Professional Documents
Culture Documents
HATEM EL-GOHARY
Bradford University School of Management
School address
Mailing address
Telephone
Fax
Email
Hatem El-Gohary
Abstract:Small Business Enterprises (SBE's) play a major role in the world economy, and
their contribution to economic and employment growth is widely recognized. Based on
the SBE role as an economic engine to drive global development, this research seeks to
understand the practices and activities of these enterprises in terms of electronic
marketing (Achieving marketing objectives and functions through the use of electronic
communication technology), marketing performance and the effectiveness of industrial
and trade SBEs. In order to do this a comparative study is made between SBEs in Egypt
(developing) and the UK (developed).
The main aim of this work is to identify links between the conceptual framework
and empirical analysis in this field because they appear to be highly integrated, and if
reviewed separately may present distorted results.
A triangulation approach will be used in which quantitative and qualitative data
will be collected through structured mailed questionnaires and semi-structured
interviews to address different levels of investigation, test the hypotheses and address the
central research questions.
Key words: E-Marketing, Small Business Enterprises, Marketing performance,
Egypt, UK.
1. Introduction:Small Business Enterprises (SBE's) do play a major role in the world economy,
and they are recognized as one of the main contributors to economic, development and
employment growth. According to Mulhern (1995) 99% of all European companies are
small and medium sized (SME) and from 1985-1995 it provided 66% of the employment
in Europe. That is also true in Less Developing Countries (LDCs) since small businesses
do represent a high percentage of the total number of enterprises.
On the other hand, the revolution in information technology (IT) and
communications changed the way people conduct business today. In recent years,
increasing numbers of businesses have been using the Internet and other electronic media
in their marketing efforts, giving the chance for Electronic marketing (as a new marketing
phenomenon and philosophy) to grow in a very dramatic and dynamic way.
From the researcher point of view, implementing E-marketing by small business
enterprise can change the shape and nature of SBEs business all over the world. Because
the rapid proliferation of the Internet, the World Wide Web (WWW) and electronic
communication has created a fast growing new electronic channels for marketing. For
that, the internet and other electronic media are playing now a very important role in
conducting marketing activities due to its unique characteristics as a market and as a
medium.
Depending on that the researcher is seeking to add to the body of knowledge by
investigating and understanding the practices and activities of small business enterprises
through conducting a research about the effect of implementing E-marketing on
Hatem El-Gohary
Despite of the powerful position held by small businesses, defining it has always
been difficult and there is a little agreement on what defines a small business because the
term covers a variety of firms. As a result small businesses have been defined in a
perplexing number of different ways in different parts of the world according to national
and local needs (Theng and Boon 1996; Watson and Everrett 1996). Table 1 summarizes
the official or most common definitions of SBE's used in some countries around the
world.
Table 1: Criteria of defining SBEs adapted by some countries
Country
USA
European
Union
No. of employees
Under 100
Under 50
Australia
Canada
Under 20
Under 500 in mfg
and 50 in services
None
India
Mexico
Thailand
Under 50
Under 200 in
labour intensive
Turkey
10 to 49
Source: El-Gohary (2006)
Other criteria
Less than $ 5 million annual sales
Annual turnover or global balance less than 10 million
euros
+
Independence
None
Less than $ 5 million annual sales
Total investment(not exceeding 10 million Indian
Rupees in industrial enterprises and 1 million in
service enterprises)
None
None
None
From table 1 it is noticed that the number of employees is the most often used
element in determining the category of SBE's in most countries. Furthermore,. It also
noticed that there is a lack of agreement on what defines a small business, for that a
standard definition for Small Business Enterprises is needed. Accordingly and due to the
absence of an Egyptian official definition for SBEs, the researcher will depend on the
following definition for SBEs for the purpose of conducting the research study: a small
business enterprise is that enterprise that employs from ten to forty-nine employees.
1.1.2 E-Marketing:-
Hatem El-Gohary
Internet and other electronic means. A review of relevant literature revealed that
definitions of electronic marketing vary according to each author's point of view,
background and specialization. While Smith and Chaffey (2005) defines it as: Achieving
marketing objectives through applying digital technologies, Strauss and Frost (2001)
define it as: The use of electronic data and applications for planning and executing the
conception, distribution and pricing of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that
satisfy individual and organizational objectives.
The researcher will depend on Strauss and Frost definition in conducting the
current research because: it takes into consideration all the element of E-marketing, all
types of products, it illustrate the main objective of E-marking which is creating the
exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational needs. Moreover it is the official
definition for E-marketing adopted by the E-Marketing Association.
1.1.3 Marketing performance:-
Given the fact that a firm survival depends on its capacity to create value, and
value is defined by customers (Day, 1990), marketing makes a fundamental contribution
to long-term business success. But despite of the importance of measuring business
performance there is a little research on the measures used to evaluate marketing
performance and effectiveness. On the other hand, when looking to the marketing
performance and success measures it is noticed that there are many measures. Recently,
in an attempt to organize performance measures Kokkinaki and Ambler (1999) have
summarized it and established six categories for marketing performance and success
measures which are: Financial measures / Competitive market measures / Consumer
behaviour measures / Consumer intermediate measures / Direct costumer measures /
Innovativeness measures.
1.1.3.1 E-Marketing Performance Measures:-
Hatem El-Gohary
marketing / Extranet marketing. On the other hand, it is noticed that the literature in
Internet-marketing (IM) covers five main areas which are: Internet marketing (IM)
environment, IM functions, IM applications and IM research. Regarding the literature of
E-marketing in SBEs, it was found that it covers the following areas illustrated in figure
1.
