1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 6
1.1. BACKGROUND….. ................................................................................................... 6
1.2. RESEARCH PROBLEM ................................................................................................ 7
1.3. AIM AND OBJECTIVES............................................................................................... 8
1.4. THESIS OUTLINE ...................................................................................................... 9
2. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 10
2.1. RESEARCH APPROACH. ........................................................................................... 10
2.2. RESEARCH METHOD............................................................................................... 11
2.3. DATA COLLECTION ................................................................................................ 12
2.3.1. Secondary data ............................................................................................... 12
2.3.2. Primary data................................................................................................... 13
2.4. RESEARCH MODEL OUTLINE .................................................................................. 15
3. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .................................................................... 16
3.1. INTRODUCTION.. ................................................................................................... 16
3.2. DEFINITION OF E-COMMERCE ............................................................................... 16
3.3. DEVELOPMENT OF E-COMMERCE AND PROCESS OF ADOPTION .............................. 17
3.4. E-COMMERCE AND MARKETING STRATEGY............................................................ 20
3.4.1. Product ............................................................................................................21
3.4.2. Place ...............................................................................................................21
3.4.3. Price.................................................................................................................22
3.4.4. Promotion.........................................................................................................22
3.5. BENEFITS OF E-COMMERCE ADOPTION IN SMALL COMPANIES ................................ 24
3.6. BARRIERS FOR E-COMMERCE ADOPTION IN SMALL COMPANIES .............................. 27
3.7. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................ 30
4. FINDINGS ............................................................................................................ 31
4.1. ELECTRONIC DEVELOPMENT IN SWEDEN. ............................................................. 31
4.2. E-COMMERCE USAGE IN SMALL-SIZE COMPANIES ................................................... 33
4.3. DEVELOPMENT OF E-COMMERCE IN THE INTERVIEWED COMPANIES ..................... 35
4.4. THE REASON BEYOND E-COMMERCE DEVELOPMENT............................................. 36
4.5. THE IMPACT OF E-COMMERCE ON MARKETING ...................................................... 37
4.6. BENEFITS FROM E-COMMERCE ADOPTION ............................................................. 39
4.7. BARRIERS FOR E-COMMERCE ADOPTION ................................................................ 39
4.8. BENEFITS AND BARRIERS – BEFORE AND NOW ....................................................... 40
5. DISCUSSION........................................................................................................ 42
5.1. E-COMMERCE DEVELOPMENT IN SMALL-SIZE COMPANIES IN SWEDEN................... 42
5.2. DRIVING FORCE FOR E-COMMERCE ADOPTION ...................................................... 43
5.3. THE IMPACT OF E-COMMERCE ON MARKETING ...................................................... 44
5.4. BENEFITS FROM E-COMMERCE ADOPTION ............................................................. 45
5.5. BARRIERS FOR E-COMMERCE ADOPTION ................................................................ 46
6. CONCLUSION..................................................................................................... 48
LIMITATIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH ......................................................... 49
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 50
APPENDIXES ............................................................................................................ 53
ID: 01788
Volum: 55 pagini