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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Intentionally Left Blank


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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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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

http://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/mckinsey-7s-model-framework.html

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

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

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.


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For financial institution, although they offer internet banking solutions, they all agree that there

are no more issues in regards to the access of credit cards. A few have even gone a step further

to implement e-Cards to support MSMEs as well as they are willing to assist with advice and

support of their current business products, unfortunately they are not willing give venture capitial

for e-Commerce implementation.

Socio-Political Legislative issues such as cyber laws do no protect the MSMEs but the MSMEs

are cognizant it’s a work-in-progress. Again, (Boritz and No, 2011), support claims that believes

that privacy has 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 while (Hunaiti et al., 2009, Panagariya, 2000, Kumar and Kumar,

2009) believes that lack of business/cyber laws leads to many unresolved legal issues. Finally,

based on daily operations and concerns of trust and security of transactions by the overall

technologies.

For educational issues, bridging the knowledge gap is still at the forefront of their mandate as

they provide support for technical and non-technical student at all levels of the tertiary

educational system (undergrad and graduate levels). Overall, they generally have high passes for

e-Commerce courses and their overall enrollment is high.

5.1 Recommendations

The author believes that while there are a myriad of questions relating to the barriers to e-

Commerce in Jamaica, the challenges faced by MSMEs, the issues relating to technological,


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economical and socio-political have been identified through this research especially issues

relating to educational barriers. The author believes that like the questions, there are also a

plethora of solutions related to solving the barriers faced by developing countries especially

within the CARICOM and Latin America. For the Jamaican context McKinseys 7s is one such

recommended solution for implementation of e-Commerce solutions. This again is supported by

previous research and is believe is one step in moving forward.

In accessing issues relating to the challenges faced by MSMEs, as a direct strategy for new

venture firms that use the Internet exclusively for market entry, MSMEs can consider “pure

plays” (Rasheed, 2009). These firms manifest as new start-ups (Greenfield) or corporate venture

spin-offs for the purpose of market development.

Based on the above mentioned analysis of interviews, in order for the MSMEs to successfully

implement e-Commerce within their organization, review and implementation of McKinseys 7’s

must be considered. The strategies discussed for implementation can only be successful if

proper management of key success factors is consistently monitored. For steps see below

implementation of McKinseys 7s5.

Step 1. Identify the areas that are not effectively aligned

During the first step, the aim is to look at the 7S elements and identify if they are effectively

aligned with each other. Firstly, you should already be aware of how 7 elements are aligned in

your company. After you’ve answered the questions outlined there you should look for the gaps,

inconsistencies and weaknesses between the relationships of the elements. For example, you

5 http://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/mckinsey-7s-model-framework.html

http://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/mckinsey-7s-model-framework.html


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designed the strategy that relies on e-Commerce implementation but the matrix structure with

conflicting relationships hinders that so there’s a conflict that requires the change in strategy or

structure.

Step 2. Determine the optimal organization design

With the help from top management, your second step is to find out what effective organizational

design is to be achieved. By knowing the desired alignment you can set your goals and make the

action plans much easier. This step is not as straightforward as identifying how seven areas are

currently aligned in your organization for a few reasons. First, the best optimal alignment needs

to be found, which is not known at the moment, so it requires more than answering the questions

or collecting data. Second, there are no templates or predetermined organizational designs that

could be used so lots of research or benchmarking to find out how other similar organizational

designs they are using for e-Commerce.

Step 3. Decide where and what changes should be made

This is basically the organisations action plan, which will detail the areas you want to realign and

how would you like to do that. If you find that the firm’s structure and management style are not

aligned with company’s values, you should decide how to reorganize the reporting relationships

and which top managers should the company let go or how to influence them to change their

management style so the company could work more effectively.


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Step 4. Make the necessary changes

The implementation is the most important stage in any process, change or analysis and only the

well-implemented changes have positive effects. Therefore, you should find the people in your

company or hire consultants that are the best suited to implement the changes.

Step 5. Continuously review the 7s

The seven elements: strategy, structure, systems, skills, staff, style and values are dynamic and

change constantly. A change in one element always has effects on the other elements and

requires implementing new organizational design.

5.3 Overview and The Way Forward

Based on the research by the author, the findings suggest that it is a systemic one among

developing countries. For MSMEs within Jamaica, while the task seems daunting, the overall

picture states that there are going to be challenges where geographic, infrastructure are

concerned. New thinking must be applied using technology such as e-Cards to support business.

There is an abundant of website support available through various companies but financial

support such as venture capital isn’t available. This does not mean that there isn’t vital advice

support for the MSMEs but the process of learning for the implementation is available to both

technical and non-technical if required by the MSMEs.

The author again stresses the fact that if more resources were accessible, deeper issues could be

considered and addressed such as possibilities of earlier access to e-Commerce training within

secondary schools, geographic issues such as how to provide access to rural areas, a greater


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focus on Legislative issues to speed up its implementation time and Identifying possible sources

for Venture Capital for implementation of e-Commerce for MSMEs within Jamaica.


