epistemologia

Available online at www.epistemologia-journal.com ISSN: 0392-9760

Epistemologia

Vol.11,Issue.02,Page: 102-114 (2014)

A survey on the factors affecting use of e-commerce in medium industries in fisheries industry of Sistan and Baluchestan Mohammad Eslami*1, Ehsan Ghasemi1, Milad Chizari1 1

Department of Electrical and Computer, College of Engineering, Khash branch, Islamic Azad University, Khash, Iran *Corresponding author ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Article history: Paper ID: 09RN-30264 Received : 15 September 2014 Received in revised form: 22 September 2014 Accepted : 28 September 2014 Available online : 30 September 2014

Small companies in most of developing countries including Iran play an important role in enterprise, gross domestic product and job creation. There will be huge benefits at national economy by use of e-commerce. Using a descriptive survey, this study seeks to reply to this question “what are the factors affecting use of e-commerce in medium industries in fisheries industry of Sistan and Baluchestan?”. For this, a questionnaire consisting of 36 questions was designed. The statistical population of this study consists of all the managers and experts at the companies working at the area of fishery who were studied using census. The reliability of research was calculated using Chronbach’s alpha. The results indicate that about 13% of the units do not tend to use e-commerce, and 47% tend to use it in a near future, and 40% use email. Findings indicate that a significant relationship exists between all the research variables and the extent to which e-commerce was used in medium enterprises at fisheries industries in Sistan and Baluchestan. Further, Freidman test indicated that the market factors with the mean of 2.28 have the highest effect and then specific features of e-commerce with the mean of 1.91 and organizational factors with the mean of 1.81 have the least effect.

Key words: e-commerce; medium industries; fisheries industry

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enterprises at fisheries industries in Sistan and Baluchestan.

INTRODUCTION E-commerce generally is a starting point for small and medium enterprises to enter to the global markets, but despite existing potential opportunities, most of small and medium enterprises have not had a high tendency to enter to the e-commerce. Further, growth of e-commerce among small and medium enterprises is less than what expected, and it seems that particular companies and enterprises can enter to the global markets for which a general revision to identify the problems from the entry to the ecommerce is required. In Sistan and Baluchestan, with regard to gulf of Oman, most of small and medium enterprises serve in the context of fisheries and aquaculture. With regard to the fact that Sistan and Baluchestan is the gate to enter to the world, and is situated further far from the capital of the country, as a result some problems might raise by introducing its products and industries in a traditional way, and on the other hand, the facilities through modern technologies and communication especially internet and e-commerce in introducing companies and products not just in the country but throughout the world can be useful in this regard. This study examines the factors affecting use of e-commerce in medium enterprises in Sistan and Baluchestan. Importance of research Today, small and medium enterprises throughout the country have taken fundamental steps for use of ecommerce, and although they have had substantial successes, they have to cope with problems so as to sustain on competition in the international markets. According to the importance of fisheries industries in economic development of country, it can resolve most of the economic problems within the community by use of utmost all the capability of this sector. For this, it can utilize modern communication and information technologies especially internet and e-commerce to identify the fisheries products and services throughout the world. If fisheries industries in Sistan and Baluchestan enable to introduce their products and services to the people around the world, not just their enterprise’s status will be improved, and their productivity and efficiency will be increased, but their important role will be revealed in development of region. Aims of study This study aims to identify and rank the factors affecting the use of e-commerce in medium 103

Secondary aims 1-Identify the organizational factors which affect the use of e-commerce in medium enterprises at fisheries industries in Sistan and Baluchestan. 2- Identify the environmental factors which affect the use of e-commerce in medium enterprises at fisheries industries in Sistan and Baluchestan. 3- Identify the particular characteristic of ecommerce which affects the use of e-commerce in medium enterprises at fisheries industries in Sistan and Baluchestan. Research hypotheses First hypothesis: there is a significant relationship between organizational factors and the use of ecommerce in medium enterprises at fisheries industries in Sistan and Baluchestan. Second hypothesis: there is a significant relationship between environmental factors and the use of ecommerce in medium enterprises at fisheries industries in Sistan and Baluchestan. Third hypothesis: there is a significant relationship between particular characteristic of e-commerce and the use of e-commerce in medium enterprises at fisheries industries in Sistan and Baluchestan. Definition of medium enterprises in the countries around the world Extension of the texts related to the medium enterprises results in representing various definitions for these enterprises based on the age, demographic and cultural structure as well as the extent to which the development was seen in these countries (Ghasemi et al., 2009, pp. 73-74). Definition of MSEs based on Europe Union standards Based on Europe Union standards, the medium enterprises are defined based on the number of employees and the amount of annual capital flow. In this regard, an enterprise is called a medium enterprise in which the number of employees does not exceed from 250 indiviudals and the amount of


