Managerial Impact on Small Businesses

Context of the Problem

Today, all businesses are made up of two kinds of constituents: the physical and the non-physical (virtual). The physical constituents are objects such as machinery, building, along with people; the non-physical (virtual) constituents are objects such as information in relation to clients, intelligence in relation to how to get the optimum from a mechanized process and the privileges to make use of a specific development.

The information development offers, both large and small, corporations with an unmatched prospect to move constituents of their businesses from the physical sphere to the virtual sphere. The development of new products and services does not have to be carried out on paper, selling to customers does not have to take place within shops, and huge stocks of each and every product that one sells do not have to be stored. Nearly each and every constituent of a business can be transformed from the physical sphere into informational sphere that is kept and influenced inside a computer.

Novel regulations of economics take over, once that conversion, from the physical to the virtual, is made. Information can be influenced in so many methods that would not be possible with a physical item, information can be broadcasted all over the world at extraordinary pace, and information can be reproduced and put-up-for-sale many times over devoid of gaining extra expenses. These characteristics of information imply that companies that accept the virtual world can work with a dissimilar set of regulations, regulations that have been, more often than not, packed heavily in their support.

The manner in which most business managers operate their companies has made a lot of researchers and analysts recognize that all businesses have been experiencing, or are about to experience, an elementary transformation, a transformation so huge that it belittles any other transformation ever since the Industrial Revolution took place almost 200 years ago. Businesses, both large and small scale, have progressively moved their physical assets and business procedures from the physical sphere to the virtual sphere, novel regulations of economics are being occupied, and dissimilar regulations and business replicas are applied.

In spite of that the sheer size of the possible transformation, the management methods of most of the small businesses have been tightly founded on the physical. Most of the small business managers can, for case in point, assess, adjust and devalue physical assets, nevertheless, there is no decided process for accounting for the information they sustain about our clients, or in fact any additional information; assets that in numerous small businesses far surpass the value of the physical goods they put up for sale.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the underlying reasons that have either prohibited or made it difficult for small business managers to open their eyes to the information transformation that has been taking place, a transformation that has influenced almost all organizations, be it large or small, domestic or global, manufacturing or service.

Statement of the Problem

Information technology has transformed businesses all over the world. Nonetheless, many small business managers have yet to make use of this development. While, many analysts have cited cost as being the primary reason behind the failure of these small businesses to adapt and use information technology in their small businesses, others have cited visionless policies and lack of information as being the primary reason behind the failure of these small businesses to adapt and use information technology in their small businesses.

Hypothesis

The study will attempt to disprove the myths of technology being out of the reach of small businesses due to cost. Many small businesses have found there way onto the Internet but others have failed to make the move to use technology. One of the primary reasons is cost and the other is the lack of knowledge from managers on how to proceed with the process.

With the rise of the Internet, the opportunities are endless, a company uses the Internet to display information about its goods and services, and other companies take it one step further and sell its goods and services directly off the Internet. This leads to other questions that cannot go unanswered in writing this research proposal. Can a manager be expected to prosper a business if the technology tools are not available?

Significance of the study

Firstly, the degree to which small business managers can in point of fact deliver benefits to not only their customers but also to their shareholders is still uncertain. The Internet business model and the small business managers that use it, along with the technology on which it is dependent upon are still comparatively young, so learning results have yet to be finished. In addition to that, most of the present studies carried out on the impact of small business managers and decision-making have been subjective, and the small number of methodical studies of Internet businesses does not discuss the subject being presently studied.

Secondly, the significance of the study of small businesses can be gauged from the fact that the collective forces of technology, demography, control, as well as, globalization have been pushing corporations, all over the world, to change extensively. The small business sector, especially, has been rigorously influenced. Therefore, it is imperative to comprehend the prospects of small businesses. Furthermore, we have also got to comprehend how these collective forces for change impact small businesses as well as the markets in which they take part (David Humphrey 2000).

Fourthly, business sector has been experiencing spectacular changes over the preceding twenty years. Global competition as well as Internet, has augmented demand for information technology, the commencement of e-commerce, and a consistent drive towards cost efficiencies through consolidations. The most interesting aspect, on the other hand, has been the driver behind these dynamics of transformation: the buyer. Despite the fact that this might give the impression to be a one-dimensional and somewhat evident fact, consumer-driven businesses has been a comparatively novel phenomenon in the increasingly globalized world. Keeping hold of the customer who, due to Internet and related technology, at present, has several choices other than those offered by the traditional businesses has paved way for the creation of novel customer service models and a novel method of doing business, the study of which is imperative.

Lastly, the benefit of the potential applications of the research’s findings is that the use of information technology may acquire enhanced attention from the relevant quarters. In addition to that, small business managers will be able to identify the requirements to introduce and enhance internet services on a comprehensive scale. In addition, the result will give small business managers sufficient knowledge to not only strategize their Internet business plans in terms of the most effective way to move forward and the specific kinds of products and services that yield profitable results, but also effectively influence consumers to purchase their products/services.

We will now look at the research objectives

Research design and methodology

This thesis is a qualitative case study which focuses on the managerial impact on small businesses and the underlying reasons being reluctance shown by small business managers to make use of information technology and Internet. This case study is intended to reveal the individualistic attributes of small business managers.

Collection of Data

The tactic involved in this process collection of relevant data has been that concise and yet comprehensive information related to the topic (the managerial impact on small businesses and the underlying reasons being reluctance shown by small business managers to make use of information technology and Internet) has been compiled from articles published in various scientific journals and magazines by individual researchers, as well as, research institutions. Both, online resources and offline resources have been used to compile the data.

Data analysis and Search tactics

The data analysis and search tactic depended on manifold means so as to guarantee the most advantageous totality of facts and statistics available. At the outset a comprehensive literature exploration had been performed by means of internet, as well as, university and public library, as mentioned above. In this manner the bulk of published information relating to the topic (the managerial impact on small businesses and the underlying reasons being reluctance shown by small business managers to make use of information technology and Internet) had been distinguished, initially, and compiled, subsequently.

The analytical strategy employed in this paper has firstly identified the gravity of the situation at hand relating to the foundations of small businesses by taking into account what it is that managers of small businesses do that makes them unsuccessful in this information age. Appropriate theories and facts have been given to prove not only the seriousness of the situation but also the validity of the arguments. A brief yet concise overview is given of the present situation in the small-scale business sector by evaluating the strengths, weaknesses of their operations and functions and the emerging opportunities and threats due to enhanced competition and limited vision.

Limitations of the Study

It is imperative to analytically assess the outcome and the entire thesis. This is because this thesis has some limitations that should be observed when taking into consideration the importance of the thesis and its assistance. This thesis has concentrated on a subject that has been an extremely large and leading one, that is, the managerial impact on small businesses and the underlying reasons being reluctance shown by small business managers to make use of information technology and Internet. Undoubtedly, this characterizes an extremely difficult assignment for research in spite of the more precise interests that the thesis might have. This wide-ranging and difficult subject has been analyzed from a somewhat limited experimental perception. The choice of the single thesis design obviously draws out numerous limitations in so far as the simplification of the outcome of the thesis is involved. Consequently, the thesis setting can simply be termed as a sort of direct framework of the past and present trends in the small business sector.

One more limitation of this case study has been the viewpoint assumed. Rather than attempting to comprehend the entire situation in the small business industry, this thesis has been primarily limited to the managerial impact on small businesses and the underlying reasons being reluctance shown by small business managers to make use of information technology and Internet. Even though the thesis has also considered additional observations and brief analysis of present operations and functions of small businesses and the forces of change, the most important point-of-view from which results have been sketched is that of the managerial impact on small businesses and the underlying reasons being reluctance shown by small business managers to make use of information technology and Internet.

May be the most important limitation of this case study is its heavy reliance on sources of information that can be unfinished or badly subjective. When the information on which the conclusions have been-based is not comprehensive or is deceptive, the soundness of those conclusions is clearly uncertain. Consequently, this case study confronts the challenge of making sure that the explanation given is a precise portrayal of what happened, is happening and might happen in the small business sector. This challenge emanates from the fact that many preceding case studies have been limited to the accounts of the past they happen to observe. How genuinely such information corresponds to the events they portray might be open to important questions.

Lastly, we ourselves can be responsible, either by being unsuccessful in searching methodically and completely for records and accounts or by influencing the records.

Taking into consideration the risks to the genuineness and balance of obtainable knowledge concerning the present topic, this qualitative case study has adapted a number of safeguards to encourage the accurateness of the production. One method has been to acquire manifold accounts and records to determine how intimately dissimilar versions correspond. One more has been to find the account or record within the sociopolitical environment of the present day. A third method has been to approximate the dependability of a reference by its standing as an official text or by the standing of its writer.

Organization of the study

This thesis will examine the managerial impact on small businesses and the underlying reasons being reluctance shown by small business managers to make use of information technology and Internet:

In the first section, we will assess the foundations of small scale business by taking into account what it is that managers do. After, obtaining a comprehensive knowledge of the operations and functions of their line of thinking, we will be able to evaluate just how fundamental current challenges to the small scale business actually are and what are the dynamics that hinder the integration of Information technology in the firms.

In the second section, we will identify key forces, which has transformed and influenced the small scale business industry. These comprise:

Managing fears of consumers

Prevailing over concerns surrounding the intangibility of Internet-based purchasing

Playing to the demographics and characteristics of the Internet

Safe and secure transportation of goods from the company to the customer.

These forces have the altered the consumer preferences of shopping on the Internet and thus in light of the hypothesis, it is imperative that we discuss these forces of change.

In the third section, we will assess the present state of activities being pursued by small scale businesses in view of the forces for transformation. A number of similar and comprehensible trends have been recognized, which have their roots in the forces for transformation summarized above. Equally these trends describe the route of the successful small scale businesses as they drives in the direction of the future.

Lastly, in the fourth section, we will attempt to make out not only the mistakes made by numerous managers operating small businesses, but also reflect on a few highly significant tactics employed by managers who have made it big on the Internet. This will help us identify the reasons underlying the failure of numerous small scale businesses to capitalize on the Information revolution and Internet.

Results

Section One: Foundations of Small Businesses

The study attempts to disprove the myths of technology being out of the reach of small businesses due to cost. Many small businesses have found there way onto the Internet but others have failed to make the move to use technology. It is important to note that, at the same time as, the numbers of small corporations using the Internet to grow and enhance their business activities have increased, there are several more small companies who have yet to adapt to the changing environment as they think only about activities related to physical business.