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Exhibit 1.Sample interview questions for MSMEs

Interview Questions for MSMEs:

E-Commerce (e-Commerce) or Electronic commerce, is defined as a type of industry where the

buying and selling of products or services is conducted over electronic systems such as the

Internet and other computer networks.

As it concerns the small and medium enterprises:

1. Please tell me about your business, its legal form, and how long it has been in existence?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

2. Before this interview, have you considered using e-Commerce as a strategy to enhance your

business and if so, please ellaborate?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

3. Does your organisation have an ecommerce website, in what ways were you instrumental in

its development and if not, why have you not considered implementing one, please

comment?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

4. Is someone responsible for the management and maintenance of your e-Commerce website in

regards to content posting and updating, modifying and responding to customers needs

within your organisation, please comment?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________


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5. Do you get support from financial institutions in regards to e-Commerce development and

implementation and would you consider approaching financial institutions for support?

Please comment.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

6. If a customer orders from you, are there processes involved for the delivery of items? Please

ellaborate on this process.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

7. In your evaluation, do profits exceed the cost for implementation and on-going maintenance

of e-commerce as well as do you believe the financial cost of e-commerce justified for your

daily operations? Please comment

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

8. In reflection of your organisations existence, would you consider going to classes to learn

about the creation, management and development of e-Commerce. Please comment?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

9. Are there any other general concerns in regards to ecommerce? Please explain your

challenges.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________


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Exhibit 2. Sample Interview Questions for Financial Institutions

Interview Questions for Financial Institutions:




As it concerns the Financial Institutions:

1. What e-Commerce services does your organisation provide to its customers?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

2. In your opinion has there has been an increase in the use of e-Commerce services over the

last year and if so what services?

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

3. Would your organisation consider offering e-Commerce website support to SMEs if

requested and what areas of e-Commerce website support would your organisation be willing

to give to SMEs?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

4. Are there restrictions implemented based on the size of SMEs that may request e-Commerce

website support (i.e. large vs small businesses)

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________


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5. One of the Challenges that SMEs face in regards to e-Commerce use is unavailability of

credit cards. What is your opinion on this issue?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

6. Is your organisation exploring the possibility to issue an electronic card specifically for

shopping online in which SMEs could either prepay or post pay in order to alleviate their

concerns for security?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

7. What is the banks position on the Financial sectors unwilliness to support an electronic

payment system for e-Commerce website development for SMEs?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

8. In your opinion do banks and your customer base see substantial profit from the use of e-

Commerce?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

9. Is there, in your opinion, the appropriate legislative framework in place to protect your

organisation as well as support in particular SMEs in regards to e-Commerce? Could you

comment.

a. Infrastructure (Physical)

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________


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b. Protection from Cyber/financial crime

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

c. 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

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

d. Sale of Goods Act — this may need to be updated to address the capabilities and

potential difficulties posed by online technologies

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

e. 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).

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

10. Are there any other general concerns in regards to ecommerce?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________


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Exhibit 3. Sample Interview questions for Educational Institutions

Interview for Educational Institutions:




As it concerns the Educational Institutions:

1. Do you have classes geared towards the use of technology, email and the internet, if so

please comment?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

2. Do you have courses geared directly towards the development and implementation of e-

Commerce and if so, could you comment on these courses especially if it is geared

towards technical or non-technical students?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

3. In regards to the delivery method of your e-Commerce classes, can you comment on if

they are simulated labs, distant learning, classroom lecturers or online classes, whether

the e-Commerce classes are modules and how effective is the overall methody of

delivery?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________


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4. Could you comment on the enrollment for students participating in these classes, some of

the challenges you have faced in delivering content for e-Commerce, and the percentage

of students that pass modules in e-Commerce development and Implementation?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

5. Are there any other general concerns in regards to ecommerce?

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________


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Exhibit 4. Sample Consent form for participants

Informed Consent:

Barriers to the growth of E-commerce in Jamaica: An investigation into the challenges of implementing

ecommerce in Jamaica by micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) business

Patrick Thompson

Apartment 12

1a Winchester Road

Kingston 10

Kingston, Jamaica W.I.

Project Description:

The Barriers to the growth of E-commerce in Jamaica: An investigation into the challenges of

implementing ecommerce in Jamaica by micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) business is a

project report that will be submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree Masters of

Business Administration at the Manchester Business School, UK.

Synopsis:

There are test cases, which show that E-commerce offers the following benefits:

a) Expands a company’s marketplace to include, national, regional and international markets;

b) Expands a company’s market share, allowing a vendor to reach a large number of customers,

anywhere around the globe, at a very low cost;

c) Facilitates small businesses to compete against large companies.

