Thesis on barriers to e commerce in jamaica - Patrick Thompson

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Table of Contents
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 5
Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................................................ 7
Chapter 1 - Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 8
1.0. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 9
Chapter 2 – Literature Review .................................................................................................................... 14
2.0. Related background Literature ............................................................................................................ 15
2.1. Overview of e-Commerce .................................................................................................................... 15
2.1.1. Types of e-Commerce Architecture ..................................................................................... 15
2.1.2. Impact of e-Commerce and Growth..................................................................................... 16
2.1.3. Benefits of e-Commerce ...................................................................................................... 17
2.1.4. Issues with e-Commerce ...................................................................................................... 18
2.1.5. Small to Medium Enterprise and its Benefits ..................................................................... 19
2.1.6. e-Commerce and Small to Medium Enterprises .................................................................. 20
2.1.7. Small to Medium Enterprise issues with e-Commerce ........................................................ 22
2.2. Barriers to e-Commerce in Developing Countries ............................................................................... 23
2.2.1. Economic Issues................................................................................................................... 23
2.2.2. Socio-Political Issues ........................................................................................................... 24
2.2.3. Technological Issues ............................................................................................................ 24
2.2.4. Educational Issues ....................................................................................................25
2.3. Factors Affecting the Caribbean Community and Latin America .........................................25
2.3.1. The Jamaican Context ......................................................................................................... 26
2.3.2. Technology Issues ............................................................................................................... 27
2.3.3. Economic Issues .................................................................................................................. 27
2.3.4. Socio-Political Issues .......................................................................................................... 27
2.2.5. Educational Issues ................................................................................................................ 28
2.4. Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 29
2.4.1. Objectives of the Study ........................................................................................................ 29

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Table of Contents
Chapter 3 – Research Design ...................................................................................................................... 31
3.0. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 32
3.1. Sample Selection .................................................................................................................................. 33
3.2. Data Collection .................................................................................................................................... 34
3.3. Research Ethics ................................................................................................................................... 35
3.4. Data Analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 36
3.5. Limitations of Qualitative Methods ..................................................................................................... 38
3.6. Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 40
Chapter 4 – Analysis and Discussion .......................................................................................................... 42
4.0. Results ................................................................................................................................................. 43
4.1. Respondents Profile ............................................................................................................................. 43
4.2. Overview .............................................................................................................................................. 44
4.2.1 Technological Issues ............................................................................................................. 44
4.2.2. Economic Issues................................................................................................................... 45
4.2.3 Socio-Political Issues ............................................................................................................ 47
4.2.4 Educational Issues ................................................................................................................. 48
4.3 Discussion ............................................................................................................................................ 50
4.3.1. Strategy ................................................................................................................................ 53
4.3.2. Structure .............................................................................................................................. 53
4.3.3. Systems ................................................................................................................................ 53
4.3.4. Skills .................................................................................................................................... 54
4.3.5. Staff ...................................................................................................................................... 54
4.3.6. Style ..................................................................................................................................... 54
4.3.7. Shared Values ...................................................................................................................... 55
4.3. Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 56
Chapter 5 – Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 59
5.0. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 60
5.1. Recommendations ................................................................................................................... 62

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Table of Contents
5.2. Overview and The Way Forward ............................................................................................ 65
References ................................................................................................................................................. 68
Appendix ................................................................................................................................................... 72 Exhibit 1 Interview Questions for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises .................................... 73
Exhibit 2 Interview Questions for Financial Institutions ............................................................... 75
Exhibit 3 Interview Questions for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises .................................... 78
Exhibit 4 Informed Consent Form ................................................................................................. 80
Exhibit 5 Schedule for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises ..................................................... 84
Exhibit 6 Schedule for Financial Institutions ................................................................................. 84
Exhibit 7 Schedule for Educational Institutions ............................................................................ 84
Declaration and Statement ...................................................................................................................... 85

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Abstract:
General studies speak to the benefits of e-Commerce globally for developing countries. However for developed countries of the Caribbean Community and Latin America, the barriers far outweigh the benefits for Micro, Small to Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The barriers can be categorised in three main areas namely financial, technological and socio-political with possible educational issues associated with the research. Other external factors such as trust, security, logistics, management, and global competition were also identified. To determine if these barriers were issues affecting the Jamaican context, the author visited and interviewed six MSMEs, three major financial institutions, three tertiary institution to determine the challenges faced by them for the full adoption of e-Commerce. The method of analysis was qualitative and the data collection process comprised of semi-structured interviews.
General findings showed that the technological issues that were identified stemmed from three possible areas being infrastructural; which looks at new technology to inspire customer confidence, website development; which looks at whether there is support for its implementation and development and geographical issues; which looks at issues relating to reaching customers who are outside the corporate area. For economic issues, the issues of venture capital, its availability to MSMs and the unavailability of credit cards, needs addressing. For Socio- political, does the law provide some amount of protection and is there support for both their institutions and their customers and trust factors. Within the Educational Institutions, were there courses that exposed student to technology, its uses and were the courses geared towards for technical and non-technical students at both the undergraduate and postgraduate educational

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levels. The author hopes this study will clearly identify the barriers relating to the implementation of e-Commerce and the possible application of solutions for the MSMEs.

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Acknowledgement:
The Author of this paper recognizes that the creation and completion of this paper would not have been possible without the assistance of the following persons. To God, who without him, all this would not be possible. My Team, Craig Beresford, without your input/insight and countless hours of support, this Final Project would not have been possible. Sophia Wilson for the document printings and encouragement when my printer gave up before the project actually started. Roxanne Brown, for keeping the of site backup and administrative ship together.
To my family for constant support and encouragement through the long tedious days and nights.
Finally, I would personally like to thank Dr. Patsy Perry, the most amazing supervisor for her astute guidance, encouragement and excellent strategic support. Without you I would not have known anything about how to conduct research. You were with me every step of the way. Thank you for everything.

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1.0 Introduction
Today, it would be naïve to suggest that the Internet and Internet related technologies are not having a major impact on the ways in which we work and live (Grant, 2003). According to (Panagariya, 2000), even though phone, fax and television were the most widely used electronic mediums to promote or conduct commerce within developing countries, much of the current excitement, confusion and debate on e-Commerce are the result of the rapid ascendancy of Internet. The Internet is being used today to buy abroad many back-office services such as electronic publishing, website design and management, customer call centres, medical records management, hotel reservations, credit card authorisations, remote secretarial services, mailing list management, technical on-line support, indexing and abstracting services, research and technical writing, and technical transcription. It has also become a medium for electronic transmission of many products, traditionally traded in the form of goods. Thus, books, CDs, movies and computer programmes can now be transmitted internationally in digital form.
e-Commerce is the buzzword of today's global business (Kumar and Kumar, 2009) and in order to understand e-Commerce, the definition has to be established. Commerce is simply the exchange of goods and services. When it is done with the help of the Computer and the Internet, it is termed as Electronic Commerce (e-Commerce). e-Commerce is a system that combines the resources of information systems with the reach of network connectivity, to directly link the key business constituents - Customers and Businesses - to improve the efficiency of the structures and attributes of commerce (Kumar and Kumar, 2009). The definition of e-Commerce is not limited to financial transactions (buying and selling) but also includes other activities such as information exchange, marketing, and pre and post-sales support. The author also, for the

