E-COMMERCE INFLUENCE ON THE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF SMES IN THE CITY OF MANIZALES, COLOMBIA

Abstract

This article is aimed at measuring the influence of e-commerce on the financial performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (smes) in the commercial sector from Manizales, Colombia. To achieve this, we developed a two-phase mixed methodology. The first phase included the application of a survey in order to collect semi-structured information from businesspeople that met selection criteria and the subsequent descriptive exploratory analysis of said information. In the second phase, collected in¬formation was grouped through the information collection survey and the databases provided by the Colombian Business Information and Reporting System (Sirem, in Spanish) that include information on the financial be¬havior of SMEs. This information was then subjected to statistical analysis by means of chi square testing and anova (analysis of variance), along with the development of panel data models, linear regression by ordinary least squares (ols), and logistic binary response models. Main findings show the positive influence that e-commerce exerts on financial variables (income, administrative costs and sales); that is, an increase in sales and a reduc¬tion in operation costs were perceived from the implementation of digital commerce strategies such as e-commerce.