Axel (2000) while discussing strategies for the Digital Marketplace relates his experience on the policies adapted by small business managers and suggests that the setback is not so much that they do not understand what is taking place, despite the fact that there is nearly, at all times, a considerable minority who believe that their business will be excused from these transformations. The problem is more related to the fact that they simply do not know what the next step is. The opportunities (and threats) have been plentiful. How do they come to a decision? Things can go in the wrong way; how do they evaluate the threats? Many small businesses are not shaped to operate in this way; how can they transform it?

Axel (2000) thereafter cites several case studies in order to present the popular patterns, which have been understood and duplicated by many small business managers and have achieved success with it. For instance, FedEx Corporation allowed its clients to check parcel progresses through their website on the Internet, this had not simply been a development of creating a website, however, a transformation in the method in which the company positioned as well as marketed itself. Furthermore, when British Airways made a decision that it wanted to have more direct conversation with its clients, it had been a development of not simply of creating a customer relations section, but also of giving power to the people who operated in it to implement developments across the company all together, and of starting a company-wide instruction scheme for every staff personal (Axel 2000).

Axel (2000) writes that while most of the small business managers have successfully remodeled their business to the changing environment, many still do not adapt as making such a transformation is not helped by the fact that most of the conventional mechanisms of business management are not appropriate to a virtual environment and also do not support this new method of thinking (Axel 2000).

William (2000) studied the relationship between computer organization and their structure, both physical and virtual. He too believes that traditional methods have greatly hampered the growth and development of small businesses as the managers are unable to let go of the traditional line of thinking. After hundreds of years of experience in managing machinery, factories, buildings and so on, managers have become extremely doubtful of intangible sections of their business. The status and standing of various internal IT sections, for instance, is so humble that “management” and “information technology” give the impression to be mutually exclusive terminologies. In actual fact, numerous conventional business people have long pledged to the concept that IT is intrinsically uncontrollable; these same people now suspect that information will be equally so (William 2000).

In the same way, small businesses that have been relatively successful on the Internet have shown a tendency to not allow this state of affairs to continue. William (2000) writes that as small businesses have turned out to be increasingly virtual; they cannot merely tag them “uncontrollable,” “no-go” sections, where strategies and tactics are little more than a question of blind faith. Programs such as designing a company website will be nothing more than mass-marketing in a novel media (and this is what majority of the websites are in actual fact); using the info-domain of a product will comprise no more than attaching a greater tag on it. To utilize opportunities for what they are valued, small business managers have got to be capable of putting the virtual section of their company at its heart instead of observing it as some kind of peripheral activity on the margin (William 2000).

Furthermore, William (2000) writes that small businesses cannot carry on thinking in this way. For them, the division amid strategy and detail is founded on a series of principles that are at present mostly out-of-date and out of affect. Comprehending clients as individuals implies that small business managers should start rolling up their sleeves and plunging into great detail. Sophisticated market segmentations have failed in the virtual world that has “mass-customized” its merchandise. Traditionally, small business managers have combined detailed data in order to make some sense of it, however, every time they do this — ” every time they examine an average customer, a standard lead time for delivery — ” they miss several opportunities to generate new services or thoroughly augment their performance (William 2000).

William (2000) believes that the business leaders of the future will be influenced by the efficiency with which they operate the detail of their functions, instead of being the ones holding the better sophisticated strategy. In actual fact, the entire nature of strategy will have to transform to have room for this. Before the advent of Internet, an excellent strategy may have seemed something like “Move into X or Y novel market.” At present, something similar to “Target the couples who have just had their first child, have just relocated to a new neighborhood, and who are fond of the green color” is more suitable (William 2000).

Our traditional distinction between strategy and detail is already starting to blur and will continue to do so.

Furthermore, almost every traditional manager thinks that management is all about breaking a company down into separate and disconnected sections. All managers, be it of small or large corporations, have their extent of control; they can simply manage a limited number of programs, procedures or personal, so they tend to break the organization into — ” factually — ” controllable and manageable sections. Nonetheless, does breaking an organization as multifaceted as a business into small manageable sections actually make any sense? Colin and Kiely (1997) believe that in order to comprehend and use the full potential of a business, the managers have got to see it as an integrated, interactive whole (Colin and Kiely 1997).

Both Colin and Kiely (1997) write that when managers start to reflect on the ways in which a virtual business can be successfully managed, they need to understand that virtual business management is a relatively complex activity for the reason that it is founded on massive quantities of incongruent information instead of a moderately small quantity of people, procedures or plants. Colin and Kiely (1997) illustrate an example of a farmer in medieval Europe and a farmer of the 21ST century. In medieval Europe, a sheep farmer would sell sheep; there had not been a great deal more to the procedures than that. Convert that identical sheep farmer into the Europe of today, and the fundamental procedures of sheep farming — ” reproduction, nurturing, selling — ” will not have transformed a great deal. What has transformed is all the data that at present envelops the procedure: the lineage and health documentation of the animals, the management of multifaceted EU funding, rules and policies concerning care along with transport. If the managers simply attempted to operate along the physical aspects of sheep farming at present, they would be leaving out the main function of the work; and, if the managers broke the procedures down into smaller components, they would not be looking at the entire picture. In addition to that, managers can only really comprehend sheep farming at present if they look at it as a system which is inter-connected with several other systems (for instance, adjacent sheep farms, the trading market, delivery channels, government rules and regulations, transforming public flavors for lamb and so on) (Colin and Kiely 1997).

In addition, Colin and Kiely (1997) further explain the complex management processes today by depicting it with a pact of cards. They write that with a set of cards one should construct two houses. Use some paste and stick together each and every card in one of the constructed houses, not both the houses. Thereafter, if one raised the house one had stuck together with glue, nothing will change — ” each and every card will continue to stay where one had stuck them. Similarly, the other house of cards will collapse even by knocking it gently (Colin and Kiely 1997).

Colin and Kiely (1997) use both these illustrations (the sheep farmer’s and the pack of cards) to address this issue and conclude that small business managers should consider managing a business by thinking that they are managing a house of cards wherein each and every card can be glued together: shifting into a novel market is similar to pasting a novel card on house. On the other hand, when it comes down to the real world of business, Colin and Kiely (1997) agree that, the capability to assert a novel card on top of the house is decided by several aspects, not all of which are within the control of managers. Businesses, today, are similar to a house of cards; that is, they are complex systems, however, Colin and Kiely (1997) write that, since, traditional management thinking has generally kept things simple, they have been unable to adapt to the changing business needs (Colin and Kiely 1997).

Most traditional small business managers deal with people instead of intellectual capital. Cash, Eccles, Hohria and Nolan (1994) discuss the dynamics of the information age organization and write that almost all companies see themselves as “people-business.” What this implies is that it spends time along with money in staff employment, training and career growth and development, with the intention that it can be-a-focus-for and then keep-hold-of the highest-quality workforce. What this adds up to in the real world is that managers deal with physical people — ” they send them on instructional programs, provide them assessments, upgrade them; what they have failed to manage is what is taking place inside their heads, which is incongruous since it is this intellectual capital that the managers ought to be after (Cash, Eccles, Hohria and Nolan 1994).

Cash, Eccles, Hohria and Nolan (1994) believe that this distinction is clearer in professional service companies. Normally, these consultancies, especially employed (or educated) experts, who would thereafter sell their expertise and experience to clientele. In other words, clientele had been financing the individual involved; it had been all very private and special. On the other hand, the “people model” for performing this has some grave disadvantages. In the first place, managers become very reliant on individuals; major staff leaving can damage a whole business unit. Secondly, it turns out to be difficult, if not impractical, to acquire scale economies: how can small business managers augment influence when the primary element of the service they provide is a person? Thirdly, what do small business managers do when they run out of staff, when they cannot employ enough workforces to fill their grand growth strategy? How can they grow and develop their businesses when its fundamental raw material is in such short supply? These troubles have turned out to be more and more obvious from the time since the Internet came into the picture, predominantly since the consultancy market is at present taking pleasure in a global boom (Cash, Eccles, Hohria and Nolan 1994).

Cash, Eccles, Hohria and Nolan (1994) conclude their work on intellectual capital and the virtual economy by asserting that the reaction of consultancies has been to grow and develop information networks, directed towards making the person more creative and scattering knowledge all over the organization in order that no one individual is the sole custodian of it. At the same time, several small businesses have been making advancements; it is in all probability, fair to assert that extremely few small businesses have done a little more than to scrape the surface of the opportunities. One of the major barriers they confront is that it is troublesome to manage something as short-lived as knowledge utilizing tools created primarily for the physical world. By default, consequently, managers consider the technology, they turn out to be obsessed with databases, and they are concerned about networks. On the other hand, these are all simply the physical heads of what is in actual fact a very virtual iceberg. Unless and until, small business managers discover novel ways of managing this virtual iceberg, its prospects will forever dodge them, at the same time its threats will forever surprise them (Cash, Eccles, Hohria and Nolan 1994).

Lord (1995) writes that majority of the mangers managing small businesses have yet to redesign their performance measurement systems. They further point out that most managers recognize the significance of performance measurements, that is, if they want their workforce to sell, they provide them a sales target, however simply giving them a sales target will not imply that they will execute other activities managers want them to carry out — ” it may not make them a self-starting manager or a team-player; it will simply make them a seller. Judging from the most widespread obstructions for small companies that are in the middle of transforming is that their “performance measurement system” mirrors the old routine even as the culture is transforming. Given that the old “performance measurements systems” continue to be in position, the workforce operating in accompany may not believe that their manager has truly transformed (Lord 1995).

Lord (1995) asserts that if this is relevant to organizations on the whole, it is relevant similarly to the concept of the small virtual business particularly. Regardless of how much the managers transform their businesses to make use of the virtual prospects that they conceive; very few either in the workforce or among the clients will be going to take their endeavors sincerely, unless and until, they can allocate some value to their activities. On the other hand, the company’s accounting standards have been designed to calculate either “finished transactions” or “physical assets.” Using the same standards to something as changeable as information or other kinds of “intellectual capital” can only imply that the managers are devaluing it. It is like attempting to evaluate the deepness of color utilizing a black and white chart. If the virtual business needs novel methods of managing successfully, equally it requires a novel method of assessment. The viewpoint, in that case, looks hopeless. Having discussed some of the traditional approaches that hinder small business managers to successfully use information technology in their business, herein, this paper will look at some other methods and processes of managing a business successfully adapted by other small businesses. These methods are not only tools as techniques of thinking dissimilarly about the subject, techniques to challenge their company to transform, but they are also, in addition, designed to balance for the flaws in conventional management methods noted above (Lord 1995).