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purpose of this research paper, conceptualized determinants as drivers or enablers and barriers or inhibitors. Drivers propel e-Commerce growth whereas enablers facilitate growth. Barriers prevent or limit growth whereas inhibitors slow growth (Gibbs et al., 2003).
There has been a myriad of journal articles, website, books and existing literature that speak to the benefits of e-Commerce (Panagariya, 2000, BBCNEWS, 2003, Molla and Heeks, 2007). According to (Hunaiti et al., 2009, Kumar and Kumar, 2009) with regards to barriers to e- Commerce, some issues stem from: Socio-Political: Trust; Internet accessibility is still expensive and/or inconvenient for many people, and privacy issues (Boritz and No, 2011, Van Slyke et al., 2006, Basu and Jones, 2005). Economic; Lack of universally acceptable standards in regards to quality, reliability, and security. Technological barriers include; Still-evolving software development tools; Difficulties in integrating the Internet and e-Commerce software with some existing (especially legacy) applications and databases; need for special Web servers in addition to the network servers; and Insufficient telecommunications bandwidth. For the Caribbean and Latin America Community issues of security: how safe are credit card numbers online and how banks supports its customer base, logistics; supply chain in regards to shipping and distribution (Wresch and Fraser, 2006). Trust factors; The way that business is conducted on a society level (Hickson and Pugh, 2001) are known barriers affecting the various communities .
In undertaking this project, the author identified that most literature which includes but is not limited to (Wresch and Fraser, 2006, Joelson, 2000, Joelson, 2001, Grandon et al., 2004), a focus on regional issues in regards to e-Commerce in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) or Latin America. In the context of Jamaica, there isn’t much focused, published literature in regards to

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e-Commerce. In 2002, The Allen Consulting Group (Group, 2002), an Australian economic and policy advisory consulting company with considerable experience in e-Commerce and regulatory analysis, worked with the Commonwealth Secretariat and was commissioned by the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) to prepare a discussion paper targeting the following issues:
 Development of an ecommerce strategy, which targets four key sectors in the Jamaican economy (i.e., information technology, banking and finance, tourism, and music and entertainment); and
 Provision of assistance to strengthen the institutional capability of the regulatory agencies which support ecommerce activities.
This author believes that in doing this research, issues that affect the financial, technological and socio-political arenas are key barriers to e-Commerce in Jamaica. This study will give an opportunity to identify key issues which affect the implementation of e-Commerce in Jamaica by Micro, Small Medium Enterprise (MSME) businesses as well as the barriers that affect them.
The predominant research methodology employed was qualitative analysis. In developing this research paper, the writer will examine existing literature, while the approach used will be that of content analysis which will focus on semi-structured interviews and questionnaires to investigate the role of e-Commerce within MSMEs, financial institutions and educational institutions.
The author will interview six (6) MSMEs to ascertain their views on the use of e-Commerce as a part of organisational strategy. Three (3) Financial Institutions will be interviewed in order to enable the author to determine their support of e-Commerce. Additionally, four (4) Educational institutions will be interviewed to determine whether there is curriculum which supports e- Commerce. Other data sources that will be collected include the Planning Institute of Jamaica

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(PIOJ) - Economic and Social Survey Jamaica 2011 and the Central Information Technology Organisation (CITO) - The Allen Report.
The paper commences with an evaluation of the Literature Review concerning the benefits of e- Commerce, the barriers for developing/developed countries, Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) globally and the factors affecting CARICOM and Latin America with a focus on Jamaica. This is followed by the Research Design for the study which looks at the qualitative aspect of the research. Next is the Analysis and Discussion of the findings in relation to the overall investigation. Finally, the paper Concludes by highlighting contributions, limitations and, future research directions.

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2.0 Related Background Literature
2.1 Overview of e-Commerce
Much of the current literature agrees that in today’s society, e-Commerce has become a crucial element to transform some of the world countries into an information society (Hunaiti et al., 2009). Phrases such as ‘Internet as the great equalizer’ and ‘the world is flat’ serve as interesting pointers for realizing the ability of individual adopters and users of e-Commerce in shaping their country’s posture towards ecommerce (Datta, 2011). Before the dot.com shake out in 2000, this vision of the benefits of this new form of transacting was accompanied by the expectation that firms in developing countries would achieve widespread access to Information and Communication Technology (ICTs). Growing use of digital technologies as a result of actions to tackle the ‘digital divide’, was expected to enable much greater access to global markets for smaller and larger firms in developing countries (Norris, 2001). The spread of the Internet and growing use of the World Wide Web were expected to generate new economic activity through the use of open networks and e-marketplaces (Humphrey et al., 2003, Ifinedo, 2011).
2.1.1 Types of e-Commerce Architecture
While there are twelve known types of ecommerce architecture as described by (Nemat, 2011) as Business-to-Business (B2B), Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Business-to-Employee (B2E), Business-to-Government (B2G), Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C), Government-to-Business (abbreviated G2B), Government-to-Citizen (abbreviated G2C), Government-to-Government (abbreviated G2G), and Peer-to-Peer (P2P), the author is interested in:

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 Business-to-Business
Business-to-Business (B2B) describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer.
 Business-to-Consumer
Business-to-Consumer (B2C, sometimes also called Business-to-Customer) describes activities of businesses serving end consumers with products and/or services.
 Business-to-Government
Business-to-Government (B2G) is a derivative of B2B marketing and often referred to as "public sector marketing" which encompasses marketing products and services to various government levels - including Federal, state and local - through integrated marketing communications techniques such as strategic public relations, branding, marcom, advertising, and web-based communications.
2.1.2 Impact of e-Commerce and Growth
According to (Management, 2013), in 2012, B2C e-Commerce sales grew 21.1 per cent to top $l trillion for the first time, according to new global estimates by e-Marketer. In 2013, sales will grow 18.3 per cent to $1.298 trillion worldwide, e-Marketer estimates, as Asia-Pacific surpasses North America to become the world's number one market for B2C e-Commerce sales. While sales in North America are expected to grow 12.2 per cent this year to $409.05 billion, but Asia- Pacific sales are expected to grow by 30 per cent to more than $433 billion. Three Asia-Pacific markets in China, India and Indonesia - will see faster B2C e-Commerce sales growth than all other markets worldwide this year. Based on Statistics shown below, e-Commerce has grown