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annual capital flow does not exceed from 40 million euros(Ghasemi et al. 2009, p. 746). Definition of small enterprises guidelines for Asian countries

based

industrial and service units with less than 50 workers. Cooperative ministry has used such a definition for medium enterprises.

on

In Asia, various quantitative criteria are used to classify medium companies which some include the number of employees, value of assets, the amount of annual capital flow, the amount of capital and so forth(SME group, industrial management organization). Although these quantitative definitions facilitate classification, the quantitative criteria will not be always a suitable method for classification of companies. For instance, a steel company with on the whole 500 employees is accounted as a medium company in steel industry, while a service company like a finance consulting firm with about 500 employees is accounted as a large company. Hence, quality and qualitative characteristics of companies are essential.

Definition of medium enterprises in view of Statistical Center of Iran According to the definition by Statistical Center of Iran, enterprises have been classified to four groups: enterprises with 1-9 workers, 10-49 workers, 50-99 workers and more than 100 workers. Statistical Center of Iran calls the enterprises with less than 50 workers as the medium enterprises and calls other enterprises as industrial factories (Statistical Center of Iran, 2008). Definition of medium enterprises in view of central bank Central bank calls the enterprise with less than 100 workers as medium enterprises. In this regard, lack of a common definition for medium enterprises leads to separation of type of rules, type of organization and type of protection (Ghasemi et al., 2009, p. 75).

Definitions of medium enterprises in Iran Definitions of medium enterprises in Iran due to diversity of decision making centers enjoy a great diversity, e.g. medium enterprises are called to those

Table 1. Definition of industries in the countries around the world Country China Indonesia Japan Korea

Definition of small enterprises It differs in various enterprises which the enterprises will less than 100 employees are accounted as small and medium enterprises Less than 100 employees Less than 100 employees with the assets less than 10 million yen on the wholesale enterprises and less than 50 employees and the assets less than 20 million yen on the retail sales Manufacturing enterprises with less than 200 employees and service enterprises with less than 40 employees

Criterion Number of employees Number of employees Number of employees and assets Number of employees

Malaysia

The number of full-time employees has been less than 150 individuals and the amount of annual financial flow has been less than 25 million Malaysian ringgit

Number of employees and corporate financial flow

Philippines

The number of full-time employees is less than 200 individuals and the sum of assets must not be more than 40 million peso

The number of full-time employees is accounted as the amount of assets within the enterprises.

Singapore America

Austria

104

The value of fixed assets must be less than 11 million and the number of employees must be less than 100 individuals in Singapore Less than 500 employees The enterprise with the number of employees less than 50 individuals is accounted as small enterprise and the enterprise with employees with number of individuals between 50-250 individuals is accounted as the medium enterprise. The enterprises with the annual financial flow less than 20 million euro are recognized as


Employees and fixed assets Number of employees Number of employees and financial flow

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Germany

Commission for Europe

SMEs. According to this definition, the enterprises with the annual financial flow less than 5 million euro are known as small enterprise. The number of employees must be less than 250 individuals and the amount of annual financial flow must not exceed from 40 million euro. There must be 1-9 employees and the financial flow must be less than 2 million euro

Source: SMEs group, industrial management organization (Ghasemi et al. 2009, p. 74)

Number of employees and financial flow Number of employees and financial flow

1-ownership and management unity 2-personal and family ownership

Characteristics of small enterprises Qualitative characteristic of small and medium enterprises Generally, the small and medium enterprises enjoy three qualitative characteristics:

3-independence from other enterprises (Mardani Givi et al. 2003) Macgregor and Vrazalic(2005) have classified the characteristics of SMEs as follows:

