E-Commerce Experiences in the Real Estate Industry: a preliminary study in regional Queensland

Computer systems have become commonplace in most SMEs and technology is increasingly becoming a part of doing business. In recent years, the Internet has become readily available to businesses; consequently there has been growing pressure on SMEs to take up e-commerce. However, e-commerce is perceived by many as being unproven in terms of business benefit. This research aims to determine what, if any, benefits are derived from assimilating e-commerce technologies into SME business processes. This paper presents three in-depth case studies from the Real Estate industry in a regional setting. Overall, findings were positive and identified the following experiences: enhanced business efficiencies, cost benefits, improved customer interactions and increased business return on investment.

[1]  Geoff Walsham,et al.  Interpretive case studies in IS research: nature and method , 1995 .

[2]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  The Case Research Strategy in Studies of Information Systems , 1987, MIS Q..

[3]  Andrew Whinston,et al.  Electronic Commerce: A Manager's Guide , 1997 .

[4]  Paula M. C. Swatman,et al.  An exploratory study of small business Internet commerce issues , 1999, Inf. Manag..

[5]  Supriya Singh,et al.  Centre for International Research on Communication and Information Technologies , 1997 .

[6]  U. Sekaran,et al.  Research Methods for Business : A Skill Building Approach (5th Edition) , 1992 .

[7]  J. Drennan,et al.  Internet acceptance and use by small firms: A study of the pharmacy sector , 2000 .

[8]  Kl de Salas,et al.  Factors Inhibiting the Utilisation of Electronic Commerce Facilities in Tasmanian Small-to Medium Sized Enterprises , 1997 .

[9]  Paul A. Swatman,et al.  The Role of Government in Internet Commerce: Views from the Fields , 2000 .

[10]  S. Poon,et al.  Business environment and internet commerce benefit—a small business perspective , 2000, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[11]  E. Lawrence.  Internet Commerce: Digital Models for Business , 2003 .

[12]  P. Swatman,et al.  Electronic Commerce: A Component Model , 1999 .

[13]  P. Swatman,et al.  Small business use of the Internet: Findings from Australian case studies , 1997 .

[14]  Jun Li.  Electronic Commerce: Strategies and Models for Business‐to‐Business Trading , 2003 .

[15]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.