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significantly from 2011-2013 in 5 of the major countries and this is due to global competition which is perhaps the most significant force driving e-Commerce development across countries. A country’s integration into global production networks, the presence of Multi-National Corporations (MNCs), and the extent of trade liberalization are all factors that increase the level of global competition and therefore the pressure for countries to adopt commerce as a means of reducing costs and/or expanding markets (Gibbs et al., 2003).
Figure 1. (Management, 2013) Top 5 countries, ranked by B2B e-Commerce sales, 2011-2-13 (billions)
2.1.3 Benefits of e-Commerce
The benefits of e-Commerce for organisations can be summarised as follows; it can help boost economies, create jobs and even help farmers find better markets for what they produce (BBCNEWS, 2003), allows vendors to reach a large number of customers, anywhere around the world, at a very low cost’ and helps small businesses compete against large organisations.
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181.62
141.53
140.35
53
343.43
110.04
124.76
127.82
47
301.69
56.69
109.03
112.78
38.08
0
50
100
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1 US
2 China
3 UK
4 Japan
5 Germany
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Top 5 countries, ranked by B2B e-commerce sales, 2011-2013 (billions)
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While, the key benefits for society is that it allows some merchandise to be sold at lower prices, so less affluent people can buy more and increase their standard of living, enables more individuals to work at home and to do less traveling, resulting in less traffic on the roads and lower air pollution (Hunaiti et al., 2009). For the Rural Women’s Association in South Africa, while marketing was perceived as an organizational integrator, e-Commerce was seen as enabling this process through its potential advantages over existing communication channels such as the telephone, mail, and fax. These advantages included the ability to store, retrieve, manipulate, aggregate, and disseminate data and information in a cost effective and efficient way (Rhodes, 2009, Molla and Licker, 2004).
2.1.4 Issues with e-Commerce
While there is a plethora of information about e-Commerce, its benefits and why it should be implemented, the reality of its barriers far outweighs its benefits to developed countries. According to (BBCNEWS, 2003), the well-known problems of poverty, poor health and patchy training programmes stop developing nations from making greater use of e-commerce but other factors contributed too. It said that computers were still rare in many nations, internet connections were slow, hard to find and expensive, and many countries have to pay high fees to maintain links to neighbouring nations. According to (Panagariya, 2000), many developing countries do not have current-account convertibility so that ordering goods on the Internet from abroad is not a practical option except, perhaps, in the case of large firms, which may have ready access to foreign exchange. Even in countries such as India, which have current-account convertibility but not capital-account convertibility, individuals do not have ready access to foreign exchange. Thus, as far as imports of goods and services are concerned, the Internet option is likely to remain limited to larger firms.

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2.1.5 Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) and its Benefits
The importance of studying SMEs comes from the fact that they account for a considerable growth in employment and they generate an important part of the gross national product of a nation. This is true not only in developed countries but more so in developing countries (Riquelme, 2002).
Past literature has spoken to the benefits that could be derived from e-Commerce by SMEs, such as allowing lower inventories by facilitating “pull”- type supply chain management, which begins from consumers’ orders and uses just-in-time production and delivery processing. Other benefits according to (Turban and King, 2003 ) included:.2
 Ubiquity - In traditional commerce, a marketplace is a physical place you visit in order to transact business. e-Commerce, in contrast, is characterized by its ubiquity: it is available just about everywhere, at all times.
 Global reach - e-Commerce technology permits commercial transactions to cross cultural and national boundaries far more conveniently and cost-effectively than is true in traditional commerce.
 Universal standards - One strikingly unusual feature of e-commerce technologies is that the technical standards of the Internet, and therefore the technical standards for conducting e-commerce, are universal standards—they are shared by all nations around the world.

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 Interactivity - Unlike any of the commercial technologies of the twentieth century, with the possible exception of the telephone, e-commerce technologies allow for interactivity, meaning they enable two-way communication between merchant and consumer.
2.1.6 e-Commerce and SMEs
There are different strategic e-Commerce models that are available to SME’s. Different models are seen below:
 Information Content Model - In this model these sites attract visitors by offering them information content that is organized to facilitate search and discovery;
 Freeware Model - Internet Software companies have extensively utilized the freeware model to offer downloads of their products;
 Information Exchange Model - This model is based on the exchange of information between individuals and organization, over the Internet; and
 Advertising Model - This model is an extension of the traditional media broadcaster. In this a web site provides content (usually, but not necessary, for free) and services like email, chat, forums mixed with the advertising messages in the form of banner of advertisement (Kumar and Kumar, 2009).
While these options describe viable strategic options for SMEs to use, do these models actually address whether it is the right strategic fit based for market entry or continued utilization of Internet commerce. (Rasheed, 2009) speaks to one newly evolved model, known as “pure plays”, where new venture firms manifest themselves as new start-ups (greenfield) or corporate venture spin-offs use the Internet exclusively for new market entry and market development. The other model, known as “bricks and clicks”, is a hybrid arrangement in which incumbent firms use Internet-based electronic commerce as a technology media for diversifying their

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distribution channel. Firms using this model are typically established firms with existing management, organizational structure, and a physical presence in the form of a retail store, warehouse facilities, and a complementary logistics system.
Finally another strategic model that can be used for implementation of e-Commerce is the Mckinsey 7s model. According to (Waterman, 1980), McKinsey 7s model is a tool that analyzes firm’s organizational design by looking at 7 key internal elements: strategy, structure, systems, shared values, style, staff and skills, in order to identify if they are effectively aligned and allow organization to achieve its objectives1.
Figure 2. McKinsey 7s model, which represents the connections between seven areas and divides them into ‘Soft Ss’ and ‘Hard Ss’.
The seven elements are listed as2:
 Strategy - the plan devised to maintain and build competitive advantage over the competition.
 Structure - the way the organization is structured and who reports to whom.
 Systems - the daily activities and procedures that staff members engage in to get the job done.
1 http://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/mckinsey-7s-model-framework.html
2 http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_91.htm

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 Shared Values - called "superordinate goals" when the model was first developed, these are the core values of the company that are evidenced in the corporate culture and the general work ethic.
 Style - the style of leadership adopted.
 Staff - the employees and their general capabilities.
 Skills - the actual skills and competencies of the employees working for the company
2.1.7 SME Issues with e-Commerce
Although much of the existing literature identifies benefits that SMEs may encounter through the implementation of e-Commerce, there are issues to contend with such as gaining visibility for their websites, having no brand, customers may not trust an unknown business in a foreign country (Wresch and Fraser, 2006) or whether the same management principle that big business uses can also be used for small business (Welsh and White, 1981). For the Rural Women’s Association in South Africa (Rhodes, 2009), there have been attempts to use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and e-Commerce technologies to enhance their current situation while ICT can increase marketing efficiency, through addressing information gaps and informing and strengthening decision making, this is only realisable if those participating in the process understand the principle of marketing.
For issues affecting the furniture industry, (Maker, 2011) states that as the European Parliament seeks to update the Consumer Rights Directive (CRD) legislative bill this, in turn, will impact the cost of running an online retail business or e-Commerce in general. For the garment/apparel and horticulture/agriculture sector (Paré, 2002) previously stated that barriers include: the perceived absence of procedures for establishing trust; the primacy of direct personal contacts between established buyers and sellers; and the structure of sector value chains which

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encourages repeated transactions and close contacts between buyers and sellers. Overall, the interactions between such factors as connectivity, access, network security, capability/skills, and regulatory environments all, in important ways, influence whether firms can participate effectively in the global economy (Paré, 2002).
2.2 Barriers to e-Commerce in Developing Countries
Despite the optimism in many quarters about the potential benefits of B2B e-Commerce for developing country firms, there is a substantial gap in the evidence base concerning the extent of B2B e-Commerce implementation and the way various applications are being used by firms in developing countries (Paré, 2002, Kumar and Kumar, 2009). For instance (Gibbs et al., 2003), previously carried out a cross country comparison between ten countries and the barriers include the availability of financial resources such as venture capital to support online businesses and start-ups. The availability of online payment methods is also an enabler of e-Commerce. Credit cards are used sparingly, despite availability of credit cards in most of the countries, due to a low level of usage (in countries other than the United States) as well as a lack of trust in giving out credit card numbers online. Barriers for the adoption of e-Commerce also affect the Middle Eastern Countries as shown in the 2006 study that (Ahmed et al., 2006) carried out in Saudi Arabia. The study identified technical issues and customers’ requirements such as internet security-trusted sites, customer awareness and the speed of service.
2.2.1Economic Issues
The premise that wealth is a key determinant of e-Commerce diffusion across countries can be seen by (Gibbs et al., 2003). Other economic factors include unavailability of credit cards (Hunaiti et al., 2009) or the banking sector’s unwillingness or inability to facilitate convenient