Table 2. Domestic characteristic of SMEs

7

Unique characteristics of SMEs(domestic characteristics)/ the characteristics associated to the processes SME enjoys a centralized management A short-term strategy Poor skills of enterprise management SMEs have had a great desire to independence and avoided dangers Owners of SMEs hide their information from their colleagues In SMEs, decisions are a sense not based on comprehensive planning and studies In SMEs, owners play a major role in the process of decision making

8

Family values and concerns intervene in the process of decision making

9

SMEs have insufficient non-official planning

10

Less access to the resources

11

Lack of desire of SMEs to pay for IT

12

Lack of technical knowledge and skilled employees and less training for the employees

Row 1 2 3 4 5 6

Related works Bunker & MacGregor (2000) Welsh and White (1981) Blili and Raymond(1993) Dennis(2000) Dennis(2000) Bunker & MacGregor (2000) Bunker & MacGregor (2000) Bunker & MacGregor (2000),Dennis(2000) Tetteh and Burn(2001),Miller and Besser (2000) Blili and Raymond(1993),Cragg and King(1993),Welsh and White(1981) Walczuch et al (2000),Dennis(2000) MacGregor and Bunker(1996) Martin and Matlay(2001) Bunker andMacGREGOR(2000) BLILI AND Raymond (1993)

Table 3. foreign characteristics of SMEs Row 1

Unique characteristics of SMEs and foreign characteristics The characteristics associated to the products and markets SMEs have shorter range of product and service

2

SMEs have less joint markets

3 4

High trust on limited number of customers SMEs are product-oriented, but the large enterprises are customer-

105


Related works Bunker and MacGregor(2000) Quayle (2002), Hadjimonolis (1999) Lawrence (1997) Bunker and MacGregor (2000)

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oriented SMEs have not desire to join to the market SMEs have not the ability for competiton The characteristics related to the risk-taking SMEs have less control over their environment SMEs are exposed to more risk because their failure risk goes beyond the risk in large enterprises SMEs have less desire to acceptance of risk

5 6 7 8 9

MacGregor et al (1998) Lawrence (1997) Hill and Stewart(2000) Delone(1988) Cochran(1981) Walczuch et al (2000)

Source: Macgregor and Vrazalic, 2005

E-commerce models

Definition of e-commerce

Depending on the nature of exchange, various models have been invented for e-commerce, and all these models have been characterized as follows: “B” implies the company or the institute, “C” implies the customer or citizen, “G” implies the government, “A” implies departments, “M” implies mobile (Sarafizade, 2007, pp. 154-158).

E-commerce is a new enterprise strategy in online way by the use of networks and internet. In this strategy, the process of purchase and sale or exchange of products, services and information are carried out through computer and communication networks including internet. A variety of definitions for e-commerce regarding various attitudes have been proposed, but they are far from this study.

Table 4. Various models of e-commerce Model B2B B2C B2G G2A

Abbreviation Business to business Business to customer Business to government Government to administration

C2B

Customer to business

C2C

Customer to customer Administration to administration

A2A G2C

Government to customer

G2B

Government to business

G2G

Government to government

M-C

Mobile communication

Definition Two or several businesses address to interactions among themselves A business addresses e-commerce with the customers Government’s financial transactions and contracts with government Government interacts with the administrative organizations via network The customer receives essential information relating to the business and engages in necessary interactions Individuals in e-commerce play the role of seller and purchaser Mechanizing the administrations and the communications and interactions among organizations through sending correspondence Government in relationship with customers addresses to e-commerce and provides services The relationship between government and organizations and commercial institutes are fulfilled in an on-line way A government can interact with another government through network and in an on-line way Individuals through their mobile phone can connect to the network and address to interaction and processing

Source: Sarafizade, 2007, pp. 154-158 Advantages of e-commerce A great desire of institutes and enterprises to ecommerce is a reason for large benefits of ecommerce. E-commerce enjoys extensive dimensions so that the advantages from e-commerce can be seen in all the dimensions. Here, some of the advantages have been summarized: -access to a larger range of markets: this implies a potential to search the providers for the purpose of access to low price. 106

-flexibility in management and communication: this implies that use of flexible e-commerce improves the accuracy at the process of management, and facilitates the intra-organizational communications (Standing, 2005). -reduction of prices: the companies like Buy.com, Half.com and Blue Nile have been able to reduce their marginal cost by reducing the manufacturing costs, and provide cheaper products. On the other hand, the prices can be reduced for about 40% by increasing the amount of sale.


