IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aif/journl/v7y2022i1p13-23.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Challenges Limiting SMEs from Adopting Electronic Commerce in Tanzania: A case study of Ilala Municipality Dar es salaam

Author

Listed:
  • Emmanuel Nikundiwe Abraham

    (District Treasurer- At Mpwapwa District Council, Tanzania & PhD Candidate, Open University of Tanzania, Tanzania.)

Abstract

The paper describes challenges of SMEs in the adoption of e-commerce technology in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam city-Ilala Municipal was chosen as case study, because SMEs found in Dar es Salaam are more likely to be using e-commerce since Dar es Salaam is among regions where most of SMEs connected to internet are found in Tanzania. The researcher collected data from 30 SMEs found in Ilala Municipality. The data collected were then subjected to analysis using Quantitative methods and content analysis. Frequency and percentage were used in data presentation, where questions on technical challenges, Technological challenges and management attitudes were answered. The results indicate that there are Technical, technological challenges and management reasons that limit SMEs from adopting e-commerce. Technical challenges include high equipment and Installation costs, lack of fund to employ computer experts, poor communication infrastructure which is able to support mainly e-mail, poor-security in network, authentication and certification issues, lack of relevant skills and expertise within the companies, absence of enabling infrastructure such as internet exchange and Technological challenges include infancy of technology, cost effective electronic commerce enabled software, lack of simple knowledge to operate and lack of fund to employ computer experts. On the part of management attitudes, there are lacks of awareness of the e-commerce technology, technophobia; management not committing enough resources to IT related issue. It was concluded that building any kind of electronic commerce system requires a strategy i.e. vision of the goal to achieve, a clear rational of the business value and a picture of the process to achieve such a goal and avoiding common pitfall. This strategy should include an understanding of the impact of e-commerce on SMEs, the potential for new business models and opportunities for competitive advantage

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuel Nikundiwe Abraham, 2022. "Challenges Limiting SMEs from Adopting Electronic Commerce in Tanzania: A case study of Ilala Municipality Dar es salaam," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 7(1), pages 13-23.
    • Handle: RePEc:aif:journl:v:7:y:2022:i:1:p:13-23
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ijsab.com/wp-content/uploads/872.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ijsab.com/volume-7-issue-1/4622
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rita Rahayu & John Day, 2017. "E-commerce adoption by SMEs in developing countries: evidence from Indonesia," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 7(1), pages 25-41, April.
    2. Robert C. MacGregor & Mira Kartiwi, 2010. "Perception of Barriers to E-Commerce Adoption in SMEs in a Developed and Developing Country: A Comparison Between Australia and Indonesia," Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations (JECO), IGI Global, vol. 8(1), pages 61-82, January.
    3. Efraim Turban & Jon Outland & David King & Jae Kyu Lee & Ting-Peng Liang & Deborrah C. Turban, 2018. "Electronic Commerce 2018," Springer Texts in Business and Economics, Springer, edition 9, number 978-3-319-58715-8, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Emmanuel H. Yindi & Immaculate Maumoh & Prisillah L. Mahavile, 2021. "Exploring the role of Awareness, Government Policy, and Infrastructure in adapting B2C E-Commerce to East African Countries," Papers 2102.11729, arXiv.org.
    2. Miftahurrohman Miftahurrohman & Eko Sediyono & Albert Kriestian Novi Adhi Nugraha, 2022. "The Model of the Sustainability of E-commerce Adoption: A Study on Carved Furniture SMEs in Indonesia," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 30(1), pages 466-483, April.
    3. Marcia Mkansi, 2022. "E-business adoption costs and strategies for retail micro businesses," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1153-1193, December.
    4. Iulia Cristina Iuga & Dorin Wainberg, 2024. "Factors That Influence the Implementation of M-Commerce by Romanian SMEs During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 4571-4604, March.
    5. Makomborero Bure & Robertson K. Tengeh, 2019. "Implementation of internal controls and the sustainability of SMEs in Harare in Zimbabwe," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 7(1), pages 201-218, September.
    6. Abou-Shouk, Mohamed A. & Lim, Wai Mun & Megicks, Phil, 2016. "Using competing models to evaluate the role of environmental pressures in ecommerce adoption by small and medium sized travel agents in a developing country," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 327-339.
    7. Sunday C. Eze & Vera C. A. Chinedu-Eze & Hart O. Awa, 2021. "Key Success Factors (KSFs) Underlying the Adoption of Social Media Marketing Technology," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, April.
    8. Kumar, Harish & Singh, Manoj Kumar & Gupta, M.P. & Madaan, Jitendra, 2020. "Moving towards smart cities: Solutions that lead to the Smart City Transformation Framework," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    9. Wei-Lun Huang & Peng Hu & Sophia Tsai & Xi-Ding Chen, 2021. "The business analysis on the home-bias of E-commerce consumer behavior," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 855-879, September.
    10. Cătălin Grădinaru & Ștefan-Alexandru Catană & Sorin George Toma & Andreea Barbu, 2022. "An Empirical Research of Students’ Perceptions Regarding M-Commerce Acquisitions during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-22, August.
    11. Elissa Dwi Lestari, 2022. "The Effect of Financial Literacy, Cost of Technology Adoption, Technology Perceived Usefulness, and Government Support on MSMEs' Business Resilience ," GATR Journals gjbssr620, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.
    12. Patryk Krajewski & Witold Chmielarz, 2019. "Koncepcja kierunkow rozwoju systemow informatycznych (The concept of directions of development of information systems)," Research Reports, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 1(30), pages 67-79.
    13. Khan, Zeshan Aslam & Chaudhary, Naveed Ishtiaq & Khan, Taimoor Ali & Farooq, Umair & Pinto, Carla M.A. & Raja, Muhammad Asif Zahoor, 2023. "Enhanced fractional prediction scheme for effective matrix factorization in chaotic feedback recommender systems," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    14. Martin Wynn & Olakunle Olayinka, 2021. "E-Business Strategy in Developing Countries: A Framework and Checklist for the Small Business Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-23, June.
    15. Jian Mou & Gang Ren & Chunxiu Qin & Kerry Kurcz, 2019. "Understanding the topics of export cross-border e-commerce consumers feedback: an LDA approach," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 749-777, December.
    16. Onkar Nath Mishra & Saurabh Gupta, 2020. "Antecedents and Impact of E-commerce Adoption among New Venture Firms: Evidence from Tourism and Hospitality Industry," Vision, , vol. 24(4), pages 431-440, December.
    17. Mihaela Tofan & Ionel Bostan, 2022. "Some Implications of the Development of E-Commerce on EU Tax Regulations," Laws, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-26, February.
    18. Padmavathy, Chandrasekaran & Swapana, Murali & Paul, Justin, 2019. "Online second-hand shopping motivation – Conceptualization, scale development, and validation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 19-32.
    19. Oussama Tounekti & Antonio Ruiz-Martínez & Antonio F. Skarmeta Gomez, 2022. "Research in Electronic and Mobile Payment Systems: A Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-24, June.
    20. Vimal K.E.K & Simon Peter Nadeem & Mahadharsan Ravichandran & Manavalan Ethirajan & Jayakrishna Kandasamy, 2022. "Resilience strategies to recover from the cascading ripple effect in a copper supply chain through project management," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 440-460, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aif:journl:v:7:y:2022:i:1:p:13-23. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Farjana Rahman (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.