A STUDY ON ELECTRONIC COMMERCE IN TURKEY; THE PROSPECT OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE FOR TURKISH SMEs

Abstract

Although e-commerce is widely accepted and adopted by business organizations in the industrialized countries, Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) are slow in implementing it. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are considered as important feature in the economies of every country. This crucial sector contributes to the development of national economies by providing employment, innovation and prosperity creation. This research project investigates the barriers to e-commerce implementation by SMEs in Turkey, and examine their experience related to; security and privacy, personnel qualification, customer satisfaction, change management and marketing. The study involved a survey and interviews with 20 SMEs and 100 consumers of these SMEs. Based on the survey results, it can be concluded that; the primary determinants of SMEs e-commerce in Turkey remains to be security and privacy issues, personnel qualification, customer satisfaction, organizational change, marketing and overall management. On the other hand, overall quality in terms of ecommerce is definitely the most important factor to consider.