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-reduction of barriers to involvement: today, involvement of individuals and organizations in internet enterprises have become more convenient, and this has been converted to a concern for activists at internet area. They always ask how will be the next competitor.

The nature of job is different in digital age, so that the number of employees due to increase of competition in global markets has been reduced in this age, and doing the job has been devolved upon the countries with lower salary and wage (Hanafizade, Rezaei, 2011, p. 40).

But, threat and opportunity that are provided for the individuals who engage in internet is more important in order that they ask for competitive advantage at their new enterprise(Hanafizade, Rezaei, 2011, pp. 67-68).

Another effect of e-commerce in perspective of technology causes formation of a modern organizational structure which is known as t-form structure. Such an organization enjoys an extensive supervision area and little management hierarchy (Sarafizade, 2007, p. 35).

Effects of e-commerce regarding business -re-definition of mission of organization Effects of e-commerce can be classified in three dimensions including improvement of direct marketing, conversion of change of organizations and re-definition of organizations (Bichler, M.& Segev, A. and Zhao,j.L,1998,PP:7-14). -improvement of direct marketing: new channels of sale, direct save, delivery time, customer services and brand time come to realize through product promotion. -conversion of organizations: rapid growth of ecommerce obliges the organizations to adapt themselves with new technologies and has given them the opportunity to experience products, services and creation of new processes.

E-commerce causes an integration in manufacturing systems with financial, marketing and other functional systems, and also causes a close relationship between organization and providers and customers. e-commerce not just influences companies and their products, but influences all their industries. E-commerce has changes the method for employment, evaluation, progress and development of individuals by being affected by the role of internet. Kaynerk, E. and Tatoglu, E and Kula,V(2005) know the factors affecting the tendency of organizations in use of e-commerce as follows:

Table 5. Benefits of e-commerce in view of Kaynerk(2005) Factor 1 Creation of new opportunities for business Receive better services from suppliers Collect data on potential markets Improve the image of company Create a global image from the company Provide better services for the customers Acquire more customer satisfaction factor 3: the capability for easy access Communications with low price Accessibility in 24 hours of a day Easy access to potential customers Easy access to international markets

Factor 2 efficiency of sale and promotion Immediate sale and promotion Supervision on performance of competitors Reduction of costs in propaganda costs Providing effective propaganda and promotion Increase of sale Factor 4 reduction of price Reduction of cost in trip time by sale personnel Saving at telephone prices -

Source: Kaynerk, E. and Tatoglu,E and Kula,V, (2005),PP.623-640 -barriers to e-commerce

-awareness

Ihlstro C and Nilsson,M(2001) in their study have Most of small and medium enterprises are curious investigated the barriers to acceptance of eabout e-commerce and its facilities, and most of commerce for small and medium enterprises and these enterprises will seek to achieve their classified the barriers based on individuals’ view, expectations till being in doubtful situation. and characterized important barriers as follows: 107 www.epistemologia-journal.com

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-Lack of confidence Some enterprises are not confident in benefits of ecommerce, and this Lack of confidence emerges due to lack of certain financial benefits. -Proportion The enterprises must consider the facilities of commerce through internet and decide whether their products and services are suitable to be provided in the internet or not. -Resources When an enterprise moves towards information technology and e-commerce, some problems due to lack of information and awareness may raise in this way. Lack of technical resources due to unsuitable internet relationship in small and medium enterprises is another barrier to e-commerce.

This problem is magnified at internet area. Indeed, the competitors might address the enterprise’s internet audio and recognize it when an order is transmitted. Another concern on how to create a secure infrastructure will emerge in case the customers are allowed to enter to the system and apply changes in their order through another website. -the interference of communication challenges with each other Some enterprises have expressed concerns on ecommerce and acquiring final customer, such that they have emerged as competitors for their retailers and felt the risk of loss of their customers. Yet, some of them with retailers have agreed on this and have experienced less risk. -Individual contact

Today, most of enterprises look at their involvement via internet as marketing and seek to expand their website as much as possible in order that all their ecommerce activities to be included in their website.