Section two: Electronic Commerce

Ed and Kiersten (1999) studied the impact of Internet and reveal that the most over-depicted novel marketing phenomenon of the 1990s has been the Internet and the potential of electronic-commerce. They write that the managers are constantly bombarded, virtually every day, with articles praising the qualities of the Internet as a method of conducting business — ” that hundreds of millions of online users are commencing to constitute a feasible online market. Managers of small businesses have been encouraged to craft their own online presence at present, so as to be certain of taking this market in the coming future. If they do not, the contention goes; they will lose the transformation from the physical world of buying from shops as well as shopping malls to shopping online. The repercussion has been instantly recognizable: lose this boat and their business will never pull through (Ed and Kiersten 1999).

Furthermore, Ed and Kiersten (1999) assert that the reality is somewhat more mundane. Majority of the small businesses have been making a great deal of money on the Internet, however, at the present they have not been those who are chiefly looking to gain profits. At the same time, in the huge gold rush of the late 19th century, the small businesses who have been making money have not been the prospectors themselves, but the small businesses who have devoted their companies to helping the prospectors. During the 19th century, these kinds of organizations had been offering prospectors with equipment, food, as well as, transportation; today, they have been offering the Internet prospectors with telecommunications connections, computer hardware, as well as, website designs. The service givers have been flourishing, whereas few, if any, of the prospectors have revealed any returns on their ventures. This is mainly because of the fact that while the costs of services have been steadily declining, managers of small businesses are not fully aware about the various opportunities that they use to enhance their business activities (Ed and Kiersten 1999).

Ed and Kiersten (1999) give an excellent illustration of Argos, the UK-catalogue stores corporation, which advanced a web presence a few years ago. In the preceding 2 years of functioning on the net they had sold 10,000 products on the Internet. Lately, they started a telephone call service center. In the initial 14 days, they acquired more than 32,000 orders. The contrast and deductions are unavoidable. They assert that the Internet is not presently a main novel marketing method for this specific line of business. This know-how has been mirrored in the approximations of entire sales on the Internet. Even though these figures are disreputably difficult to accumulate, they reinforce the deduction that the Internet is not, until now, a major novel marketing avenue. One approximation, for instance, recommended that the overall sales over the Internet amounted to $436m in 1995. Contrast this with the entire USA retail selling of $1.5 trillion. The Internet obviously still sells only a tiny piece of the total goods and services sold all over the world. In light of the above argument, Ed and Kiersten (1999) assert that majority of the managers do not bother to dwell deep into cyberspace. For the reason that they consider that the benefit of the Internet will appear not from attempting to restore their present sales channels (for example offering a website that is similar to a virtual shop) but from using the virtual opportunities that the Internet produces to insert value to their customers (Ed and Kiersten 1999).

To revert back to the Argos illustration, at the present it is telephone shopping that very effortlessly enhances that sort of value (not least because the figure of customers with telephones by far out-number those with an Internet link) for the reason that it allows customers to order what they desire from the ease of their individual dwelling. Ed and Kiersten (1999) write that the main test for Argos, as well as for those small business managers who wish to mimic the business model of Argos, will be to discover a method to use the Internet that goes further than the added importance of telephone shopping. Merely converting the physical marketing avenues to the virtual, or converting physical existence into a virtual existence on the Internet, is not bound to produce extra sales. What is required is a new method of approaching clientele that uses the possibilities that virtual marketing and sales offer (Ed and Kiersten 1999).

Most of the managers are confronted with the query of why convert their present marketing strategy to Internet when this method will hardly yield any results? Ed and Kiersten (1999) assert that it has been extremely informative to observe the growth and development of trade on the Internet. Preliminary efforts had all been systemized around predictable physical marketing models. Companies advanced and developed virtual shopping malls that connected together dissimilar retailers, which is what a physical shopping mall does and which, correspondingly, had been aimed at assisting customers to browse and buy. Almost devoid of exception, these malls have not been thriving as expected. Customers neither have, nor predominantly desire, to go to a solitary location on the Internet to carry out their shopping. Nor is there any noteworthy passing traffic: linking dissimilar sites selling exceptionally dissimilar goods together does not give any assurance that people screening one site will then advance to observe the other (Ed and Kiersten 1999).

Dennis and Wixom (2000) in their observation of the business trends on the Internet reveal that the most vital example that has to be remembered when thinking about doing business on the Internet is that sales that rely on geography will not be successful, by any stretch of imagination. They observe that majority of the business managers commit this mistake and fail miserably. They write that supermarkets, for instance, with their sections that scrutinize in great detail the demographics of a region ahead of opening a novel store site, have no benefit on the Internet. Any website can be used from everywhere in the world. Evenly — ” and may to the mortification of the early Internet prospectors — ” any website can, in addition, go unobserved from everywhere in the world. The knowledge of getting noticed in cyberspace, Dennis and Wixom (2000) add; is a trend unknown to many of the managers operating small businesses (Dennis and Wixom 2000).

Dennis and Wixom (2000) further add that there is, on the other hand, an even bigger issue with marketing on the Internet for managers of small businesses. Not only is it hard to choose and purchase a key site, in a superior demographic region away from the competitors, which virtually assures sales, however, it is, in addition, harder to distinguish proposals from the offerings of companies that are might be a tenth, or even a hundredth, of their size Conner-Sax, Kiersten and Krol, Ed (1999) The Whole Internet: The Next Generation, Sebastapol, Calif., O’Reilly & Associates..

Eisenstadt and Vincent (2000) while discussing the Internet phenomenon reveal that the presence on the Internet is becoming more and more affordable. The expenses of sustaining presence on the Internet have been waning every month. In fact, less than 2 years ago, it had been projected that the price of establishing a profound Internet presence might be approximately $1m. At the present, a decent presence can be set up for as small as $15,000. Small business managers can purchase a complete banking system that allows them to establish a bank on the Internet for under $1m; they can purchase the software that will allow them to establish a gas trading company with around 200,000 consumers for as low as $100,000. On the other hand, they write, the reality that the costs for an Internet site has dramatically fallen creates a difficulty for bigger, more recognized companies that have been habituated to utilizing their greater spending power to uphold their place in a particular market. But how much capital can small business managers use on a website, particularly, in view of the fact that added cash will not essentially bring about much noticeable dissimilarity? Whatever the capitals small business managers might have influence over, how are they going to distinguish themselves from their competitors and certainly from those corporations that had no potential to go up against them when trade took place wholly in the physical sphere (Eisenstadt and Vincent 2000)?

Eisenstadt and Vincent (2000) write that the traditional methods of marketing have failed miserably on the Internet as companies, big or small, have had to pay the price for not acknowledging this fact. They further write that since traditional methods of marketing have not been successful on the Internet, the solution for small business managers has to lie in obtaining a thorough comprehension of the nature of the Internet and recognizing the distinctiveness of their services and products, which can be tailored to acquire success in this novel sales medium (Eisenstadt and Vincent 2000).

Bernard (2001) while discussing security issues on the Internet, both for the consumers, as well as, the corporations identifies various strategies adapted by managers of small businesses to support their sales on the Internet. He also discusses major characteristics of the Internet: What makes Internet different from other communication mediums? What features can be used by managers? What can — ” and, maybe more significantly, cannot — ” be successfully sold on the Internet? In the writer’s research, there are four characteristics that managers have got to take into consideration as a matter of precedence (Bernard 2001), they are:

Security;

Intangibility;

Internet demographics; and Fulfillment.

Security

Bernard (2001) writes that the fundamental point about Internet is that it is relatively new. Certainly, it has been maybe the first authentically new marketing means to have materialized in the preceding 4 decades. Novelty causes a set of diverse features. Consumers consider the channel with a certain amount of doubt: they will be reserved about utilizing it, and, because of this doubt and horror, they will be worried that they will not be given the goods or services that they have bought (Bernard 2001).

Furthermore, Bernard (2001) asserts that this consumer behavior is especially factual of any novel product or service, however, so far as the Internet is involved; such fears are made more complex for the reason that consumers will be buying merchandise through a system that they do not completely comprehend. In actual fact, customers have been already apprehensive about the security features of the Internet. There have been worrisome stories of computer software that observes credit card-sized numbers being accepted over the Internet and thereafter secures these numbers with the intention that they can be utilized illegally. At the same time, there has been, certainly, some truth in these accounts; the majority is probably greatly overstated. Credit card numbers can very easily be caught every time consumers utilize them. A waiter in a restaurant who takes their card, out of their vision, to make the credit card log, has a much easier chance of acquiring the credit card numbers — ” and he can do it devoid of any influential technology. On the other hand, customers are likely to be less apprehensive about having their credit card number taken away in a restaurant for the reason that it is a recognizable practice, both in the sense that they might know a specific restaurant on an individual basis, or for the reason that their preceding experience in restaurants informs them that they do not have to be worried. Neither of these kinds of acknowledgements exists for would-be buyers on the Internet. Therefore, instead of creating novel methods and processes to gain trust of consumers, managers usually resort to conventional methods of security, which had, in principal, been utilized previously (Bernard 2001).

In addition, Bernard (2001) writes that payment security is another issue being neglected by small business managers. Managers can resolve this issue in the short-term, through pre-paid accounts, which can be set up in no time at all, credit card particulars can be provided through the telephone, and, customers can also be debited. Even the security features of the payment structures can be dealt with, provided, the managers are willing to make that extra effort to understand the concept and apply the technology, which has become relatively cheap. Certainly, majority of the banking corporations have been frantically attempting to get their payment structures allowed as the standard. Methods do exist to resolve the security problem, and, despite the fact that they have been around for some time, at this point in time, they are not being extensively or constantly applied by small businesses. Fears in relation to the security of payments have been, as a result, something which, in Bernard’s (2001) views, can be determined and taken care of, if the managers pay a little attention and divert a small amount of their funds (Bernard 2001).