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electronic payment system (Wresch and Fraser, 2006). And yet, the region's banks and businesses have yet to see much of a profit, as they've been hamstrung to date by problems ranging from still-low Internet connectivity and laggard digital certificate initiatives to their own lack of imagination (Joelson, 2000).
2.2.2 Socio-Political Issues
Socio-Political barriers issues such as privacy have a built in trade-off between the necesity of providing at least some personal information to consumate an online transaction and the risk of negative consequences from providing such information (Boritz and No, 2011). Other issues are a lack of business/cyber laws for e-Commerce leading to many legal issues are yet unresolved (Hunaiti et al., 2009, Panagariya, 2000, Kumar and Kumar, 2009); Lack of national and global standards and regulations for different circumstances; copyright laws are unable to monitor or protect intellectual property consistently or freely; and people preference such as the preference of Asian people to communicate face-to-face (Hickson and Pugh, 2001, Kumar and Kumar, 2009), than over emails.
2.2.3 Techological Issues
For technological issues a plethora of reasons are cited for the inappropriateness of ICTs in relation to rural development, where we find, the lack of connectivity; low tele-density; limited Internet access; scant ICT education; limited literacy and underdeveloped human and technological networks (Rhodes, 2009, Kumar and Kumar, 2009). SME managers need to be convinced of the benefits before fully adopting the technology, where some managers do not feel that Internet technologies provide a significant improvement in service, compared with traditional methods (Grant, 2003).

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2.2.4 Educational Issues
For developing countries, another constraint is lack of training in the use of technology. In previous literature (Kamel, 2002) stated that lack of training is also a major obstacle where people are not prepared to handle operations in a cyber-environment, which creates confusion for those accustomed to traditional systems when they are introduced to innovative techniques. As organizations strive to compete in the global economy, differentiation on the basis of the skills, knowledge, and motivation of their workforce takes on increasing importance (Aguinis and Kraiger, 2009).
2.3 Factors affecting the Caribbean Community and Latin America.
As mentioned earlier, there are barriers that limit the growth of e-Commerce for both developed and developing countries but within Latin America and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) there are few studies that speak to whether or not CARICOM and Latin America companies face the same barriers as elsewhere in the world (Wresch and Fraser, 2006). Some factors that affect CARICOM as well as Latin America include security, logistics and technology. Commerce requires mechanisms of trust to guarantee payment and delivery of goods. In developed countries, e-Commerce has largely been the digitization of trust relationships that already existed. Since people, particularly in rural areas of developing countries, do not have credit cards or bank accounts, trust processes like authentication and non-repudiation are generally not in place (Wresch and Fraser, 2006, Joelson, 2001). Prior research has also shown that shipping products to consumers is particularly daunting in the developing world. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) is an assumed aspect of B2B and B2C e-Commerce, but EFT requires an advance

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banking system, good general security, and a developed legal environment (Wresch and Fraser, 2006).
2.3.1 The Jamaica Context
As mentioned before, there are few, if any studies related to barriers to e-Commerce in Jamaica. In studies, The Allen Group Consultancy (Group, 2002) in previous research stated that there is much anecdotal evidence to suggest that the small and medium sized businesses that make up the majority of business in Jamaica face many of the same problems as their counterparts in other countries.
Micro-enterprises in Jamaica are defined as enterprises that carry an asset base (excluding land and building) not exceeding US$10 000.00 and an annual turnover of less than US$125 000.00. Small Enterprises carry an asset base (excluding land and building) of between US$10000.00 and US$100 000.00 and an annual turnover of between US$125 000.00 and US$1 000 000.00. Employment levels in either may vary based on structure and type of activity but for small enterprises the level usually does not exceed 50 persons (Jamaica, 2012).
Statistical Institute (STATIN’s) Labour Force Survey (Jamaica, 2014) regarding Employment Status for 2011 showed that the Own Account Worker (sole traders) category, which constitutes the vast majority of Micro, Small to Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), accounted for 35.9 per cent of the employed labour force with an average employment of 392 867 persons. For 2010, Own Account (sole traders) accounted for 37.6 per cent of the employed labour force with an average employment of 411 625 persons (Jamaica, 2012, Jamaica, 2014).

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2.3.2 Technological Issues
On the subject of technology the (Group, 2002) argued that the country has good telephone infrastructure; low Internet connectivity, computer ownership and level of commerce; reasonably diffused electricity distribution but not cost effective or reliable services. With regard to websites, (Group, 2002) also suggests that the majority of Jamaican businesses that have a website are larger, or more established businesses. However, closer inspection of these sites reveals that the majority of them are owned and operated overseas, mostly in the US, Canada, with some hosted in other Caribbean countries. With some exceptions, the majority of smaller businesses in Jamaica do not have an e-Commerce capacity or presence on the World Wide Web.
2.3.3 Economic Issues
(Group, 2002) also stated that Jamaica’s banks have been a major barrier to e-Commerce adoption. Banks’ reluctance to support credit cards in Jamaican dollars that are able to be used seamlessly on overseas transactions has limited consumers’ ability to purchase online; also banks have been slow to offer online banking facilities, although there has been some movement recently; and local banks’ reluctance to offer online merchant services has impaired business e- Commerce offerings.
2.3.4 Socio-political Issues
With regards to socio-political factors, (Group, 2002) believes that access to capital is a key constraint to growth in the Jamaican economy at present. Obtaining capital for start-up businesses built around an e-Commerce strategy is particularly difficult, especially after the

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failure of many ‘dot coms’ around the globe. Other socio-political factors include but are not limited to:
 Digital signatures and authentication - stakeholders frequently cite a lack of confidence in verification of electronic communication and authentication as a barrier to greater involvement in ecommerce in Jamaica;
 Evidence Act - one school of thought is that the current act is said to specifically require signed written evidence of transactions or contracts to be admissible as evidence in a Jamaican court and hence faxed or electronic signatures are not admissible;
 Sale of Goods Act - this may need to be updated to address the capabilities and potential difficulties posed by online technologies; and
 Privacy - it is understood that Jamaica currently has no laws regarding the handling of individuals’ private or sensitive information (except for background coverage through common law remedies).
2.3.5 Educational Issues
In the Jamaican context it is the aim of the researcher to find out about courses that are available for e-Commerce development, are the courses geared towards technical or non-technical personnel only and what is the average pass rate for these institutions.

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2.4 Summary
In conclusion, for developing countries, e-Commerce has impacted sales globally and while the benefits include reaching new markets and organisational exposure, for SMEs it gives them the ability to compete with other global organisations. For SMEs, there are strategies that can be employed for either fledgling or well established organization but there are still problem related to technological issues and legislative challenges
Developing countries share common issues such as logistics, security, trust and how people prefer to do business. Developed countries on the other hand don’t have these problems. For Jamaica, technological and economic issues were the major barriers to e-Commerce.
2.4.1 Research Objectives
It is the objective of this author to examine through qualitative research the challenges of implementing ecommerce in Jamaica by MSMEs and to analyse the barriers to e-Commerce faced by MSMEs in Jamaica, and determine what if any role the issues play in barriers to e- Commerce in Jamaica. The perceived barriers are:
 Technological;
 Financial;
 Socio-political; and
 Educational.

