have not translated these into e-cornmerce. In addition, the CIFs only use the Internet to file entries for clearance of goods from Kenya Revenue Authority. The other finding is that the CIFs acknowledge and recognize the benefits associated with e-commerce but they are yet to incorporate e-commerce activities into their organizations. The study also noted the improvement in the ICT sector in terms of costs and improved infrastructure in the form of ISPs .What is still lacking in the sector is the legal framework.