It is the intention of this writer to examine the Barriers to E-commerce in Jamaica, which includes an

examination of Jamaica’s E-commerce framework, legislative and otherwise, in comparison to other

developing countries. The writer will also examine the current infrastructure available to support E-

commerce access and the role of the financial sector in E-commerce advancement

Procedure and Risks:

We would like to record the interview, if you are willing, and use the tapes to write our materials. We

will record the interview only with your written consent, and will ask that no personal identifiers be used

during the interview, to ensure your anonymity. Please feel free to say as much or as little as you want.

You can decide not to answer any question, or to stop the interview any time you want. The tapes and

transcripts will become the property of project.


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If you so choose, the recordings and recording-transcripts (or copy of notes taken) will be kept

anonymous, without any reference to your identity, and your identity will be concealed in any reports

written from the interviews.

There are no known risks associated with participation in the study.

Benefits:

It is hoped that the results of this study will benefit the community through providing greater insight into

the culture and history of our area.

Cost Compensation:

Participation in this study will involve no costs or payments to you.

Confidentiality:

All information collected during the study period will be kept strictly confidential until such time as you

sign a release waiver. No publications or reports from this project will include identifying information on

any participant without your signed permission, and after your review of the materials. If you agree to

join this study, please sign your name on the following page.


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INFORMED CONSENT FOR INTERVIEWS


ecommerce in Jamaica by micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) business.

I, _____________________________________, agree to be interviewed for the project entitled Barriers

to the growth of E-commerce in Jamaica: An investigation into the challenges of implementing

ecommerce in Jamaica by micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) business which is being

produced by Patrick Thompson of Manchester Business School.

I certify that I have been told of the confidentiality of information collected for this project and the

anonymity of my participation; that I have been given satisfactory answers to my inquiries concerning

project procedures and other matters; and that I have been advised that I am free to withdraw my consent

and to discontinue participation in the project or activity at any time without prejudice.

I agree to participate in one or more electronically recorded interviews for this project. I understand that

such interviews and related materials will be kept completely anonymous, and that the results of this

study may be published in an academic journal or book.

I agree that any information obtained from this research may be used in any way thought best for this

study.

________________________________________ Date ________________________

Signature of Interviewee

If you cannot obtain satisfactory answers to your questions or have comments or complaints about your

treatment in this study, contact:

Patrick Thompson

Apartment 12

1a Winchester Road

Kingston 10

Kingston, Jamaica W.I.

Cc: signed copy to interview.


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Final Consent Form


ecommerce in Jamaica by micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) business

Dear Participant:

This form gives us final authorization to use material from your interview in the barriers to the growth of

E-commerce in Jamaica: An investigation into the challenges of implementing ecommerce in Jamaica by

micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) business.

A draft of these materials should have been presented to you for your review, correction, or modification.

You may grant use rights for this draft “as is,” or with the modifications you specify, if any. See

“Conditions” at the bottom of the form

I, _________________________________________________, hereby grant the right to use information

from recordings and or notes taken in interviews of me, to Patrick Thompson, and as presented to me as a

draft copy. I understand that the interview records will be kept by the interviewer and the project, and

that the information contained in the interviews may be used in materials to be made available to the

general public.

_______ By initialing here, I also agree to be identified by name in the project and related materials.

_______ By initialing here, I also agree to be identified by photograph in the project and related

materials.

____________________________________________ Date:__________________________

Signature of Interviewee

____________________________________________ Date:__________________________

Signature of Interviewer

The following conditions limit the release of information, as agreed between the interviewer and the

interviewee:

_____ None needed

_____ Material may be released once corrections I specified have been made


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Exhibit 5. Schedule visits and interviews for MSMEs

DATE DURATION (min) RESPONSIBLE INSTRUMENT

27.04.2014 22:11 Respondent A Interview # 1 semi-structured

29.04.2014 12:12 Respondent B Interview # 2 semi-structured

01.05.2014 07:03 Respondent C Interview # 3 semi-structured

12.05.2014 13:38 Respondent D Interview # 6 semi-structured

16.05.2014 15:19 Respondent E Interview # 7 semi-structured

24.05.2014 11:11 Respondent F Interview # 10 semi-structured

Exhibit 6. Schedule visits and interviews for Financial Institutions


07.05.2014 24:03 Respondent X Interview # 5 semi-structured

19.05.2014 39:39 Respondent Y Interview # 8 semi-structured

21.05.2014 11:43 Respondent Z Interview # 9 semi-structured

Exhibit 7. Schedule visits and interviews for Educational Institution


05.05.2014 12:09 Respondent M Interview # 4 semi-structured


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Declaration and Statements:

Declaration

No portion of the work referred to in the project report has been submitted in support of an

application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of

learning;

Copyright Statements

1. The project report is being submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the

degree of MBA.

2. This project report is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where

otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit

references. A bibliography is appended.

3. I hereby give my consent for my project report, if accepted, to be available for

photocopying, inter-library loans and for electronic access, and for the title and summary

to be made available to outside organisations.


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Thesis on barriers to e commerce in jamaica - Patrick Thompson

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