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3.0 Introduction:
In gathering information to substantiate the findings for this research paper, the researcher was faced with the decision to choose between quantitative or qualitative method and possible benefits. According to (Hancock et al., 2009) differences can be seen between both in Figure 3 below.
Figure 3. Differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Methods Qualitative research Quantitative research
Tends to focus on how people or groups of people can have (somewhat) different ways of looking at reality (usually social or psychological reality).
Tends to focus on ways of describing and understanding reality by the discovery of general “laws”.
Takes account of complexity by incorporating the real-world context – can take different perspectives on board.
Takes account of complexity by precise definition of the focus of interest and techniques that mean that external “noise” can be discounted.
Studies behaviour in natural settings or uses people’s accounts as data; usually no manipulation of variables.
Involves manipulation of some variables (independent variables) while other variables (which would be considered to be extraneous and confounding variables) are held constant.
Focuses on reports of experience or on data which cannot be adequately expressed numerically.
Uses statistical techniques that allow us to talk about how likely it is that something is “true”
for a given population in an objective or measurable sense.
Generally, qualitative research generates rich, detailed and valid (process) data that contribute to in-depth understanding of the context. Quantitative research engenders reliable population based and generalizable data that is well suited to establishing cause-and-effect relationships. The decision on which method to choose will depend on the nature of the project, the type of information needed the context of the study and the availability of resources (time, money, and human)(Anderson, 2006).

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The qualitative method was selected to understand the Barriers to e-Commerce in Jamaica. Similar approaches have been used to support previous research, such as the works of (Rhodes, 2009, Wresch and Fraser, 2006) which used the qualitative method to discern e-Commerce efforts as it sought to comprehend issues faced by SMEs. The uses of semi-structured interviews (further discussed in sub-section 3.2) were also incorporated to support its findings.
3.1 Sample Selection
A survey was administered which targeted participants of six MSMEs, three financial institutions within the Kingston metropolitan area and four educational institutions. Kingston was chosen based on the fact that it is the business capital of Jamaica and majority of MSMEs, financial institutions educational institutions operate within this geographic area. Additionally, another deciding factor was that Hi speed internet where according to (Jamaica, 2012) internet connection grew by 4.2 percentage points to 16.2 per cent with just over 60.0 per cent being in the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA). Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is the dominant internet connection type within the country allowing for faster and more efficient data transmission was also available in this area to the three groups of respondents and this was also an important factor for the implementation and use of e-Commerce technologies. The MSMEs were chosen from a range of industries within Jamaica. The industries as stated in Figure 4:
Figure 4. MSME Industries with total member of staff Industry MSME Number of Staff Members
Service
Respondent A
4
Agriculture
Respondent B
2
Fashion
Respondent C
4
Retail Apparel
Respondent D
25
Pharmaceuticals
Respondent E
10
Information Technology
Respondent F
6

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Information on the list of approved financial institutions was garnered from the Development Bank of Jamaica’s website3. Approved Financial Institutions (AFIs) include; Commercial and Merchant Banks, the National People’s Co-operative Bank and Credit Unions. The Financial Institutions consisted of 2 Commercial Banks and 1 Merchant Bank.
Figure 5. Commercial Bank type with coded respondent type Bank Type Bank
Commercial
Respondent X
Commercial
Respondent Y
Merchant Bank
Respondent Z
A listing of accredited Colleges, Institutes and training institutions was garnered from the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ). The UCJ is responsible for the accreditation of all tertiary educational institutions within Jamaica. From a list of 43 tertiary institutions, 13 were contacted and emailed the questionnaires to acquire 4 possible participants.
Figure 6. Educational Institution with coded respondent type Educational Type Educational Institution
Community College
Respondent L
Established University
Respondent M
Recently Established University
Respondent N
3.2 Data Collection (Semi-structured Interview Technique)
This project used a semi-structured interview method to understand the challenges facing the MSMEs in Jamaica. The interview process was considered an appropriate option due to the fact that: A semi-structured interview, typically refers to a context in which the interviewer has a series of questions that are in the general form of an interview schedule but is able to vary the sequence of questions. The questions are frequently somewhat more general in their frame of reference than that typically found in a structured interview schedule. Also, the interviewer
3 http://dbankjm.com/approved-financial-institutions-afi

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usually has some latitude to ask further questions in response to what are seen as significant replies (Bryman and Bell, 2007).
3.3 Research Ethics
In preparing for the semi-structured interview, issues of confidentiality must be taken into consideration. According to (Mertens and Ginsberg, 2009 ), ethical discussions usually remain detached or marginalized from discussions of research projects. In fact, some researchers consider this aspect of research an afterthought. Yet, the moral integrity of the researcher is of critical importance in ensuring that the research process and the findings are “trustworthy” and valid. To engage with the ethical dimension of your research requires asking yourself several important questions:
• What moral principles guide your research?
• How do ethical issues enter into your selection of a research problem?
• How do ethical issues affect how you conduct your research—the design of your study, your sampling procedure, etc.?
• What responsibility do you have toward your research subjects? For example, do you have their informed consent to participate in your project? What ethical issues/dilemmas might come into play in deciding what research findings you publish? Will your research directly benefit those who participated in the study?
A consideration of ethics needs to be a critical part of the substructure of the research process from the initial conception of your problem to the interpretation and publishing of the research findings. (The Consent for Interview Form is presented in Appendix at Exhibit 4.)

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3.4 Data Analysis
The research uses the content analysis as a part of the qualitative analysis framework for this study. Content Analysis is an approach to the analysis of documents and texts (which may be printed or visual) that seeks to quantify content in terms of predetermined categories and in a systematic and replicable manner. It is a flexible method that can be applied to a variety of media. In a sense it is not a research method, in that it is an approach to the analysis of documents and texts rather than a means of generating data (Bryman and Bell, 2007). According to (Hancock et al., 2009), the emphasis in conventional content analysis is dependent on counting/frequency (usually absent from most other methodologies), where researchers would count occurrences of a word, phrase or theme. Specialised rules for coding would be devised and this approach is suitable when analyzing documents. The research required the participants to consider the Barriers to e-Commerce in Jamaica with a special focus on the challenges of MSMEs. From the review of current literature, a list of barriers was identified which served as a possible foundation to the development of interview schedule which was divided into 3 groups: MSMEs, Educational and Financial Institutions. (The interview schedule is presented in Appendix at Exhibit 5 and 6.)
For MSMEs, Financial, and Educational Institution using one-on-one interviews, the term e- Commerce was defined in its simplest form for each participant as there were 3 categories of questions (MSMEs, financial institutions and educational institutions) with an average of 9 questions per category and an average time of 20 minutes and 40 minutes per interview, respectively.