Bernard (2001) additionally reveals that more genuine fear takes place from the very characteristic of the Internet. For the reason that of its virtual character, it is impossible to physically touch the merchandise that the consumers want to purchase, and they may — ” fairly sensibly — ” be apprehensive that the merchandise they are willing to buy either is not of as high-quality as they look on the computer screen or simply do not exist by any means. How can a customer purchase merchandise that they cannot physically touch, or have faith in a company that might have no physical headquarters? There have previously been swindles in which a company instigates with an address that is extremely identical to a genuine company and thereafter seeks payments for merchandise that it has no purpose of supplying. A characteristic ploy has been to use a real address but add up the suffix.co.uk (on behalf of a company founded in the UK), instead of.com (on behalf of a commercial corporation) or vice versa. These corporations might not last very long, but they certainly do not have to. They can be broken up and rehabilitated devoid of the perpetrators having to go away from their desks. Bernard (2001) asserts that acquiring trust of consumers can be taken by taking several steps, like registering with the government business bureaus and other semi-governmental organizations that deal in these issues. However, very few business managers actually follow these steps as they are extremely painstaking and time consuming and also because many managers are not aware of these procedures (Bernard 2001).

Describing the goods

Bernard (2001) believes that with every opportunity, comes equivalent problems. This is also true for Internet as the managers have found it extremely difficult to encourage people to buy goods that they cannot display physically. One solution to this problem is that they only attempt to sell the sort of goods that consumers do not have to test physically prior to purchase (software, music, and so on). There is by now a vigorous debate concerning which goods can be productively bought and sold on the Internet. One line of reasoning is that goods, for instance, clothes cannot be productively sold on the Internet for the reason that people will want to test them on before purchasing them. On the other hand, this is obviously a misleading quarrel: there have been numerous flourishing mail-order clothing businesses, all of which have been successful on the basis that consumers are, in actual fact, prepared to purchase before they try. So why can clothes not be successfully sold on the Internet (Bernard 2001)?

In addition, Bernard (2001) believes that what consumers have been looking for is some certainty in the goods that they will be given. Therefore, a trustworthy clothes producer — ” if at all possible, one with a fervent brand — ” will be a focus for customers and attain sales. Levi’s, for instance, uphold a highly respected site that encourages sales of their jeans. Bernard (2001) further writes that it will be much tougher for a novel clothes retailer to set up its presence on the Internet and compete with the giants. Just by placing a website on the Internet, regardless of how powerful the graphics are, is improbable to produce very many transactions. Therefore, managers cannot be blamed, according to Bernard (2001), for neglecting such fields, but they should be criticized for using their valuable resources in attempting to compete with the giants devoid of any strong foundations (Bernard 2001).

There are, certainly, some goods that do not require a powerful brand so as to accomplish sales. The transactions of books, videos as well as CDs, for instance, rely much more on the performer who created them than the product qualities of the merchant who is attempting to sell them. Anybody can establish — ” and certainly numerous managers already have — ” sites that vend such merchandise.

Bernard (2001) concludes his study by summing up his research on merchandise and revealing that the major characters of the merchandise and services that have been capable of being bought and sold productively on the Internet, as a result, are that they have been acknowledged and recognized by the customer. This denotes either that they have got to have a well-built brand (with the intention that the customer knows what to anticipate) or that the merchandise ought to be of such a character that the customer knows what they will be given (Bernard 2001).

The demographics of the Internet

Bernard (2001) writes that, at the same time, the population that can be tackled by traditional physical marketing and sales has been controlled by geography, and that of the Internet is controlled by the figure of people who both have contact to it and make dynamic utilization of it (these not essentially being one and the same thing) (Bernard 2001).

Approximations of the figure of people who utilize the Internet differ extensively, even though a consensus appears to be emerging that presently hundreds of millions of people do certainly use the Internet. What there is no difference of opinion about is the kind of people who utilize the Internet. Bernard (2001) writes that at the present (and this feature will transform as the user-roots of the Internet extends), they have been mainly young adults, under the age of approximately 40, male as well as comparatively wealthy. It ought to come as no shock, consequently, that the pornography business is one of the few businesses that give the impression to have grown and developed a triumphant business model for vending on the Internet. One more vital feature of the demographics of the Internet is that each and every person is utilizing his/her personal computer, or has contact to a computer. Internet users are liable, consequently, to have an above standard interest in knowledge and technology. Computer corporations, not only hardware but also software, have been, for that reason, very well characterized on the Internet (Bernard 2001).

It is therefore significant that particular consideration is paid to the demand of products that have been sold on the Internet. Retirement dwellings for the old have been improbable to be a runaway success; as the same time, on the other hand, sales of tech-devices for young adults have been considered as potential successes (Bernard 2001).

The fulfillment of the purchase

As noted earlier that the Internet has been a virtual channel devoid of a physical materialization and that this implies that the restrictions forced by geography can be broken down. Certainly, at the closing stages of the sales procedures, the customer has to be given his merchandise. Bernard (2001) asserts that merchandise that is huge in relation to their price, furniture for instance, is not likely to sell greatly, simply for the reason that the shipping costs limit the populace to which they can be accessible. Merchandise and services that have no physical materialization, for instance selling bonds and stocks, are perfectly suited. The accomplishment of the purchase of a bond or stock needs simply a documentation to be sent through post or, at best, no physical expression at all (Bernard 2001).

Section three: Achieving footfall

Bernard (2001) believes that there are several thousands of websites on the Internet, which creates it significantly more competitive than the local shopping mall small business managers operate. Making people to enter their website is as troublesome as, if not harder than, making people to buy the goods from a retailer. At the same time one of the main benefits and advantages presented by the Internet is that — ” as a producer, for instance — ” managers no longer have to struggle with vendors and competitors to acquire the best shelf position in a bodily channel, the disadvantage is that majority of the conventional strategies for getting attention have departed. The managers might have absolute control of the sales procedures, however, they; in addition, have a much more tough job of influencing customers to enter their website when there are thousands of other websites on the Internet (Bernard 2001).

Bernard (2001) concludes his research by writing that the issue confronting each and every trader on the Internet is that transitory trade is on the brink of zero. There have been not thousands or millions of consumers out there who will merely come across their website, take a look around and purchase their product. Anybody positioning a website on the Internet with this illusion will definitely fail and most of the small business managers actually commence their activity with this delusion and therefore fail miserably (Bernard 2001).

Internet Success

Skyrme (1999) discusses two diverse methods for acquiring footfall at a website. The first is to utilize the conventional media for marketing to get attention and the advantages and benefits that it fetches. The second is to utilize the Internet itself to augment footfall. Skyrme (1999) does not mull over the conventional methods that small businesses have been utilizing to market their sites, except when she asserts that the method most small businesses use is merely to comprise their website address on their conventional advertising as well as promotional text. Whether this is sufficient is open to uncertainty. Skyrme (1999) believes that, even though this is almost certainly sufficient to influence their loyal consumers who already have contact to the Internet to have a look, this will be inadequate to influence people who are not involved in their product to notice their name. It is, on the other hand, obviously better than nothing. Numerous small businesses — ” particularly the small ones hopeful to participate in this novel channel — ” do not have the lavishness of this technique of achieving identification. They have to put their faith in the Internet itself to produce trade, something that is pushing them to find more and more creative ways to achieve footfall. Three such methods presently prevail:

Registering with a search engine;

Advertising on other sites;

Persuading other sites to carry links to your site.

The most omnipresent method of utilizing the Internet itself to augment footfall has been to enlist with one (or if possible more than one) of the Internet’s major search engines. By doing so, managers of relatively successful small businesses have managed to allow their website to appear on a directory of probable websites to visit when a user of the Internet types in a particular keyword. Consequently, for instance, when an Internet user types in the keyword “wine,” their website is likely to be enlisted (together with thousands of others) as being of possible interest. The difficulty with this approach is that there are probably thousands of other websites enlisted as well. In this situation, for instance, Skyrme (1999) counted approximately 200,000 websites. Assessment of which websites users select reveals that they are likely to choose websites from the initial hundred or less (Skyrme 1999).

Skyrme (1999) writes that managers of relatively successful small businesses have managed to apply several methods to achieve top rankings after vigorous evaluations, while other small business managers have given up after a few attempts at increasing their rankings. The trick used by managers of relatively successful small businesses has been to make sure that the right keywords have been integrated and that the number of times that they have been integrated is maximized (it tends to be the rationale that the more times the keyword is integrated, the more pertinent the website will be considered by the search engine, and thus higher ranking will be the result). Furthermore, managers of relatively successful small businesses will, more often than not, include a segment on their website with a blue backdrop on which they write (in blue) the keywords that they expect people will utilize. These words are hidden to the naked eye (as they are blue on blue), however, they are not hidden to the search engines, consequently augment the probability that the website will develop superior rankings on the list. Not strangely, the suppliers of the search engines scowl on this practice and have threatened to take action in opposition to those who indulge in these activities (Skyrme 1999).

Furthermore, Skyrme (1999) writes that an even more effective trick being used by managers of relatively successful small businesses has been, on the other hand, to take account of and write the names of their major competitors somewhere inside their website. When a competitor’s name is keyed in, their website is listed, again augmenting the probability that their website will be visited. This is particularly effectual for small newly established companies that have been attempting to break and enter a market. A recognized competitor might have spent millions of dollars attempting to get their website and business established; by integrating their name within their website, they can, somewhat, take undue credit on their pains and labor (Skyrme 1999).

Pugh (1997) believes that the main advantage and benefit of registering with the search engines is that it is absolutely free of any charge. The drawback, certainly, is that their company name will simply become visible to those consumers who have been dynamically searching for the product they are selling, and even then the probability of someone in point of fact visiting their website is small, particularly if their website becomes visible low on the directory of hits registered. It is worth noting here that the painstaking and time consuming efforts of search engine optimization yield results for only those who are determined and resolute with their decision making and is complete failure for those managers who give up after initial failure. Pugh (1997) writes that majority of the small business managers belong to the later category (Pugh 1997).

Skyrme (1999) reveals another powerful technique used by managers of relatively successful small businesses for making their websites visible. These managers advertise their website on one of the most popular search engines or other regularly visited websites. At the apex (and in a number of instances in the center and at the substructure as well) of each page of these popular search engines and other websites, there is an advertisement. If the consumer clicks on that ad, they are then connected to the particular website. There have been fundamentally two methods through which these advertisements are showed. They are showed all the time regardless of what a user enters in as his key words, or they are showed only when a certain particular word is typed. For case in point, when consumers types in “Pangkor Laut” (the designation of a holiday hotel in Malaysia) they are prized with not only a catalog of businesses proposal trips to this hotel, but also an ad for inexpensive flights (Skyrme 1999).

