Inter-Study Comparisons 
of Small Business Internet Use 
in Australia and New Zealand

Stewart Adam, Senior Lecturer, School of Marketing, RMIT University, Level 14, 239 Bourke Street, Melbourne, 3000. Email: stewart.adam@rmit.edu.au

Kenneth R Deans, Senior Lecturer, Department of Marketing, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand. Email: kdeans@commerce.otago.ac.nz

Keywords

Electronic commerce, e-commerce, eCommerce, electronic business, e-business, eBusiness, electronic marketing, e-marketing, eMarketing, online marketing, small business, Internet commerce, World Wide Web, Web.

Abstract

Business and government use of the Internet and its graphical face the World Wide Web is increasingly the focus of researchers from a range of disciplines. The Internet is a convergence of a number of technologies but is of course reliant on IT systems. Early studies by Poon and Swatman (1996a; 1996b; 1997a; and 1997b) point to small business use in Australia that is different to the transaction-based e-commerce reported on widely in the business press. The 20-month longitudinal small business study reported by Poon and Swatman (1999) points to disappointment in outcomes from Internet usage by many small businesses. Data from the three-stage WebQUAL Audit is analysed and indicates that small business use of the Net has changed little. More recent information from government is also presented, pointing to the need to replicate such studies as WebQUAL and to ensure that rich data is also captured by way of triangulation using content analysis and published case studies.