The impact of e-commerce on the success of microenterprise retail sector of the Pinhal Interior Norte sub-region of Portugal

Abstract

In the global, competitive and ever-changing market it is important that Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), as a significant part of the Portuguese industrial business, become competitive and, thus, it´s important to assess how the level of involvement in Electronic Commerce (EC), in Business-to-Consumer (B2C) relations, can influence the success of a microenterprise in the retail sector, focusing on the Portuguese sub-region of Pinhal Interior Norte. Being a region that is far from the big metropolises, where the young and more educated stratum distances itself, leaving it little more than the population that is getting older and with a reduced level of education, we considered it interesting to study if the microenterprises of the region are prepared to the new era of technology as a business model for their companies. Using the definition of success for a company as positive and growing financial result, it is objective of this work to know if companies with involvement in the EC, in B2C relations, have an increasing success rate due to its adoption and maintenance. Based on a research in a database with information from the companies, the sample was subsequently evaluated to find out which of the companies in the sample were involved in the EC and conducted surveys / interviews with the managers of the sample companies to assess the motivation (s) for their adoption, as well as whether they recognize the return of their investment and what they intend to do to maintain or modify their business. Initially we found several difficulties to gather data to be able to achieve proper conclusions, but with the help of some company managers, we were able to confirm that 62.50% of the analyzed companies saw their financial result increased after the adoption of the EC, which allows us to establish the existence of a relationship between the two facts.