Remenyi, Smith and White (1997) reveal that advertising has certainly augmented the amount of visits that website acquires. Rather than being hidden in a catalog, some websites display outstandingly at the top with whatever keywords or graphics consumers choose to illustrate. On the other hand, there are three drawbacks and disadvantages to this method. Firstly, it is extremely expensive, maybe on the foundation of a mix of permanent fee and “click-thru’s” (that is to say, the number of internet users who click on the ad to visit the advertised website). Secondly, Internet users might utilize a diverse search engine, or even a “meta-search” engine, which is able to look at more than one search engine at one time. These will remove the advertisement and reveal their personal advertisements instead, in that way, decreasing the advertisement’s efficiency. Thirdly, some Internet users intentionally pay no attention to these advertisements, having a preference to depend on the substance of the websites they visit to determine what links they go after. Remenyi, Smith and White (1997) reveal that most of the managers of Internet start-up companies, as well as other small firms, do not completely grasp the concept of advertising on search engines and as a result loose either valuable money or large market segments (Remenyi, Smith and White 1997).

Skyrme (1999) discusses the third major way used by small Internet companies to develop footfall to their website. In this method managers influence other websites to display links to their website. For case in point, a company creating fine wines would evidently profit from containing a link from a website endorsing books on wine and vice versa. There are numerous cases of shared linking on the Internet, and this has been evidently an effectual method of transcending information in relation to the availability of balancing sites. On the other hand, once managers have exchanged links with the half dozen websites that have been obviously harmonizing and non-competing, what do these managers do next? They give incentives to other websites to contain links. Therefore, for instance, Amazon books will fund other websites a ratio of the income on a book that has been sold through a link from the other website. If, for instance, a particular website is offering book reviews, and at the base of each assessment managers bring in a button that declares “In order to purchase this book press here,” which takes the consumer through to Amazon books, from a particular book reviewing website. In this way not only Amazon but also the customer and the website owner benefits. It is expected that Amazon has approximately 2,000 websites that link in this manner (Skyrme 1999).

Diane and Elizabeth (2000) assert that in order to acquire footfall productively a number of small business managers have adapted a wide-ranging strategy for the Internet, while other managers rely on simply creating a website. Diane and Elizabeth (2000) write that the success of small companies can be laid down to this one strategy alone, while those that simply create a website and rely on mother nature to give success are doomed to failure, regardless of how much money they spend on their websites (Diane and Elizabeth 2000).

Making the sale

Jens and Marcel (2000) while discussing several methods to protect the young children from harmful websites reveal that simply allowing visitors to visit a particular website is not going to result in the sale of the product and the managers still have to devise a strategy to sell. This is the section in which the Internet, by its interactivity and adaptability, creates to succeed over customary sales techniques. The virtual character of the Internet implies that one can utilize diverse techniques for acquiring sales — ” techniques that cannot be practical, in actual fact, in a physical situation. As luck would have it, on the other hand, most small scale business managers fail to make the most of these techniques. The Internet has been conceived and built by computer specialists, and not by sales people, however, the future of Internet, whether the computer experts love it or not, is going to rely on the pace with which an effectual model materializes that permits commercial companies to vend their merchandise and services (Jens and Marcel 2000). Ward and Griffiths (1996) write that just like in the real world, no free lunches exist on the Internet, and unless and until the marketers can discover ways of making it reimburse, then the Internet is destined to come to a stop. Primarily, Ward and Griffiths (1996) identify four sections which are, in principal, too important to ignore:

Price;

Interactivity;

Volume of information;

New methods of selling and buying.

Price

Ward and Griffiths (1996) believe that one issue that has been frequently talked about by marketing experts has been the “price” factor. Despite the fact that price is not essentially playing to the Internet’s strong points, it nonetheless remains an enormously powerful technique of encouraging (or discouraging) customers to purchase. If the prices on the Internet are cheaper than the physical world, this benefit and advantage will go a long way in the direction of escalating sales. Nevertheless, to be maintainable, inferior prices evidently require to be coordinated by inferior costs if the productivity of a business is to be upheld (Ward and Griffiths 1996).

Pricing is perhaps one of the main — ” however, moderately under-exploited — ” features of the Internet that it gives small business managers with an opening to lower their costs as a forerunner to falling prices. Ward and Griffiths (1996) write that the Internet allows small business managers to follow a low-price approach at the same time as upholding their profitability. There are other businesses in which this strategy is already proving promising: certainly, in a number of sectors small business managers are starting to perceive wholesale relocation from physically founded techniques of conducting business to virtual techniques. One of the most excellent examples is the brokerage industry for shares and stocks. The Wall Street Journal lately accounted that there are at the present some three million online accounts at brokerage firms as well as mutual fund companies — ” approximately double the figure in the preceding year. The underlying reason for such a quick augment have been apparent: the target market of the wealthy young (frequently men) fits clearly with the characteristics of the Internet; standard surfers on the Internet are highly expected also to embrace shares and stocks. Once a deal is started on the Internet, the outstanding physical costs of the trade are enormously small and the prospective to decrease costs is therefore extremely high. Lastly, Ward and Griffiths (1996) add, the pace with which the deal can be finished is by far faster than that utilizing the conventional techniques of letter or telephone. It has been, consequently, not astonishing that analysts forecast that the proportion of broking business that is carried out on the Internet will carry on growing and developing quickly (Ward and Griffiths 1996).

On the other hand, it is important to note that not all businesses fall into this group and, accordingly, price has not been the only weapon that has yielded results for some small business corporations on the Internet. There are many other techniques, which are considered much better weapons. However, not only pricing but also other techniques need thorough research and analysis and only those businesses are said to survive that do their homework comprehensively (Ward and Griffiths 1996).

Interactivity

The major feature that distinguishes the Internet from other types of marketing channels has been its interactivity: customers are not inactive receivers of a broadcast marketing memo — ” they can interrelate with it. At its plainest, customers can decide which sections of the memo to discover. Ward and Griffiths (1996) reveal that most of the websites have been laid out so that customers can be guided to a specific set of trails relying on their specific interests. These websites have been designed for success and customers who end up visiting such websites are bound to buy products (Ward and Griffiths 1996).

Ward and Griffiths (1996) write that websites can, on the other hand, also have been developed to offer diverse information to diverse consumers. “Cookies” — ” small parts of information that have been positioned on the users computer providing details of the fractions of the Internet that the user has traveled around — ” can be learned and utilized to produce the website content that has been showed. Ward and Griffiths (1996) give an illustration of a music seller who gives free samples of diverse groups. By examining and noting down which groups the users have paid attention to, the manager can show the advertisements that mirror the users’ areas of interest the next time they visit their website (Ward and Griffiths 1996).

Ward and Griffiths (1996) write that Internet has been used in this way, and as a result, Internet has started to look like the marketer’s vision of one-to-one correlation marketing, where individual substance is produced for individual consumers relying on information that has been carried out for each and every consumer’s individual inclinations. However, this trend is extremely rare and only those managers have been successful in interacting with their customers on a one-on-one basis, who have carried out vigorous research and analysis of the choices available to them and have made the best use of them (Ward and Griffiths 1996).

Volume of information

One of the main benefits and advantages of the Internet has been the sheer volume of information available to the users that can be amassed and the effortlessness with which it can be modernized. This allows novel services to be offered in a way that had not been cost-effectively practicable before.

Ward and Griffiths (1996) in their analysis reveal that an excellent example of the utilization of the Internet in this method is to maintain quickly changing records online. For the first time this has allowed the prospect to take grocery shopping out of the grocery storehouse, superstore and supermarket. Through uploading the every day lists of merchandise and prices that are on hand, stores can at the present allow customers to buy their merchandise devoid of having to go round the storehouse to gather them. In an atmosphere in which time is valuable (the youthful rich who utilize the Internet also learn to work very long hours), the benefit to the customer is irrefutable (Ward and Griffiths 1996).

Ward and Griffiths (1996) believe that this method also assists in cutting down the costs as well. The supermarket that stores the merchandise which a consumer needs can arrange and group this merchandise significantly more professionally than the store and can be situated out of town in an industrialized park or other region where inexpensive rents are available. Furthermore, recruitment necessities are lower, the occurrence of in-store robbery is abridged, and the hours of process can be unlimited (Ward and Griffiths 1996).

Ward and Griffiths (1996) conclude their research by revealing that many case studies exist about small companies, which have made it big on the Internet. They have done this through thorough research and analysis and have taken painstaking measures to transform their businesses to the new environment. Whereas, many small businesses have failed miserably as their managers have been stuck with the traditional line of thinking and been unable to understand the dynamics of Internet. They further reveal that while costs have played a huge part in the failure of many small businesses, however, it should be noted that, of late, costs of setting up and maintaining a profitable business on the Internet has drastically deceased and creative and hardworking managers of small businesses have started to find their place in the virtual world (Ward and Griffiths 1996).

Section four: Dynamics of successes and failures

Don (1996) writes that “Complexity theory” and “Chaos” had been some of the main business catchphrases of the 1990s, mirroring not simply the materialization of a “novel” science but also a more universal change in the business culture away from straightforward convictions. On the other hand, it is a transformation to which business has come reasonably quite late. A great deal of what managers do is nonetheless derived from moderately simple suppositions. Managers tend to keep things straightforward for the reason that this is how they get things done. If a manager were to tell an employee to do one or two tasks and there will be no difficulty; but if that employee had been told to do 20 and, all very often, nothing ends up being finished. Similar to economists, all managers understand that the real worlds of their businesses are hardly ever as apparent and rational as their planning models; they all know that things do not, every time, end up as they anticipated. They only make it simpler in order to stay alive: it is an essential element of management. The query that disturbs them here is what this procedure of oversimplification implicates. On what foundation do the managers choose what constitutes the most vital element of their work, which they, as a result, maintain in their uncomplicated management model? Do they keep out what seems to be less vital factors for the reason that they do not materialize to have any perceptible impact? How dependable are their perceptions? There have been three main ways in which managers make simpler what they manage (Don 1996):

Don (1996) reveals that the managers reduce the number of things with which they have to contend with: they have all been culpable of this. A company whose consumer base has been increasing quickly will, more often than not, begin to group consumers together so that the facts of submarkets to which it is vending continues to be “controllable.” Consequently, it slowly stops to take care of consumers as individuals. A music corporation introducing a novel pop video might reflect hard in relation to the launch date, in relation to how many copies to send to which markets, in relation to the advertising aimed at its key target audience, nevertheless it almost certainly take little notice of the influence that word-of-mouth suggestion has on possible buyers.