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The MSMEs were asked 9 questions which sought to understand the challenges faced by them. The questionnaire was divided into 4 sections, 2 questions dealt with the organisations information and its principal, 2 dealt with issues relating to the development and implementation of an e-Commerce website, and the remaining questions focused on issues related to financial institutions, logistic, training and other general concerns. (The interview questions for MSMEs are presented in Appendix at Exhibit 1.)
In regards to Financial Institutions, 10 questions were asked with the focus being on trying to understand the financial institutions position on e-Commerce, how supportive they are towards to MSMEs, and if they felt that their organisations as well as the MSMEs were protected from issues relating to cyber and financial crimes. Like the MSMEs the questions were divided into 4 sections, 2 questions looked at services offered, 2 looked at website support, 4 looked at concerns by MSMEs as well as financial institutions, and 2 focused on the review of e- Commerce and other general concerns. (The interview questions for Financial Institutions are presented in Appendix at Exhibit 2.)
For educational institutions, 5 questions were asked to ascertain whether any classes related to its technology have been delivered especially those focused on e-Commerce, methods of delivery, level of student participation and any general concerns. (The interview questions for Educational Institutions are presented in Appendix at Exhibit 3.)
At this point the coding schedule which is a format into which all the data relating to an item being coded will be entered. Coding manuals developed, which is sometimes referred to as the

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content analysis dictionary, is a statement of instructions to coders that specifies the categories that will be used to classify the text based on a set of written rules that define how the text will be classified was created (Bryman and Bell, 2007).
(Bryman and Bell, 2007) states that some of the advantages of content analysis include the following:
1. It is a very transparent research method. The coding scheme and the sampling procedures can be clearly set out so that replication and follow-up studies are feasible;
2. It is a highly flexible method. That can be applied to a wide variety of kinds of unstructured information; and
3. Content analysis may allow information to be generated about social groups that are difficult to gain access to.
Some disadvantages of content analysis are:
1. It can only be as good as the documents the practitioner works;
2. It is almost impossible to devise coding manuals that do not entail some interpretation on the part of the coders;
3. Particular problems are likely to arise when the aim is to impute latent rather than manifest content; and
3.5 Limitations of Qualitative Method
The qualitative methodology is critical to this type of research. However there are weaknesses to using this methodology, one of which is the possible effect of the researchers' presence on the people they are studying. As previously highlighted, the relationship between the researcher and

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participants may actually distort findings (Carr, 1994). For the interviewer in garnering information for this interview, all respondent were interviewed at their respective locations to ensure that they felt comfortable enough to “open up” to the interviewer and to be as candid as possible about the challenges they face in regards to e-Commerce.

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3.6 Summary
For the author, it was important to identify the method of analysis (whether quantitative or qualitative) which would be used to evaluate and analyze the captured information for the barriers to e-Commerce in Jamaica research paper. The sample selection consisted of 6 MSMEs from 6 different industries, 3 financial institutions from the approved list of financial institutions within Jamaica and 4 educational institution accredited by the University Council of Jamaica.
The Data Collection process comprised of semi-structured interviewing of participants and the researcher, making the participants feel comfortable enough to answer questions posed. Based on this, an interview consent form was presented at the beginning of the interview process ensuring that respondents know that this was strictly for academic purposes. Overall there was 3 category of questionnaire with an average of 9 questions with an average time of 20 minutes per interview.

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4.0 Results
The results are based on the research objectives to identify the challenges of implementing ecommerce in Jamaica by MSMEs, to explore the technological, economical and socio-political barriers faced by MSMEs in Jamaica, and determine what if any, role the educational issues play in barriers to e-Commerce in Jamaica. The results of the research are divided into 4 sections. Part 1 focuses on the technological challenges, Part 2 the economic challenges, Part 3 the socio- political challenges and Part 4 focused on educational challenges.
4.1 Respondents Profile
In analysis of the respondents who were interviewed, for the MSMEs, all of the respondents are Sole traders with the majority being in business for over 5 years. They are experienced managers who had explored the possibilities of implementing e-Commerce as a part of their business strategy. For the Financial Institutions, the respondents seemed to have a good grasp of what is expected and worked with the technologies to support banking products, but for the institution itself, and its policies (being the institution/governmental), the challenges to undertake further implementation of e-Commerce seemed far too risky and could not show an instant financial yield for the organisation. For educational institutions, the respondent was quite clear on the mandates of the organisation and was able to clearly articulate issues relating to delivery of e-Commerce training.

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4.2 Overview
Although there are a myriad of challenges, for the purpose of this research we will focus on issues of implementation of infrastructure, e-Commerce website implementation and new technologies, the financial institutions responses in regards to support of MSMEs, socio-political issues in regards to legal support and educational institutions responses in regards to training.
4.2.1 Technological
a. Infrastructure
One of the major challenges in regards to the implementation of e-Commerce is Technological issues. In regards to implementation of infrastructure within rural areas, as noted by our respondent, in reaching customers within rural areas, financial institutions agree that within the corporate area access to computers and internet access is common but for rural area where there is no high speed, how do they support those customers as noted by respondent Z,
“The challenge for Jamaica is right now a lot of persons in the town area who have internet access, access to computers. But how do we tap into the central areas of Jamaica where we do not have this high speed access where a company like this organisation or financial firms all over the island. I know it’s gonna be a challenge. How do we migrate all these persons. This is gonna take the energy because for electronic services to be successful you have to convince persons that its ok you can use it”.
b. New Technology
In the areas of new technology or new thinking, respondent Y has explored possibilities with internal e-Card designed to alleviate customers concerns for shopping online.

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c. Website Development
In the area of e-Commerce website development, half the respondents tried some form of e- Commerce website development whether a brochureware (Websites or web pages produced by converting a company’s printed marketing or advertising material into an Internet format)4 or partnered with a development company to handle their website but have not been instrumental in its development as in the case of respondent D:
“We have partnered before with companies that offer e-Commerce, where they put our items on their website, they collected payment and then we ship our items to them, they ship the stuff to the people who pay for the items”.
In the case of getting financial assistance to support the development of e-Commerce website, majority of respondents have gotten some form of support in regards to e-Commerce development, but half the respondents who have websites, 2 of the respondent have approached financial institutions except for respondent A:
“I would consider going forward getting financial support. The business is relatively small but we are successful, but in expanding and moving forward we would actually need some more capital to go forward”.
4.2.2. Economic Issues
a. Venture Capital
To date the financial institutions which were studied were not willing to provide Venture Capital support for MSMEs but are willing provide advice in conjunction with pointing MSMEs to their organizations’, to use the current products.
4 http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/brochureware

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Respondent X:
“We can guide entrepreneurs. However in regards to monetary support, we do not offer venture capital which is to invest in a new business. When it comes to support of e-Channels we offer that advice free of charge”.
b. Credit cards
For the Financial Institutions, the responents agreed that there wasn’t an issues in regards to unavailability of credit cards. Both respondents X and Y believe that the finacial sector support/facilitate some form of electronic payment system for e-Commerce development unlike respondent Z that believes financial institutions are cautious to get involved in areas outside its core services.
Respondent Z:
“As you know companies like Google, PayPal are stepping into the world of finance. So when you think of financial services, banks would be careful in saying how do we support them, is it better to invest in these sort of things which is people moving money around, rather than say allowing a PayPal or Google or whatever the case may be”.
Both respondents Y and Z see substantial profits from implementing and supporting e- Commerce but respondent X believes that there isnt enough data to substatiate this claim:
Respondent X;
“I don’t think we have the market data to support it in general. Because some people skeptical about providing that data online to may be a Jamaican retailer. It is that direction but for now we are still concerned and as soon as we see market trends upwards we will see customers more comfortable in doing business using online because right now we are plagued with a lot of scams”.

