| dc.description.abstract | The focus of the study was to determine the status of e-business and the factors influencing the
adoption and implementation of e-business technologies in companies quoted at the Nairobi
Stock Exchange. The need for this study arises from the fact that e-business technologies are
driving fundamental changes in how business is conducted yet little is known of the relative
importance of factors influencing their adoption and implementation in Kenya.
Companies across the world are pursuing the operational benefits of e-business technologies by
making use of on-line web based systems and applications a normal part of everyday operations.
Such systems continue to alter manufacturing and industry value chains by increasing efficiency,
reducing costs and streamlining production processes. This makes their adoption and
implementation in large firms that have the market power and vast resources to assume greater
levels of innovation risks a fundamental issue.
The uptake of e-business technologies may not be fully explained by diffusion of innovation
studies that focus on Information and Communication Technologies (lCTs), in general, owing to
unique interorganisational components of e-business technologies. This study considered internal
and external factors cited as influencing the uptake uf ICTs to establish their relative importance
in the diffusion of e-business technologies. Data was cO'ttected using a questionnaire
administered to Information Systems Managers in all companies whose shares were actively
traded at the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
The results of data analysis show that all firms had adopted basic e-business technologies that
facilitate e-mail, information search and retrieval. Whereas 27% had web sites that could take
orders only 8% could receive payments. Although 69% of firms had websites, 85% of them
never used them for online purchases, sales to customers and other business functions. Listing of
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products and provision of company data on Web sites rated moderate in importance and features
like tracking delivery, links to e-trading sites, on-line billing and secure transactions rated low in
importance. Use of web applications for e-delivery coordination, e-competitor intelligence, staff
recruitment and training online and e-financial transactions were rare. These results confirm
previous findings that widespread use of the Internet does not automatically translate into ebusiness
and points to considerable scope for further development of e-business applications in
large publicly quoted firms.
Lack of infrastructure, an enabling IC']' policy and legal framework, readiness on the part of
business alliance partners, suppliers and customers ranked as the most significant factors
influencing the diffusion of e-business technologies. This confirms the influence of the unique
inter-organisatiohal element in the diffusion of e-business technologies.
Several limiting characteristics of this exploratory study offer researchers opportunities in this
area. Firstly, more refined metrics for adoption and implementation constructs may yield more
insight into the assimilation of these technologies. Secondly, a multiple case study of innovator
firms may capture the inter-organisational nature of these technologies. Thirdly, the use of
techniques like logistic regression and path analysis may shed more light on the nature of
relationships between the dependent and independent variables cOhsidered in this study | en |