Furthermore, Don (1996) writes that managers have shown an inclination to look at the things that they manage independently: he gives an example of a video game to illustrate the thinking of the mangers and the complexity of the present day business environment. He writes that a well-liked computer game of the early 1990s had been named as “Railroad Tycoon.” Players turned out to be the proprietors of small railways, carrying a diversity of merchandise and travelers and contending with rival corporations. Their purpose had been to construct the most triumphant network by taking advantage of the dissimilarities in the productivity of optional payloads, by means of rolling-stock professionally and reducing risks. What began moderately plainly — ” the players might have just one or may be 2 engines and lines — ” soon turned out to be extremely multifaceted to deal with: in every few seconds a railcar may be assuming a novel cargo or altering route for motives beyond their power. Slowly but surely, as their capability of keeping track of things weakened, the network would turn out to be filled to capacity, some orders would go discontented, at the same time as, stock-piles of other merchandise would increase. It had been an example in just how complicated it is to manage manifold variables (in this situation, trains) in a structure in which the triumph of the whole had been reliant on the effectual amalgamation of all the constituent parts. In the business lives of today, majority of the managers do manage groups of interconnected variables (what else, in any case, is a team of personal or the launch of a novel product?), however, managers only deal with them by restraining the figure of interrelationships amid variables. They might make their subdivisions the most industrious in the organization, however, they will not essentially reflect on “how” and “what” that subdivision does to influence someone else. They might manage and operate an enormously triumphant business, nevertheless, that does not denote that they stop to deliberate that business’s influence on the environment or the domestic economy (Don 1996).

Managers presume that things are conventional: Lastly, even where they do acknowledge that the things for which they are in charge are made up of a mass of variables, scores of which have been interconnected, they more often than not assume that they can foretell the end outcome (Don 1996).

Don (1996) writes that these are enormously significant issues for the reason that they touch on primary suppositions about how managers, as people, operate and handle, and how the corporations in which they operate perform. Obviously, the manners in which such suppositions manipulate the environment differ from one activity to another and from one company to another. The supposition of a shop floor employee concerning, for instance, the constitution of metals in the bolt that he/she has developed have very little direct influence on either the procedure of creating the bolt or the finished bolt, for the reason that the procedure in which they are occupied is above all a physical one. On the other hand, the suppositions of the bolt designer or of the individual who designed the assembly line potentially have a much superior influence — ” suppositions in relation to what a bolt appears like, what it is invented to do, the satisfactory rate of mistake and so on. This is for the reason that the design procedure, even in intense manufacturing, has been above all information established on procedures that takes place on paper, in computer-generated models, in people’s heads. This is to say, the more virtual the procedure, the greater the influence of suppositions (Don 1996).

Brian (1996) believes that the most virtual procedure in a company is strategic planning. According to Don (1996), this is where the mental models have the utmost persuasion (Don 1996). Brian (1996) believes that strategy growth and development is a virtual procedure in the sense that the outlook does not live in physical conditions: the situations managers make are based on extrapolating the data they have on past along with present tendencies. For instance, the probability are that they are plotting their plans on a linear foundation (‘If they do X and the competitor does Y, then Z. will take place); the supposition managers have made — ” whether it is how much merchandise to purchase from the supermarket this weekend or which market their corporation ought to move into after that — ” is that proceedings are reliable over time and are consequently conventional (“If A took place last time we did B, it will take place again the next time we do B”). On the other hand, as all managers recognize from planning, things do not at all times end up as they expected. Therefore at the same time as they abridge to stay alive, it is frequently at the cost of having an imprecise depiction of even the most instant future. Nevertheless if they had this depiction, they almost certainly could not work effectively for the reason that everything they examined would be too complex for them to be able to create a decision. As children, they learn to throw away detail and build up high-level ideas: they can talk about an animal devoid of worrying whether this animal is a starling or a sparrow. An autistic child in no way learns to advance such ideas: she might be talented at mental mathematics but she cannot make the jump from the detail to its no-nonsense relevance. Having surplus data on the present or future has forever been seen as the management correspondent of autism. Triumphant managers augment above the specifications (Brian 1996).

Information along with information technology has been making superfluous many of the ways in which managers had oversimplify their environments and marketplaces with the purpose of managing them successfully. Simply because managers can be weighed down by detail does not denote that computers too can be weighed down. Where the computers make things simpler, they can also make things multifaceted, and this comprises a vital business potential. To utilize it, managers have got to overturn their traditional ways of thinking described in this paper. We have got to:

Augment — ” instead of decreasing — ” the figure of variables they control;

See these variables as interconnected instead of being isolated units;

Acknowledge and make use of the fact that their behavior can be irregular.

Some of the primary tools that have been used by various managers operating small scale corporations to successfully introduce and maintain information technology and Internet in their businesses are given below.

Micro-management

Darnton and Giacoletto (1992) and Michael (1990) write that business managers unavoidably talk a great deal about information: how can they take advantage of it, who they can sell it to, the kind of information they actually need (Darnton and Giacoletto, 1992; Michael, 1990). On the other hand, Axel (2000) believes that none of the information-related prospects highlighted by managers can be accomplished if they do not manage that particular information (Axel 2000).

This might sound like an obvious truth to many managers; however, business has in actual fact usually revealed a marked unwillingness to do anything of the sort. Information management has been the job of Information technology experts (who have dealt with the subject from a solely technological viewpoint) or accountants (who have paid attention only on monetary data). Axel (2000) writes that neither of these approaches will get the managers very high in the virtual market: business at the present requires managing information as of a much more tactical point-of-view. Business requires to start to go with its planned vision and sense of course (constructed around the business all together) with accurate examination — ” at a comprehensive level — ” of the information from which it has been created, whether this information relates to consumers, workers, products or procedures (Axel 2000).

Checkland and Holwell (1998) believe that managers have conventionally managed business from a tactical point-of-view: the C.E.O. looks after the “strategy,” and, consequently, “strategy” turns out to be the ambition of all the gifted and determined people who work inside the business. How often have managers said, “Don’t distract me with the detail?” Advancement and career growth are about moving away from particularizations and into tactics; tactics is a status symbol. It is only breakdowns, who get left behind in this precise evolutionary stepladder (Checkland and Holwell 1998).

It is worth stopping for a moment to think about why managers think like this. Why do ordinary managers see strategy and detail as contrary? Why is this difference so significant to the relatively successful managers? Checkland and Holwell (1998) write that the person operating a corner-shop does not differentiate amid strategy and detail for the reason that such a difference is immaterial. The ‘strategic’ decisions that he or she undertakes are also unavoidably detailed ones: “Which shelf should I place the soap powder on?,” ‘Should I purchase a novel cold storage?” The detail/strategy dichotomy comes into play only as a business gets better. In actual fact, one can imply that the bigger the business, the superior will be the supposed gap amid detail (the task of the people at the base of the ladder) and strategy (the realm of those at the peak) (Checkland and Holwell 1998).

David (1997) writes that the strategy/detail division is not so much a task of dimension but of what dimension causes. When big companies first came into view on a common source, all through the Industrial Revolution, they did so in an atmosphere where the standard of the division of manual labor was advancing extensive suitability. Bigger dimension implied that endeavors had to be alienated and managed, something which consecutively gave rise to formal managerial hierarchies. Given the ever-increasing dimension and complication of business, it ensued that their proprietors could not know everything concerning them. To a smaller or larger extent, the information that they had to operate the business had to have been sorted: they could not be anticipated to be acquainted with everything concerning everything. This implied that they had to have either smaller amount of comprehensive information or all information however in an abridged format. In actual fact, there had been no genuine choice: to be able to operate a business on a small, very collective performance dimensions, managers have got to identify which measurements — ” which fragments of information — ” will be significant; they have got to be able to set priorities. It was consequently easier and more secure for the industrial owners to acclimatize the second method: for the reason that they could not be sure what information was significant and what was not, they had to be acquainted with a fragment of everything (David 1997).

Two issues, then, according to David (1997), made this separation amid strategy and detail. In the first place, increasingly complex and complicated businesses operations gave the impression to the managers that the information needed to run them had to be abridged — ” the detail had to be transformed into the strategic. Secondly, the personal that operated these businesses had no structure by which they could exercise and determine what had been vital; they had no methods of acknowledging the vital “detail.” To these two completely comprehensible, maybe unavoidable, factors analysts have added a third, which is status. The strategy/detail separation legitimized management — ” it had been a visible sign that what a manager did had to be dissimilar from what his employees did (David 1997).

Of the three factors, David (1997) writes, the first two are pretty much outmoded nowadays. Increasingly contemptible and influential computer technology implies that managers can operate large volumes of information moderately effortlessly. Furthermore, for the reason that they can manage all this information, it is less essential to make a decision from the onset what is significant and what is not — ” computer systems can caution managers when a factory’s production has fallen under a specific limit or tell us when a personal consultant’s employment has been of extraordinarily high-quality (David 1997).

Therefore, what continues to haunt the businesses today is “status.” As a consequence, when managers suppose that strategy is the most significant action of a company — ” the one to which all managers seek — ” their attitude is a result of a chronological misfortune instead of any indication of authentic merit. Furthermore, it is an approach that is quite reasonably old-fashioned.

On Micro-management, Dennis and Wixom (2000) write that micro-management is the strategic management of detail. If a manager establishes a new management accounts or financial accounting system, he or she invests time in recognizing how they may take advantage of their most comprehensive data before they decide what merged information they may require (Dennis and Wixom 2000).

Some of the most excellent illustrations of micro-management come from the retail business, where a mixture of issues (planning limitations on novel stores, powerful competition, the opening of “category killers”) have united to make ever-increasing revenues from existing stores, in place of adding up new stores. In America, Dennis and Wixom (2000) write that the standard “register” (that is to say, trolley of acquisitions) has been lessening for the last several years, to a certain extent, for the reason that higher-value items are being more and more purchased in warehouse associations and the development of managed health care systems has meant that the acquirement of classy, over-the-counter drugs is also on the way out. Retailers are at present concentrating on how to augment that standard register again, as small ratio point augments here have a considerable impact on a chain’s general earnings. This implies micro-managing endeavors such as category growth and pricing (Dennis and Wixom 2000).

