Project Abstract

Project Overview

<p> <b></b></p><p><b><b>INTRODUCTION</b></b></p><p><b><b></b></b></p><b><b><p><b>1.1 &nbsp; BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY</b></p><p><b></b></p><b><p>The last two decades have witnessed an enormous and<br>explosive growth in the use of internet technologies especially the WWW for<br>business purposes by huge number of small and medium scale businesses. E-marketing<br>has not only reshaped the existing small and medium scale businesses but also<br>created tremendous opportunities for new businesses. Most of the small and<br>medium scale businesses in the developing countries are conducting business<br>conventionally, yet in the recent past the trend has been changed and they are<br>now doing business via Internet (Travica, 2002). Business organizations,<br>regardless of their size, have applied internet technological tools in a wide<br>range of their business activities including advertising, online delivery of<br>goods and services etc via online business and e-marketing services (Ang et<br>al., 2003). Both public and private sector organizations are spending heavily<br>on digitization in the hope of getting a competitive edge in the market.</p><p>Developing a successful e-marketing has become a<br>major issue in the internet age, despite its benefits, there are also threats;<br>studies have indicated that the rate of adoption of e-marketing is slow among<br>the organizations round the globe (Mukti, 2002). The main reasons impeding the<br>growth of e-marketing include the lack of financial resources, lack of<br>government support and lack of IT know how on the part of management (Bakry and<br>Bakry, 2001). There is a scarcity of literature of this innovative technology<br>in Nigeria, though a few studies were conducted in Ghana, India, Iran and<br>Mauritius (Sharma and Gupta, 2003).</p><p>In the past, Seyal (2004) have conducted studies on<br>e-marketing but they were limited to large and industrial business only, unfortunately<br>very limited information is available about the impediments and opportunities<br>of e-marketing in Nigeria.</p><p>Nigeria is on its way to digital modes of<br>governance. E-marketing is a new concept to the Nigerian psyche and market as<br>compared to other regional countries like Asia; while in the developed world<br>like USA, 50% of the population is online (Singh et-al., 2001). Despite these<br>statistics, the online population of the world is expected to increase dramatically<br>in the near future; yet, this growth will come primarily in developed<br>countries. The global economy has reached $70 trillion, but less than 2% of<br>that is online. By 2017 the figure may exceed $110 trillion, of which 8 to 10%<br>will be online (Hayden, 2015), likewise, 90% of the organizations in US are marketing,<br>buying and selling online (Bingi et-al., 2000). This represents a significant<br>shift not only in size, but also in the nature and magnitude of e-marketing.<br>The political and geographical borders will be less significant to the mobility<br>of capital and time differences for businesses as IT are shrinking the borders<br>and expanding the markets. Researchers seem to agree that in the digital<br>economy, successful e-marketing will employ a more collaborative business model<br>instead of old mind set; and successful online marketing will likely be those<br>that have both physical stores and web sites “clicks and bricks” (McKinsey<br>2001).</p><p>Small and medium scale businesses<br>in Nigeria play a very vital role in the development of its economy. Over the<br>years various policies both from the government and some of the private sector<br>actors have been developed to create enabling environments for these small<br>scale businesses to thrive. However the challenges linger. Some of these<br>challenges have been highlighted by many authors to be, poor managerial skill,<br>small capital, wasteful spending by small scale business owners, poor marketing<br>strategies etc. the is not the negligence of the fact that those few SMEs that<br>have thrived over the years have contributed immensely to the growth of Nigeria<br>economy through the following significant ways, utilization of Nigeria’s<br>resources, increase an employment etc. income generation and redistribution<br>etc.</p><p>Noteworthy at this point in the fact<br>the small scale business especially in the sub-Saharan region appear to be<br>lagging behind in the global trends with respect to small scale businesses. In<br>Japan for example, small scale businesses now engage an international business<br>due to their ability to create product according the taste of the market and<br>are able use available marketing to ensure they gain and retune a reasonable<br>market share. This has been made possible despite the many obvious and general<br>challenges that is inherent in small scale businesses.