In view of some enterprises, if contact with customer comes to realize through electronic instruments like email and website, individual contact will remove. An emphasis has been put on this problem that talking on various problems and individual problems is not possible through electronic instruments. In contrast, some believe that the customer will be more important by setting out 24 hours services like email.

-financial problems

-development

financial problems are a barrier to any enterprise and the budget which is considered for e-commerce is so limited. The major problem lies on a fact that the enterprises must learn the techniques required for updating website and this requires a financial budget.

Some enterprises have been satisfied with the extent to which they had development and have no desire to growth, but consider e-commerce as a facility to provide high-quality services and products (Ihlstrom C.and Nilsson,M.,(2001)).

-propaganda

-security Table 6. Current barriers to accept e-commerce in SMEs 1

Lack of suitable e-commerce solutions for SMEs

2 3

Problems over adjustment with existing systems Problems over changing processes of current job to adapt with EC Transport facilities and insufficient delivery Limited distribution of computers Shortage of on-line payment procceses Limited access to banking services Insecure tax rules Limited knowledge about EC models and methods Lack of access to computers Lack of access to software/hardware Lack of time to examine the selections Lack of information to examine the selections Difficulty at finding and hiring the competent employees with

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

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Khan(2004),kapurubandara Lawson(2006) Khan(2004) Khan(2004) Dedrick and Kraemer(2001) Dedrick and Kraemer(2001) Dedrick and Kraemer(2001) Dedrick and Kraemer(2001) Dedrick and Kraemer(2001) Cloete,et al(2001),Cloete(2002) Cloete,et al(2001),Cloete(2002) Cloete,et al(2001),Cloete(2002) Cloete,et al(2001),Cloete(2002) Cloete,et al(2001),Cloete(2002) Kaynak et al (2005)

and

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15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

essential skill and knowledge Risk of waste at professional knowledge of enterprise EC causes lacking emphasis on major enterprise Lack of strategic vision Markets need high-level human interactions Large unexpected emails Development of technology Lack of pressure from suppliers and customers Lack of trust from internet users Customers do not ask EC Believing in a fact that all the customers are local customers SMEs have not been prepared to accept EC as an enterprise concept Limited use of SMEs from internet banking Sale uner website of products and services in not still practical Lack of resources for analysis Some enterprises have small markets which do not need internet connections Lack of simple guidelines No one leaves the store’s facilities Unsustainability of EC space at the country Change at rules with any new government

The status of e-commerce in Iran Unfortunately, the statistics and figures on ecommerce have not been represented in Iran. Till the end of 2005, one million transmission channels have been established in communication network level. Till the end of 2005, the capacity of information transmission network around the country has increased to 106140 Mb, and finally some statistics of e-banking indicate the extent of this phenomenon. All the transactions under the online system in 2005 have been about 112.5 billion transaction, and 13 million cards have been issued for consumers in the

109

Lane et al(2004) Lane et al(2004) Taylor and Murphy (2004) Taylor and Murphy (2004)Dixon et al(2002) Kapurubandara and Lawson(2006) Kapurubandara and Lawson(2006) Kapurubandara and Lawson(2006) Kapurubandara and Lawson(2006)

country till the end of 2005. 68.5 thousands terminals have been in chain stores around the country (www.ecommerce.gov.ir/StaticPages/StaticPagesF). E-commerce enablers in Iran In a great project on studying the feasibility of ecommerce in Iran that has been fulfilled by commerce industries, e-commerce enablers have been expressed in four dimensions including technical preparation, culture and people, support institutes, rules and regulations(project on studying the feasibility, 2005).