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4.2.3 Socio-Political
a. Trust Issues
In implementing e-Commerce for half of the respondents, trust is a major concern as well as security as reflected by respondent D.
Respondent D:
“The problems we have found with that is it is difficult for someone in Jamaica to find out the credit card address. e-Commerce involves both credit card and debit card and each credit card has an address associated with it”. So what people would do is order from us and send it to another address. It is very difficult for us to find out that billing address for that credit card. So this is where Jamaica has fallen short on e-Commerce”.
b. Legislative Issues
In regards to Infrastructure (Physical), both respondent X and Y were uncertain there is adequate protection from the law while respondent Z was encouraged that it was in progress as respondent noted:
Respondent Z
“To me it is fairly new that the laws are changing to support e-Commerce and therefore I don’t think I am in the place to comment on whether it is sufficient or not”.
In response to Protection from Cyber/financial crime respondents believed there was some working progress in the amount of protection based on their understanding of the fraud act and recently published Cybercrime act.
Respondent X:
“Legislatory framework it is getting there passing of e-transaction act and cybercrime act in reference to lottery scam but drafted ide to catch other areas”.

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In response to the Evidence Act, both respondents X and Y don’t believe there is enough support from law while respondent Z is unsure. In looking at the Sale of Goods Act, while respondent Y and Z don’t agree there is enough support from law or enough information to comment on the Sale of Goods Act, respondent X believes there is enough support from law as noted by:
Respondent X:
“This may need to be updated to address the capabilities and potential difficulties posed by online technologies. The only thing has come on board for SMEs is the Security Investors Protection Act (SIPA) where you can use cattle/crops to secure a loan”.
The respondents raised a number of concerns in regards to e-Commerce such as Privacy and Validation as mentioned by Respondent X:
“Privacy and Validation. At the end of the day we still find out when someone goes to do a transaction online, how secure is it, how do we protect, how do we handle complaints, how do we handle recourse. Because it takes up to 40 days to handle credit card transactions the time lapse of, in regards to the resolution of issues as well as validation of user and privacy issues”.
For respondent Y it was more of a regulatory and policy issues from the Banks governing body Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) why e-Commerce has not taken on grown exponentially.
“That again speaks to how we earn the regulation what really stopping a lot of moving in the market place. With BOJ, pick up then you’ll find we will be in this place for a good little time. A lot of the movement we would like to make is not because of the financial institution but the policy makers”.
4.2.4 Education
In analysis of the Educational Institutions, of the 13 institutions which were contacted 3 institutions responded, of which 2 sent emailed responses for the questionnaire and 1 granted an interview. From the questions that were asked of the respondents, all have classes geared towards the use of technology, email and the internet, as noted:

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Respondent L:
“There is a class that we teach called Fundamentals of Information Technology that has the theory side of technology and the practical side”.
Respondent M:
“Yes we do, we have a course called business strategy and e-Commerce. This is for the undergraduate students at the cohort level. There is also a post graduate course that is implemented in ICT some of these modules are geared towards helping persons, which ever field they are in, which ever industry to use ICT, or to understand how they can get value in their own work places or whatever business they are in.”
Respondent N:
“Yes. There are several courses offered which are geared towards the use of technology, email and the use of the internet.”
Two respondents have courses geared directly towards the development and implementation of e-Commerce which is a part of the overall course subject that is geared towards technical or non- technical students. For respondent M, it is evident that all facets of delivery (simulated labs, distance learning, online classes and classroom lectures) would be in place to support its students. At the Community College, there are classroom lectures only as a part of its Batchelor’s Degree programme, while for respondent N, they have not established programmes geared towards e-Commerce. For respondent L and M, they have found that the method of delivery is quite effective and usually have good enrollment and very high passes 75-100% when it comes to e-Commerce delivery courses. For the institutions the general, concerns are the general knowledge for the wider society to put faith in e-Commerce and programmes geared towards bridging the gap between knowledge and implementation as noted:

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Respondent M:
“Traditionally as a country we perhaps don’t utilize e-Commerce as much as we can or as much as we could and there are those external challenges related to financial challenges. The general population still has this fear about going online to shop and to do business even though it is going now. So perhaps over a period of time since the population is demanding e-Commerce, the business will feel comfortable enough to implement it.”
While the educational resources are available, In regards to learning about e-Commerce, for MSMEs, half of the respondents would consider going to classes to learn, 2 were not interested and 1 wasn’t sure as noted by respondent A:
“A website is the way to go, depends, a lot of people start out like that and are able to live like that they were born in e-Commerce world and can live through the e-Commerce world it becomes easy. But for those who started before with the manual, before receipts were printed with personal computers (pcs), before inventory were on pcs, for those persons it would take more for that person to go website which is the way to go”
4.3 Discussion
In analyzing the Barriers to e-Commerce, the author had stated that issues such as technical, financial and socio-political as well as educational issues may be contributing factors in why there are challenges faced by MSMEs. In evaluating the technological issues, there are similar issues faced by both developing and developed countries with the Jamaican context.
Issues of reaching customers over larger rural geographic areas and the fact that high speed internet or computers may not be accessible. These point were introduced by previous research which supports the point that since people, particularly in rural areas of developing countries, do not have credit cards or bank accounts, trust processes like authentication and non-repudiation are generally not in place (Wresch and Fraser, 2006, Joelson, 2001).

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Issues relating to website development is also supported by (Group, 2002) where they stated that with some exceptions, the majority of smaller businesses in Jamaica do not have an e-Commerce capacity or presence on the World Wide Web. It seems that many Jamaicans with skills in this area leave the island (some ironically work on websites about Jamaica from overseas).
From an economic point of view, Venture Capital, which is the life blood of entrepreneurs is not widely accessible as well as the unavailability of credit cards are identified as challenges. This point is supported by previous research that, for the SMEs globally, for instance (Gibbs et al., 2003), carried out a cross country comparison between 10 countries and the barriers include the availability of financial resources such as venture capital to support online businesses and startups. From the Jamaican context, according to (Group, 2002), Obtaining venture capital for startup businesses built around an ecommerce strategy is particularly difficult, especially after the failure of many ‘dot coms’ around the globe, other economic factors include unavailability of credit cards (Hunaiti et al., 2009) or the banking sector’s unwillingness or inability to facilitate convenient electronic payment system (Wresch and Fraser, 2006). And yet, the region's banks and businesses have yet to see much of a profit. This, the author believes is contraire to his findings.
From a socio-political point of view, issues of trust towards the technology and legal protection from cybercrime for MSMEs and financial institutions, respondents believe that although the laws are not enough, many cyber laws do not protect them enough and the current legislation is a work in progress were strong issues which is well supported by existing literature. This again is supported by research by (Boritz and No, 2011) that believes that privacy has a built in trade-off

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between the necesity of providing at least some personal information to consumate an online transaction and the risk of negative consequences from providing such information, lack of business/cyber laws for e-Commerce leading to many legal issues are yet unresolved (Hunaiti et al., 2009, Panagariya, 2000, Kumar and Kumar, 2009)
What was also interesting is that according to (Gibbs et al., 2003), while there is agreement in regards to credit cards are used sparingly, despite availability of credit cards in most of the countries, due to a low level of usage (in countries other than the United States) as well as a lack of trust in giving out credit card numbers online. To combat fraud, Latin American banks are taking the lead in designing special cards for Internet use (Joelson, 2001).
From an Educational institutions point of view, support is always accessible for persons interested in understanding ecommerce at all levels of training. The literature from (Aguinis and Kraiger, 2009) supports our findings that there is documented evidence that training activities have a positive impact on the performance of individuals and teams. Training activities can also be beneficial regarding other outcomes at both the individual and team level (e.g., attitudes, motivation, and empowerment).
Finally, in discussing the Barriers to e-Commerce, the author has identified issues as technical, financial, socio-political as well as educational issues may be contributing factors in why there are challenges faced by MSMEs. While identifying literature that both supports and contrasts our findings, the author discusses McKinsey 7s as possible solutions to these above mentioned issues as seen below.