</p><p><b>1.2 &nbsp; STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM</b></p><p><b></b></p><b><p>E-marketing in Nigeria is facing many challenges to<br>grow as it is still an infant child in the country. The people in Nigeria are<br>economically poor and illiterate that is why the number of users transacting online<br>are limited. The number of organizations offering online business that will<br>necessitate e-marketing is also limited and few of them are generating<br>sufficient revenues. Moreover, globalization is increasingly dominating the<br>minds of progressive business executives in the country to opt for e-marketing.<br>E-marketing<br>as a marketing tool could help the small scale business in Nigeria reach a<br>wider local market, make gain through competitive advantage while serving a<br>better part of the market. Also E-marketing gives the small scale business an<br>opportunity to access new export markets This study focuses on<br>e-marketing and small and medium scale businesses with reference to<br>opportunities and threats.</p><p><b>1.3 &nbsp; OBJECTIVES<br>OF THE STUDY</b></p><p><b></b></p><b><p>The<br>following are the objectives of this study:</p><p>1. To<br>examine the opportunities that e-marketing will bring for small and<br>medium scale businesses in Nigeria.</p><p>2. To<br>examine the threats of e-marketing to small and medium scale businesses in<br>Nigeria.</p><p>3. To<br>examine the level of awareness of e-marketing as a strategic marketing tool by<br>small and medium scale businesses in Nigeria.</p><p><b>1.4 &nbsp; RESEARCH<br>QUESTIONS</b></p><p><b></b></p><b><p>1. What<br>are the opportunities that e-marketing will bring for small and<br>medium scale businesses in Nigeria?</p><p>2. What are<br>the threats of e-marketing to small and medium scale businesses in Nigeria?</p><p>3. What is<br>the level of awareness of e-marketing as a strategic marketing tool by small<br>and medium scale businesses in Nigeria?</p><p><b>1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS</b></p><p><b></b></p><b><p>H0:<br>there is no significant relationship between E-marketing and small enterprise</p><p>H1:<br>there is significant relationship between E-marketing and small enterprise</p><p><b>1.6 &nbsp; SIGNIFICANCE<br>OF THE STUDY</b></p><p><b></b></p><b><p>The<br>following are the significance of this study:</p><p>1. This<br>study will educate business managers and the general public on how e-marketing<br>will affect small and medium scale businesses in Nigeria with reference to threats<br>and opportunities.</p><p>2. This<br>research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the<br>effect of personality trait on student’s academic performance, thereby<br>constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area</p><p><b>1.7 &nbsp; SCOPE/LIMITATIONS<br>OF THE STUDY</b></p><p><b></b></p><b><p>This<br>study will cover the threats and opportunities of e-marketing to small and<br>medium scale businesses in Nigeria.</p><p><b>LIMITATION OF STUDY</b></p><p><b></b></p><b><p><b>Financial constraint</b>– Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the<br>researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information<br>and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).</p><p><b>Time constraint</b>– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study<br>with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted<br>for the research work.</p><p><b>REFERENCES</b></p><p>Ang, C., Tahar, RM. and Murat, R.<br>(2003). An empirical study on electronic commerce diffusion in the Malaysian<br>shipping industry. Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing<br>Countries, 14(1), pp. 1-9.</p><p>Bakry, SH. and Bakry, FH. (2001).<br>A strategic view for the development of eBusiness. International Journal of<br>Network Management, Vol. 11, pp. 103-112</p><p>Bingi, P., Ali, M. and Joseph, K.<br>(2000). The challenges facing global eCommerce. Information Systems Management,<br>17 (4), pp. 26-34</p><p>Hayden, D. (2000). The Internet<br>is a domain of thinking and acting: Leadership in the eCommerce revolution.<br>Vital Speeches of the Day. 66 (16), pp. 496-500. June.</p><p>McKinsey, K. (2001). Asians miss<br>the eBiz mark. Far Eastern Economic Review, March 15,<br><a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feer.com/_0103_15/p042innov.html">http://www.feer.com/_0103_15/p042innov.html</a>, accessed on April 26, 2007.</p><p>Mukti, NA. (2002). Barriers to<br>putting businesses on the Internet in Malaysia, Electronic Journal of<br>Information Systems in Developing Countries, 2(6), pp. 1-6.</p><p>Seyal, AH. (2004). An<br>investigation of eCommerce adoption in micro business enterprises: Bruneian<br>evidence. Proceedings of 4rth International Conference on working with<br>eBusiness (We-B03), Perth Western Australia, 24-25 November.</p><p>Sharma, SK. and Gupta, JND.<br>(2003). eCommerce adoption and socio-economic influences: A study in India.<br>Proceedings of 4rth Annual Global Information Technology Management World<br>Conference, Calgary, Canada, 8-10 June.</p><p>Singh, T., Jay, VJ. and Singh, J.<br>(2001). eCommerce in the US and Europe: Is Europe ready to compete? Business<br>Horizons, 44 (22), pp. 6-16. March-April</p><p>Travica, B. (2002) Diffusion of<br>electronic commerce in developing countries: The case of Costa Rica. Journal of<br>Global Information Technology Management, 5(1), pp. 4-24</p></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b></b> <br><p></p>