E-Bay and
SBEs
E-Business
adoption by
SBEs
The concept of
E-Marketing in
SBEs
The use of
internet by
SBEs
B2B in SBEs
SBEs
Competencies
Virtual Market
Export
performance
By reviewing this literature its noticed that:Almost all of the researches on E-marketing in SBEs had been conducted in
Europe (UK, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Austria and Switzerland),
Australia and New Zealand. Only 2 studies were conducted in developing
countries.
The literature was concentrated on some research areas, and (up to the knowledge
of the researcher) there is no single research on the SBEs E- Marketing
Performance or in SBEs marketing in Egypt.
Hatem El-Gohary
4. Research Objectives:-
Descriptive Statistics,
Correlation, Chi
The research process will be conducted through fiveSquare,
basicIndependent
stages (as illustrated in
Entering Data to SPSS
Figure2) these stagesData
are: Identification
of
the
research
problem
and objectives, The
samples t-test
Analysis
development
of
the
research
framework,
Research
methodology,
Quantitative and
Purification Process
qualitative data analysis, and Discussion and conclusion. Content Analysis
Hatem El-Gohary
Hatem El-Gohary
7.1 Research Methodology:-
8.6%
1.5%
33.3%
Quantitative
Quantitative
Theoretical
Conceptual
Qualitative
Qualitative
Triangulation
Triangulation
Literature review
Literature
review
Table 2
Classification for some of the literature according to the methodology employed
27.6%
29%
MethodologyLiteratureQuantitativeFlavin and Guinalu (2006), Lin et. al. (2006), Kuhlmeier and
Knight (2005), Wong (2005), Flavin et al.(2005), Lymperopoulos and Chaniotakis (2005), McCole
and Ramsey (2004),Kim and Kim (2004), Lee-Kelley et al.(2004), Merisavo and Raulas
Figure
3: Research Methodologies
in E-marketing
(2004).QualitativeTaylor
and Englandused
(2006),
Hackney et al. (2006), Park (2005), Lagrosen (2005),
Ryan andEl-Gohary
Valverde (2005),
Source:
(2006).Warnaby and Yip (2005), Rowley (2004 a), Smith, C. (2004), Darby et
al. (2003), Martin and Matlay (2003), Siddiqui et. al. (2003).TriangulationWeischedel et al (2005),
Christodoulides and Chernatony (2004), Fillis et al (2004), Yang et al. (2003), Chaston and Mangles
(2003), Adam et al (2002), Kapoulas (2002).Conceptual and theoretical studiesDe Kervenoael et al
(2006), Sheth and Sharma (2005), Sandeep and Singh (2005), McCole (2004), Smith and Manna
(2004), Smith, A (2004 a, b ), Kulviwat, et al (2004),Rowley (2004 b), Lindgreen et al
(2004).Source: El-Gohary (2006).
Hatem El-Gohary
1.5%
41.7%
29%
Survey
Case study
Exploratory
Experiment
Conceptual
3%
6%
Literature
18.8%
review
6%
29.6%
4%
Questionnaire
Interviews
Observation
Focus groups
60.4%
studies conducted have some critique points regarding the methodologies and methods
used in it, for example:* Among the things that can be taken against Collins, et al (2003):-
Hatem El-Gohary
10
Hatem El-Gohary
information and answer the 'HOW' and WHY questions (for example: why the
relationship is taking one direction instead of anther direction).
Why triangulation?
The logic of triangulation is based on the premise that: no single method ever
adequately solves the problem (Denzin, 1978: 28) and using only one method is more
vulnerable to error linked to that particular method (Patton, 1990: 188); for that the use of
different methods in studying the same phenomenon should lead to a greater validity and
reliability than a single methodological approach, because any bias inherent in a
particular method would be neutralised when in conjunction with other methods. Beside
that, each technique has its advantages and disadvantages, strengthens and weaknesses,
for that combining the methods will be helpful and useful to benefit from the advantages
and strengthens and avoid the disadvantages and weaknesses.
So, although triangulation entails a commitment to greater amounts of effort, time
and money, it has the advantage of removing the bias that is often associated with the use
of a single technique. For that the researcher will use triangulation to increase the validity
and credibility of the research conclusion, to be more confident about the findings, to
increase the ability of generalization, to answer the research questions and to meet the
research objectives effectively and professionally. Especially that according to the
knowledge of the researcher there is no previous studies were conducted in the field of Emarketing practices in SBEs in Egypt, also there is lack in scientific studies in this filed
in general. For that the researcher: believes that combining of methods in this research is
indispensable, and will depend on a combined research approach based on survey and
case study analysis.
7.2 Data Collection and Analysis:-
The backbone of this research is to establish and sustain a clear link between
conceptual framework and empirical analysis. The main importance of this consideration
comes from the belief that unless the conceptual framework and empirical study are
highly integrated, each one of them individually would present a partitioned and distorted
image of the research points. For that this study will depend on:
Conceptual framework: depending mostly on the secondary data.
Empirical study
: depending mostly on the primary data.
A combined research strategy based on survey and case study strategies will be
carried out in the research by using structured mailed questionnaires and interviews as a
primary data collection methods.Then, many statistical analysis techniques will be used
to analyse the data and test the research hypotheses.
11
Hatem El-Gohary
12
Hatem El-Gohary
WATSON, J. and EVERRET, J. (1996) "Do Small Businesses Have High Failure Rates,
Evidence From Australian Retailers." Journal of Small Business Management
.34(4): 45-62
WIENTZEN, H.R. (2000), "What is the Internets impact on direct marketing today and
tomorrow?", Journal of Interactive Marketing, 14 (3):74-8.
13
Hatem El-Gohary
14