The Role of the Internet in Overcoming Information Barriers: Implications for Exporting SMEs of the East African Community

Abstract

Small and medium-sized enterprises play a significant role in the East African Community, contributing highly to the national income and employing a significant number of people. Exportation provides a great opportunity for these enterprises to expand their businesses and improve their performance. However, they encounter a number of information-related barriers before and during exportation. Based on literature, this paper identifies these barriers and discusses how the internet could be used to reduce them. Based on the internet, international business and small business literature, the paper provides propositions and develops a model that will be useful for future studies in this area. Introduction In the last few years, the use of the Internet in the East African community (EAC) has grown thanks to the introduction of international fibre bandwidth in these countries in 2010. This has facilitated high access to the Internet as it has become relative cheaper and more reliable (Lange, 2011). Also, the use of mobile telecommunications has increased access to the Internet for many people in the region, not only in big cities but also in remote areas where a large proportion of the population still lives. This arrival of bandwidth has been received with great optimism by various stakeholders in the EAC. As part of the on-going process, it is believed that proper use of the Internet could have positive effect on the lives of many East Africans through enhanced communication and information technologies.