Dennis and Wixom (2000) assert that micro-management takes several shapes, however, in each case, it utilizes detail to produce a strategic benefit; the traditional division amid the two does not relate. Despite the fact that managers would not essentially think about it in such expressions, functioning in the financial markets is another type of micro-management. The entire concept of arbitrage — ” the development of small dissimilarities for financial profits — ” is an excellent illustration of micro-management in operation. It is not astonishing that the first advocates of micro-management were the financial services corporations. They do business in products that comprise almost exclusively of information. Their information-managing infrastructure has been the most highly developed of any industry. There are, on the other hand, also plenty of sectors where the prospects of micro-management have been mainly overlooked. Several major consultancy companies have a tendency to put up prices across the board, leaving individual associates to consult the actual fees for assignments when it comes down to it. More efficiently, they might aspire to understand the degree to which price suppleness differs by service and sector, and regulate prices on this base. Even in those corporations which do utilize some features of micro-management, there is abundance of under-exploited prospects. This is since people suppose that what applies at a tactical stage also relates at detailed stage. They consider, in other words, that the detail is simply a minor account of the strategic (this being a supposition that supports much of the thinking concerning management, managerial design, designation and so on). In actual fact, analysts would argue that, as manager’s research increasingly into the detail, the more the regulations of the competition start to transform (Dennis and Wixom 2000).

Lastly, Dennis and Wixom (2000) write that utilizing the potential convolution of one’s business does not, consequently, has to break off with micro-management, a mistake most managers make. Two things take place when managers start to exploit information at more detailed levels. Firstly, they will discover that most of the features of their business that they thought they could examine in isolation are in actual fact interconnected. Secondly, some of the consequences they perceive and detect will be unanticipated and unforeseen — ” the world of detail turns out to be a lot less conventional and knowable than the world of strategy. In the end one can assert that while research on both strategy and detail has been the hallmark for several successful small scale companies due to their envisioned leadership, many small scale companies carry on to be directed by managers using old-fashioned techniques to manage their business and as a result loose out on the vast opportunities available after the advent of Internet (Dennis and Wixom 2000).

Systems thinking and information

Winston (1998) writes that business and other human activities are systems. They are compelled by unseen structures of interconnected proceedings, which, over and over again, take years to completely play out their effects on one another. In view of the fact that all managers are part of that lacework themselves, it is twice as hard to see the entire prototype of transformation. In its place, most managers are inclined to concentrate on snapshots of remote fractions of the system, and speculate why their earnest problems never get resolved. Systems thinking can be considered as a theoretical structure, a mass of information and tools that have been grown and developed over the preceding five decades, to make the complete patterns apparent, and to assist managers see how to transform them efficiently (Winston 1998).

Instead of dealing with organizations as straightforward, linear structures (‘If managers were to run an internal PR movement, they will be able to get the personal behind them), managers ought to be reflecting on them more as organisms, single units in which all the fractions are interconnected and which transform and become accustomed over time. Organizations develop only extremely slowly (they have their hereditary design as much as humans do). Their multifaceted formation makes them complicated to transform. How many times have managers observed new workers sucked into the leading customs of a company? Similar to cells, an organization duplicates itself and systematizes itself — ” unofficial contact channels are, over and over again, much more powerful than official ones. Stalling (2000) writes that one of the appealing, even though seemingly perverse, deductions managers arrive at in thinking about their company as systems is that each company is flawlessly designed. Even that restaurant they visited last week (where the service had been terrible and the food even poorer) had been flawlessly planned to create those productions (meager service and awful food). The difficulty had been that these had not been the productivity they desired. From their viewpoint of taking advantage of information and the virtual business, systems thinking ahs been considered important in three different ways (Stalling 2000):

Firstly, Stalling (2000) believes that manager’s habitual procedure of oversimplification matters most where they are depending on information instead of physical units. The procedure of creating a product might, in actual fact, be just as multifaceted as designing one; however, the influence of that complication is more insignificant. Managers may not comprehend why a specific product is insufficient; however, the pace at which these flaws take place is inside a bearable level and does not, consequently, delay the congregation line all together. On the contrary, any decision in relation to the design of the product — ” if it turns out to be incorrect — ” can cost millions. An information-founded procedure, for instance strategic planning, has been greatly subjective by managers’ assumptions, their mental replica of the business in which they work and the market in which it functions.

Secondly, Stalling (2000) asserts that oversimplification has a more noteworthy influence on virtual companies and procedures. The more information managers have the more alternatives they have and the more multifaceted their world turns out to be. If their mental replicas cannot be on a par with this novel stage of complication, a potentially grave difficulty takes place: how can managers grow novel markets, introduce novel products and obtain novel consumers if they have been approaching a 21st-century world with 19th-century positions in relation to how those markets, products as well as consumers inter-relate?

Thirdly, Stalling (2000) believes that if information is part of the dilemma, it is, in addition, nevertheless, part of the answer. What systems thinking allow managers to do is observe the information to create and then make use of the links amid each part. Most managers do not believe that the huge quantities of information that they have been creating and storing at present will only turn out to be truly helpful if they can be connected simultaneously, if connections can be recognized amid previously sectioned subdivisions, products or consumers. Taken in segregation, each “division” of information gives managers only existing physical properties. If they assess information on their customers, they will learn who they might are and where they may live, as well as, the demographic groups they fall into and so on, however, they will not learn anything in relation to what they will purchase next. This is the critical dissimilarity amid remote and connected information: remote information can simply tell managers what is, however, linked information can inform them what might be. In addition, it is vital to acknowledge that the links amid “units” of information are lively and interactive: it might be that positive transformation in some “units” of the business can have negative influence elsewhere.

Therefore, it is vital for small business managers, who wish to utilize system thinking and information as their strategy, to comprehensively assess and develop a profound understanding of the levers of their company.

Conclusion

The purpose of the paper has been to evaluate the managerial impact on the failure of small businesses to adapt to the changing business characteristics and the underlying reasons for their failure to capitalize on the use information technology and the internet.

From the aforementioned facts it is clear that the opportunities of Internet-based business gives the impression to be substantial, however, very few small businesses have yet to successfully exploit these opportunities. Success on the Internet is reliant on obtaining a comprehensive knowledge of the character of the Internet and corresponding these with the character of the company’s products or services.

Throughout this paper, we have provided various illustration of not only virtual companies but also physical companies so that it is easier to understand the underlying reasons that restrain managers of small businesses to capitalize on the Internet and Information revolution, which have transformed the rules of doing business by transferring procedures from the physical sphere to the virtual sphere, by translating a physical procedure into information. It is safe to conclude that unless and until managers do not adapt to the ever-changing environment they will fail to prosper and that those businesses that accept these transformations will prosper as the use of tools and technology ahs become relative cheap. All one needs to succeed in this information age in determination and comprehensive knowledge of the environment in which they wish to compete.

It is important to note that while taking into consideration the character of the Internet itself, there have been four major features that have been measured by relatively successful small-scale Internet businesses, they are:

Managing fears of consumers — ” sensible and irrational — ” concerning the safety of Internet-based dealings;

Prevailing over concerns surrounding the intangibility of Internet-based purchasing either by utilizing the established brand name to provide confidence to customers or by dealing with the sort of merchandise that consumers feel comfortable purchasing distantly;

Playing to the demographics and characteristics of the Internet, which have been tilted towards young, male as well as rich individuals;

Making sure that, when all’s said and done, the company’s physical goods can be provided productively to the remote consumer.

In order to exploit the prospects of the Internet, small-scale companies have — ” like other retail departmental stores — “increased footfall. On the other hand, this is much more tough on the Internet (where there is insignificant transitory trade) than in a shopping center. Most large-scale relatively successful companies have been making attempts to overpower this concern by mass-marketing; however, smaller companies have been discovering more creative methods of utilizing the nature of the Internet itself to assist in promoting their services.

Any strategy small-scale businesses implement — ” regardless of how clever it is — ” will be valueless if they do not change visits to their website into real sales. To do this, they will have to reflect on how they can utilize the Internet to:

Cut down costs and eventually prices;

perk up the information they have in relation to clientele;

give much more state-of-the-art information on their services and products;

discover novel ways to buy and sell (for instance online auctioning).

Furthermore, traditional management methods depend on three kinds of generalizations:

Reducing the figure of variables with which the company has to deal with;

Dealing with each variable as autonomous in order that they do not turn out to be weighed down with the difficulty of even their most direct market;

Supposing that the links amid variables — ” where they have been established — ” are uncomplicated and clear-cut.

It is worth noting that information and the virtual business that has been constructed from these techniques cannot, on the other hand, be managed efficiently and successfully. Information implies that the small-scale companies have many additional variables to deal with, all of which have been connected together either directly or indirectly and more often than not, in multifaceted and irregular patterns.

In addition, a virtual small scale business, for the reason that information has been inherently both comprehensive and flexible, is more multifaceted than a physical business. Lastly, two techniques have been identified that small scale businesses have been following with the purpose of reacting productively to this sort of environment and have been relatively successful. These strategies should be adapted by other small business managers so that they too can achieve success in this information age:

Micro-management comprises examination of the detailed information a corporation has, instead of amassing so as to manage from a strategic point-of-view.

Systems thinking offer a way of comprehending how these developing overabundances of variables connect together.

Bibliography

Armistead, Colin and Kiely, J. (eds) (1997) Effective Organizations: New Directions and Perspectives, London, Cassell.

Cash, J., Eccles, R.G., Hohria, N. And Nolan, R.L. (1994) Building the Information Age Organization, Burr Ridge, Ill., Richard Irwin.

Clement, Bernard et al. (2001) Cyber-Security Issues. The ITPS Report, Seville, vol. 57, 2-8.

Cockfield, Lord (1995) Network Europe and the Information Society, London, Federal Trust.

Conner-Sax, Kiersten and Krol, Ed (1999) The Whole Internet: The Next Generation, Sebastapol, Calif., O’Reilly & Associates.

Checkland, P. And Holwell, S. (1998) Information, Systems, and Information Systems, Chichester, John Wiley & Sons

Dennis, A. And Wixom, B.H. (2000) Systems Analysis and Design: An Applied Approach, New York, John Wiley & Sons.

Don Tapscott. (1996). The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence, New York: McGraw-Hill.

Darnton, G. And Giacoletto, S. (1992) Information in the Enterprise: It’s More than Technology, Burlington, Mass., Digital Press

Eisenstadt, M. And Vincent, T. (2000) The Knowledge Web: Learning and Collaborating on the Net, London, Kogan Page.

Moschella, David (1997) Waves of Power: Dynamics of Global Technology Leadership 1964-2010, New York, American Management Association.

Porter, Michael (1990) The Competitive Advantage of Nations, New York, Free Press.

Pugh, D.S. (ed.) (1997) Organization Theory (4th edn), Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Penguin Books.

Remenyi, D., Sherwood-Smith, M. And White, T. (1997) Achieving Maximum Value from Information Systems, Chichester, John Wiley & Sons.

