Analysis · Business
What E-Commerce Maturity Reveals About Business Costs
By AWEI · AI-compiled · Published · Analysis prepared · 1 source · doi.org
An online product page and a system that tracks shipments represent very different kinds of digital adoption. A 2019 study of Ghanaian manufacturers found that more advanced business-to-business e-commerce had stronger associations with reported cost reduction, while its association with innovation barely changed across levels.
Hu Xuhua, Ocloo Chosniel Elikem, Selorm Akaba and David Worwui-Brown analysed 315 usable questionnaires from owners and managers of manufacturing businesses with fewer than 100 employees. Recruitment targeted firms with websites across six industries in four Ghanaian regions. Respondents rated statements about digital activities and business advantages on five-point scales.
The researchers separated adoption into four levels: sharing information, interacting with customers and suppliers, handling transactions, and collaborating electronically. These ranged from email and product promotion to electronic payments, document exchange and shipment tracking. Structural equation modelling assessed how each level related to reported growth, innovation, differentiation and cost reduction.
The cost association strengthened across the four models. Innovation showed a different pattern: its association was positive throughout but slightly weaker at more advanced levels. This complicates the paper’s broad hypothesis that greater adoption brings greater competitive advantage. The results did not show every benefit increasing consistently with technological sophistication.
A measurement detail also narrows the finding. The researchers removed the general operational-cost item because it performed poorly statistically. The remaining cost measures concerned marketing, advertising, information distribution and communication. These were respondents’ perceptions, rather than audited savings. The survey captured one point in time, so it cannot establish that adopting technology caused improvements or show what happened when individual firms upgraded.
For digital sellers, the useful takeaway is to distinguish the activity being digitised and the benefit being measured. This study offers a framework for evaluating communication, transactions and collaboration separately. Its findings concern Ghanaian manufacturers with websites; they do not establish returns for social selling, livestream commerce or other retail channels.
Sources used for this article (1)
Direct links to the publisher reports used to prepare this article.
- Source 1
- Effects of business to business e-commerce adoption on competitive advantage of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises Hu Xuhua, Elikem Chosniel Ocloo, Selorm Akaba