Table 7. e-commerce enablers in Iran Row 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Row 1 2 3 4 5 Row 1

Kaynak et al (2005) Brown (2002),Scupola(2003) Brown (2002) Bolongkikit et al(2006) Scupola(2003) Scupola(2003) Looi(2003) Lawson et al(2003) Pracy and Cooper(2000) Pracy and Cooper(2000) Lane et al(2004)

Enablers of technical preparation High quality and speed at network Access to internet Associated local network The possibility for access to software and hardware Services and support Access to e-services required in e-commerce Technical standards Awareness from e-commerce Trust on e-commerce Financial support for e-commerce The ability to use e-commerce Skill of e-commerce e-commerce enablers in support institutes Timely delivery www.epistemologia-journal.com

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2 3 4 5 6 Row 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Service Providers in support institutes with sufficient skill Efficient internal infrastructure Investment in information technology and the ability to integrate systems Efficiency of supply chain around the world Important professional people in support section e-commerce enablers in rules and regulations Evidences for approval of e-services Electronic certificate authorities Copyright Privacy/ protection from data Protection from consumer Civil liability Right of competitions Taxes e-payments Main institutes

Source: project on studying the feasibility, 2005, recommendations for facilitation of e-commerce

According to the view of scholars, there are facilitators and also barriers at each of these stages; refer to table 8 for this.

Facilitators in different stages of development of ecommerce Table 8. facilitators and also barriers in different stages of development of e-commerce Stage

Involvement

Facilitators Creation of website and other development activities Commitment Content of website Flexibility of price

Portal

Integration of exchanges

Integration of organization

The cost to access the target customers Investment Accepting changes in organization The ability to use The ability for expansion of information technology inside the company in view of financial investment The ability to acquire competitive advantage in information technology Partnership for B2B systems Opportunities for third party development of e-commerce Selection of competitive payment systems Competencies of employees Integration of business processes and controlling them Integration of support processes

Barriers Resistance against technology inside the organization Resistance by experts against creation of new technology Lack of accepting growth by managers Lack of financial investment and development of communication infrastructure Managers’ insufficient attitude towards accepting technology Difficulty in development of B2B relations Cultural and language issues Lack of ability or tendency to use system by suppliers Lack of integration in financial systems

Lack of tax and commercial policies of government Lack of security Lack of a legal environment and rules How to behave with spiritual ownership Lack of tax policies and governmental tariffs Access to technology Regional and global distribution of technology International standards and processing exchanges Development of e-market and complexity of network

Source: Rao, s.s.& Metts, G.and Mong, C.A., (2003)pp11-32 Table 9-factors affecting development of e-commerce

110


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Concepts Organizational factors Inter- Organizational factors Technical requirements

Related works

Considered components Awareness, consistency of business, size of organization, support by senior manager, employees’ awareness, organizational preparation Partnership by organizations, pressure by competitors and etc Convenience in use, quality of e-commerce system, the ability to test using

39 25 5

Source: Samiezade, R. Chaharsooghi, K, 2008 Research model According to the literature review, conceptual model of the present study is as follow:

Figure 1. Research model (source: by author )

Research method A descriptive survey has been used in this study as the research method, and an applied research in order to resolve the problem at the community has been used.

Statistical population 111

Table 10. The number and type of activity of active industries Row Type of activity Number 1 Caning 28 2 Fishmeal 11 3 Curing 22 4 Floating 9 Sum 70

Source: Department of Fisheries, Chabahar www.epistemologia-journal.com

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The data required to test research hypotheses has been collected from all the individuals in statistical population.

degree of importance for each of research variables, Friedman variance analysis test has been used. Findings indicate that a significant relationship exists between all the research variables and the extent to which e-commerce was used in small and medium enterprises at fishery industries in Chabahar County. The summary of results for one-variable chi-square test is as follow:

Research findings In this study, to determine the effect of each of variables on use of e-commerce in small and medium enterprises at fishery industries in Chabahar county, chi-square test has been used. To determine the

Table 11. Results of one-variable chi-square test Main variable

Organizational factors

Market factors

Specific features of ecommerce

Secondary variable All the factors Selfefficiency The ability for adaptation Tendency to change Speed of change All the factors Dynamism of competitors Dynamism of customers All the factors Perceived advantages Perceived risks