Rowland, Diane and Macdonald, Elizabeth (2000) Information Technology Law (2nd edn), London, Cavendish Publishing.

Stalling, W. (2000) Computer Organization and Architecture (4th edn), Upper Saddle River, N.J., Prentice-Hall.

Skyrme, D.J. (1999) Knowledge Networking: Creating the Collaborative Enterprise, Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann.

Brian Arthur. (1996) Increasing Returns and the New World of Business. Harvard Business Review, July-August.

Waltermann, Jens and Machill, Marcel (eds) (2000) Protecting Our Children on the Internet, Gutersloh, Bertelsmann Foundation.

Ward, J. And Griffiths, P. (1996) Strategic Planning for Information Systems (2nd edn), Chichester, John Wiley & Sons.

Winston, B. (1998) Media, Technology and Society. A History: From the Telegraph to the Internet, London, Routledge.

Zerdick, Axel et al. (2000) E-conomics: Strategies for the Digital Marketplace, Berlin, Springer, for the European Communication Council.

Stalling, W. (2000) Computer Organization and Architecture (4th edn), Upper Saddle River, N.J., Prentice-Hall.

Armistead, Colin and Kiely, J. (eds) (1997) Effective Organizations: New Directions and Perspectives, London, Cassell.

Cash, J., Eccles, R.G., Hohria, N. And Nolan, R.L. (1994) Building the Information Age Organization, Burr Ridge, Ill., Richard Irwin.

Cockfield, Lord (1995) Network Europe and the Information Society, London, Federal Trust.

Conner-Sax, Kiersten and Krol, Ed (1999) The Whole Internet: The Next Generation, Sebastapol, Calif., O’Reilly & Associates.

Dennis, A. And Wixom, B.H. (2000) Systems Analysis and Design: An Applied Approach, New York, John Wiley & Sons.

Eisenstadt, M. And Vincent, T. (2000) The Knowledge Web: Learning and Collaborating on the Net, London, Kogan Page.

Clement, Bernard et al. (2001) Cyber-Security Issues. The ITPS Report, Seville, vol. 57, 2-8.

Skyrme, D.J. (1999) Knowledge Networking: Creating the Collaborative Enterprise, Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann.

Pugh, D.S. (ed.) (1997) Organization Theory (4th edn), Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Penguin Books.

Remenyi, D., Sherwood-Smith, M. And White, T. (1997) Achieving Maximum Value from Information Systems, Chichester, John Wiley & Sons.

Rowland, Diane and Macdonald, Elizabeth (2000) Information Technology Law (2nd edn), London, Cavendish Publishing.

Waltermann, Jens and Machill, Marcel (eds) (2000) Protecting Our Children on the Internet, Gutersloh, Bertelsmann Foundation.

Ward, J. And Griffiths, P. (1996) Strategic Planning for Information Systems (2nd edn), Chichester, John Wiley & Sons.

Don Tapscott. (1996). The Digital Economy: Promise and Peril in the Age of Networked Intelligence, New York: McGraw-Hill.

Brian Arthur. (1996) Increasing Returns and the New World of Business. Harvard Business Review, July-August.

Darnton, G. And Giacoletto, S. (1992) Information in the Enterprise: It’s More than Technology, Burlington, Mass., Digital Press

Porter, Michael (1990) The Competitive Advantage of Nations, New York, Free Press.

Zerdick, Axel et al. (2000) E-conomics: Strategies for the Digital Marketplace, Berlin, Springer, for the European Communication Council.

Checkland, P. And Holwell, S. (1998) Information, Systems, and Information Systems, Chichester, John Wiley & Sons

Moschella, David (1997) Waves of Power: Dynamics of Global Technology Leadership 1964-2010, New York, American Management Association.

Dennis, A. And Wixom, B.H. (2000) Systems Analysis and Design: An Applied Approach, New York, John Wiley & Sons.

Winston, B. (1998) Media, Technology and Society. A History: From the Telegraph to the Internet, London, Routledge.

Managerial impact on small businesses

---

Get Professional Assignment Help Cheaply

Are you busy and do not have time to handle your assignment? Are you scared that your paper will not make the grade? Do you have responsibilities that may hinder you from turning in your assignment on time? Are you tired and can barely handle your assignment? Are your grades inconsistent?

Whichever your reason is, it is valid! You can get professional academic help from our service at affordable rates. We have a team of professional academic writers who can handle all your assignments.

Why Choose Our Academic Writing Service?

• Plagiarism free papers
• Timely delivery
• Any deadline
• Skilled, Experienced Native English Writers
• Subject-relevant academic writer
• Adherence to paper instructions
• Ability to tackle bulk assignments
• Reasonable prices
• 24/7 Customer Support
• Get superb grades consistently

 

Online Academic Help With Different Subjects

Literature

Students barely have time to read. We got you! Have your literature essay or book review written without having the hassle of reading the book. You can get your literature paper custom-written for you by our literature specialists.

Finance

Do you struggle with finance? No need to torture yourself if finance is not your cup of tea. You can order your finance paper from our academic writing service and get 100% original work from competent finance experts.

Computer science

Computer science is a tough subject. Fortunately, our computer science experts are up to the match. No need to stress and have sleepless nights. Our academic writers will tackle all your computer science assignments and deliver them on time. Let us handle all your python, java, ruby, JavaScript, php , C+ assignments!

Psychology

While psychology may be an interesting subject, you may lack sufficient time to handle your assignments. Don’t despair; by using our academic writing service, you can be assured of perfect grades. Moreover, your grades will be consistent.

Engineering

Engineering is quite a demanding subject. Students face a lot of pressure and barely have enough time to do what they love to do. Our academic writing service got you covered! Our engineering specialists follow the paper instructions and ensure timely delivery of the paper.

Nursing

In the nursing course, you may have difficulties with literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, critical essays, and other assignments. Our nursing assignment writers will offer you professional nursing paper help at low prices.

Sociology

Truth be told, sociology papers can be quite exhausting. Our academic writing service relieves you of fatigue, pressure, and stress. You can relax and have peace of mind as our academic writers handle your sociology assignment.

Business

We take pride in having some of the best business writers in the industry. Our business writers have a lot of experience in the field. They are reliable, and you can be assured of a high-grade paper. They are able to handle business papers of any subject, length, deadline, and difficulty!

Statistics

We boast of having some of the most experienced statistics experts in the industry. Our statistics experts have diverse skills, expertise, and knowledge to handle any kind of assignment. They have access to all kinds of software to get your assignment done.

Law

Writing a law essay may prove to be an insurmountable obstacle, especially when you need to know the peculiarities of the legislative framework. Take advantage of our top-notch law specialists and get superb grades and 100% satisfaction.

What discipline/subjects do you deal in?

We have highlighted some of the most popular subjects we handle above. Those are just a tip of the iceberg. We deal in all academic disciplines since our writers are as diverse. They have been drawn from across all disciplines, and orders are assigned to those writers believed to be the best in the field. In a nutshell, there is no task we cannot handle; all you need to do is place your order with us. As long as your instructions are clear, just trust we shall deliver irrespective of the discipline.

Are your writers competent enough to handle my paper?

Our essay writers are graduates with bachelor's, masters, Ph.D., and doctorate degrees in various subjects. The minimum requirement to be an essay writer with our essay writing service is to have a college degree. All our academic writers have a minimum of two years of academic writing. We have a stringent recruitment process to ensure that we get only the most competent essay writers in the industry. We also ensure that the writers are handsomely compensated for their value. The majority of our writers are native English speakers. As such, the fluency of language and grammar is impeccable.

What if I don’t like the paper?

There is a very low likelihood that you won’t like the paper.

Reasons being:

• When assigning your order, we match the paper’s discipline with the writer’s field/specialization. Since all our writers are graduates, we match the paper’s subject with the field the writer studied. For instance, if it’s a nursing paper, only a nursing graduate and writer will handle it. Furthermore, all our writers have academic writing experience and top-notch research skills.
• We have a quality assurance that reviews the paper before it gets to you. As such, we ensure that you get a paper that meets the required standard and will most definitely make the grade.

In the event that you don’t like your paper:

• The writer will revise the paper up to your pleasing. You have unlimited revisions. You simply need to highlight what specifically you don’t like about the paper, and the writer will make the amendments. The paper will be revised until you are satisfied. Revisions are free of charge
• We will have a different writer write the paper from scratch.
• Last resort, if the above does not work, we will refund your money.

Will the professor find out I didn’t write the paper myself?

Not at all. All papers are written from scratch. There is no way your tutor or instructor will realize that you did not write the paper yourself. In fact, we recommend using our assignment help services for consistent results.

What if the paper is plagiarized?

We check all papers for plagiarism before we submit them. We use powerful plagiarism checking software such as SafeAssign, LopesWrite, and Turnitin. We also upload the plagiarism report so that you can review it. We understand that plagiarism is academic suicide. We would not take the risk of submitting plagiarized work and jeopardize your academic journey. Furthermore, we do not sell or use prewritten papers, and each paper is written from scratch.

When will I get my paper?

You determine when you get the paper by setting the deadline when placing the order. All papers are delivered within the deadline. We are well aware that we operate in a time-sensitive industry. As such, we have laid out strategies to ensure that the client receives the paper on time and they never miss the deadline. We understand that papers that are submitted late have some points deducted. We do not want you to miss any points due to late submission. We work on beating deadlines by huge margins in order to ensure that you have ample time to review the paper before you submit it.

Will anyone find out that I used your services?

We have a privacy and confidentiality policy that guides our work. We NEVER share any customer information with third parties. Noone will ever know that you used our assignment help services. It’s only between you and us. We are bound by our policies to protect the customer’s identity and information. All your information, such as your names, phone number, email, order information, and so on, are protected. We have robust security systems that ensure that your data is protected. Hacking our systems is close to impossible, and it has never happened.

How our Assignment  Help Service Works

1.      Place an order

You fill all the paper instructions in the order form. Make sure you include all the helpful materials so that our academic writers can deliver the perfect paper. It will also help to eliminate unnecessary revisions.

2.      Pay for the order

Proceed to pay for the paper so that it can be assigned to one of our expert academic writers. The paper subject is matched with the writer’s area of specialization.

3.      Track the progress

You communicate with the writer and know about the progress of the paper. The client can ask the writer for drafts of the paper. The client can upload extra material and include additional instructions from the lecturer. Receive a paper.

4.      Download the paper

The paper is sent to your email and uploaded to your personal account. You also get a plagiarism report attached to your paper.

PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY!!!

---