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4.3.1 Strategy
This is a plan developed by a firm to achieve sustained competitive advantage and successfully compete in the market. For the MSMEs, this would mean that along with their current strategy which they are using, an e-strategy for the implementation of e-Commerce must be considered as mentioned by (Kumar and Kumar, 2009). This may also include approaching banks for advice on how to approach issues of payment that may affect the organizations’ implementation of e- Commerce.
4.3.2 Structure
This represents the way business divisions and units are organized and include the information of who is accountable to whom. For the MSMEs, a review of the current structure of the organization to include someone responsible for the management of e-Channels within the organization.
4.3.3 Systems
These are the processes and procedures of the company, which reveal business’ daily activities and how decisions are made. Systems are the area of the firm that determines how business is done and it should be the main focus for managers during organizational change. For MSMEs this may entail developing new processes and procedures to handle the new e-Channels within the organizations’ with special focus to alleviate concerns as mentioned in respondents comments.

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4.3.4 Skills
These are the abilities that firm’s employees perform very well. They also include capabilities and competences. As in the case of (Wresch and Fraser, 2006), the executives that were interviewed had significant knowledge of information systems. None had formal training in Information Technology, but all had learned about the area through books, through use of temporary consultants, or through trial and error. For MSMEs, the investigation of the Educational Institutions reveals that short courses or programmes are available for both technical and non-technical persons and these courses have yielded a success rate of 75-100% in yearly passes so personal development may be necessary to assist in understanding, supporting and implementing e-Commerce.
4.3.5 Staff
This element is concerned with what type and how many employees and organization will need and how they will be recruited, trained, motivated and rewarded. For the MSMEs, this may entail hiring new staff with the requisite knowledge to support the implementation and development of e-Commerce or outsourcing this to external organizations’ that may provide the services as highlighted in previous interviews.
4.3.6 Style
This represents the way the company is managed by top-level managers, how they interact, what actions do they take and their symbolic value. In other words, it is the management style of company’s leaders. For the successful implementation of e-Commerce, (Wresch and Fraser, 2006) noted that the business was being run by successful seasoned executives in a traditional

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environment before moving parts of the business online. The interviews showed that respondents had more than 2 years + experience within their industry and transitioning would be simpler based on previous research.
4.3.7 Shared Values
These are at the core of McKinsey 7s model. They are the norms and standards that guide employee behavior and company actions and thus, are the foundation of every organization. The MSMEs all believe that e-Commerce is the way to go and through knowledge would find it easier to filter this throughout the organization.

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4.3 Summary
In conclusion, the purpose of the research objectives was to identify the challenges of implementing ecommerce in Jamaica by MSMEs, to explore the technological, economical and socio-political barriers faced by MSMEs in Jamaica, and determine what if any, role the educational issues play in barriers to e-Commerce in Jamaica.
The results of our findings were divided into 4 areas being Technological, economical, socio- poitical and educational. The intial part of the results seek to identify and profile the respondents then the findings for the 4 area identified.
1. For the technological, issues relating to infrastructure, website development and new technological thinking was expored with the respondents;
2. For the economical issues the availability of Venture Capital, unavailbility of credit card and possibility of substantial profits discussed;
3. For socio-political challenges, issues pertaining to legislative and trust for the technology was identified; and
4. Educational challenges discusses issues pertaining to availability of courses, delivery method, average passes and target market for courses.
In discussing the issues, for technological challenges, previous research within our literature review supported our current findings in regards to infrasture, geographical and new technological thinking. From an economical point of view, venture capital issues were similar but issues relating to availability of credit cards differed. Socio-political finding suggest that

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both previous literature and the current findings are similar in that it is believed to be a work-in- progress. The educational findings is similar to the literature in that availability of training is key to organisational success and it is availiable to technical and non-technical person and all levels undergraduate to post-graduate level.

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5.0 Introduction
The purpose of this research was to better understand the barriers to e-Commerce in Jamaica in particular the challenges faced by MSMEs. More specifically, the research attempted to explore the technological, financial and socio-political barriers to e-commerce faced by MSMEs in Jamaica, and what if any does the education play in regards to e-Commerce. Finally, the study attempted to identify possible solutions that could assist MSMEs to overcome the challenges given the information received from reseach.
For SMEs in developing countries, the benefits of reaching new markets, organisational exposure and the ability to compete with other global organisatins can be felt as e-Commerce impacts sales globally. Although there are still legislative and technological issues, there are still strategies that can be employed for fledgeling or well established organisations. The issues of trust, security, logistics and how people do business is still common within developing countries globally. On the other hand, issues of trust and logistics predominantly affects developd countries within the region while technology and banking issues are considered the major barriers within the Jamaian context.
The technological challenges faced in implementing e-Commerce. While the MSMEs have all explored ideas of implementing e-Commerce, half the managers have been instrumental in the implementation of some sort of e-Commerce solution. This can be seen in the areas of new technology or new thinking, as the respondent tries to alleviate customers concerns for shopping online by exploring the possibilities of internal e-Card.

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Geographic issues affect the implementation of e-Commerce and the challenges of reaching further customers with no high speed internet access or computer systems. (Wresch and Fraser, 2006, Joelson, 2001), support the point in their studies and state that particularly in rural areas lack of credit or bank a/c poses as issues for authentication and non-repudation.
Finally for the majority of small businesses in Jamaica according to previous study of (Group, 2002) , in regards to website development, most do not have the capacity or presence on the World Wide Web and the Jamaicans with the skillset often leave the island to pursue development overseas. According to (Gibbs et al., 2003), because of low level usage and lack of trust in giving out credit card numbers online, in order to combat fraud, Latin American banks are taking the lead in designing special cards for Internet use (Joelson, 2001).
For economic issues, the access to Venture Capital is vital to any organisation, unfortunately for MSMEs, financial institutions are content with providing advice and support their current business products. Previous works by (Group, 2002), eludes to the fact that, especially after the fall of the “dot coms”, it was particularly difficult for startup businesses built around e- Commerce strategy. This is not only limited to the Jamaican context but earlier research by (Gibbs et al., 2003), supports the current research in that based on comparisons of 10 countries the barriers include the available financial resources such as Venture Capital to support online business.

Thesis on barriers to e commerce in jamaica - Patrick Thompson

Thesis on barriers to e commerce in jamaica - Patrick Thompson

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