Calculated chisquare statistics

chi-square statistics of table

Freedom degree

Significance value

82/900

5/99

2

0/000

31/114

3/84

1

0/000

13/829

3/84

1

0/000

Confirming hypothesis

31/943

7/81

3

0/000

63/114

3/84

1

0/000

63/114

3/84

1

0/000

25/814

5/99

2

0/000

106/314

3/84

1

0/000

86/800

5/99

2

0/000

9/257

3/84

1

0/002

60/529

5/99

2

0/0001

Confirming hypothesis Confirming hypothesis Confirming hypothesis Confirming hypothesis Confirming hypothesis Confirming hypothesis Confirming hypothesis Confirming hypothesis

Source: calculations of research

112


Result of test Confirming hypothesis Confirming hypothesis

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Figure 2. model and coefficients

Results of variance analysis indicate that market factors, Specific features of e-commerce and organizational factors with the mean of 2.28, 1.91 and 1.81 have the most effect on using e-commerce in small and medium enterprises at fishery industries in Chabahar county. Further, it is believed that the factors including Perceived advantages, dynamism of customers, speed of change, self-efficiency, dynamism of competitors, tendency to change, the ability for adaptation and perceived risks with the mean of 6.59, 5.39, 4.69, 4.39, 4.32, 4, 3.86 and 2.42 respectively have the most effect on using ecommerce in small and medium enterprises at fishery industries in Chabahar county. Discussion and conclusion According to the researcher's expectation, using ecommerce is low in small and medium enterprises at fishery industries in Chabahar County, and this is an alarm for department of commerce which adheres to e-commerce in Iran. On the other hand, small enterprises believe that advantages of e-commerce are large and diverse. As the research findings indicate, to use e-commerce is low in small and 113

medium enterprises at fishery industries in Chabahar county-Sistan and Baluchestan province, it is essential to consider specific features of e-commerce in addition to providing intra-organizational and inter-organizational infrastructures. Results of a large body of studies in the context of factors affecting use of e-commerce is low in small and medium enterprises at fishery industries in Chabahar county indicate consistency of the results of these studies with the present study. The factors affecting use of e-commerce is low in small and medium enterprises have been classified into 4 groups: 1-environemntal factors: markets, competitive pressure, rules, regulations of government, suppliers, customers, partners and consumers. 2-knowledge factors: experience and knowledge of executive managers, expertise of employees, identification of needs, opportunities and experiences.

3-organizational factors: accessibility and use of internal resources. www.epistemologia-journal.com

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4-technical factors: the technology of the cost for gaining interest by job diversity(Yazdani & Khosravipoor, 2010, pp. 59-64)

5.

6.

Suggestions In this study, all the hypotheses were confirmed, i.e. all the factors that have been examined as organizational variables, market and specific features of e-commerce affect using e-commerce in medium enterprises at fishery industries in Chabahar county. In this regard, it is suggested that the managers' views to be changed to a positive view on this technology by expressing advantages and benefits of using e-commerce like investigating performance of successful companies. The government must have a cohesive planning for organizing e-commerce learning classes by cooperation of associated organizations like medium enterprises and information technology ministries. According to the specific conditions in Sistan and Baluchestan, the government must take essential steps to create the preliminary infrastructures for using information and communication technologies.

7.

8.

Ihlstrom C.and Nilsson,M.,(2001),”Size Does Matter: SMEs Special Barriers in Adopting EBusiness”,Collector,pp.171-178. Kaynerk, E. and Tatoglu,E and Kula,V, (2005)”An Analysis of the Factors Affectig the Addoption of Electronic Commerce by SMEs:Evidence from an Emerging Market”;International Marketing Review ,Vol. 22,No.6,PP.623-640, Rao,s.s.&Metts,G.and Mong,C.A., (2003), ”Electronic Commerce Development Sized Enterprice :A Stage Model and its Implications”, Business Process Management ,vol.9,no,1,pp.11-32 Stockdale,R.and Standing,C., (2004),”Benefits and Barriers of Electronic Marketplace:An SME Perspective”,Journal of Enterprise Information Management ,vol.17,No.4,pp.301-311.

To train applications of information technology and development of employees' skills, a planning is required in order that the employees' self-efficiency increases. By using the strategies for making the employees motivated such as presenting advantages, granting financial facilities, the economic system to use e-commerce at small and medium enterprises at fishery industries in Chabahar County must be provided. References 1.

2.

3.

4.

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