Designing diagnosis instrument to determine e-Commerce readiness for micro and small enterprises in rural areas
Fecha
2022-05
Tipo
artículo original
Autores
Barquero Salazar, Michael
Marín Raventós, Gabriela
López Herrera, Gustavo
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Resumen
Before implementing electronic commerce, micro-businesses must conduct a diagnostic study
to determine its feasibility. They must decide whether they have the technological resources
required and determine if potential customers are also ready and willing to use this new
distribution channel. To ease this diagnosis, two instruments are designed and evaluated. One
for diagnosing the electronic commerce readiness of micro and small companies and the other
to assess the potential consumer's ecommerce readiness. An iterative process was used for the
design and evaluation of these diagnostic instruments. Academic experts with extensive
experience in instrument design conducted the first evaluation; the second iteration was
evaluated in a pilot field study involving six businesses and ten consumers from rural regions.
Finally, the last evaluation was carried out through a case study in the Río Cuarto de Alajuela
canton, in which 29 companies and 261 consumers from a specific region participated. In this
article, evaluations made to the instruments in each of the different iterations are presented,
while in the original article, the emphasis was given to the results of the final case study. It is
important to note that the recommendations and opportunities for improvement obtained from
the respective evaluations were applied in each of the iterations. Robust and efficient
diagnostic instruments are the main product of this study.
Descripción
Palabras clave
DIAGNOSTIC INSTRUMENT, E-COMMERCE, SMALL ENTERPRISES, RURAL AREAS, DESIGN