外文翻譯--電子商務(wù)的應(yīng)用與中小企業(yè)的績效（節(jié)選）

1、<p>　　3300單詞，2萬英文字符,5100漢字</p><p>　　出處：Abebe M. Electronic commerce adoption, entrepreneurial orientation and small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) performance[J]. Journal of Small Business and Enter

2、prise Development, 2014, 21(1):100-116(17).</p><p><b>　　原文</b></p><p>　　Electronic commerce adoption, entrepreneurial orientation and small-and medium-sized enterprise (SME) performa

3、nce</p><p>　　Michael Abebe</p><p>　　Introduction</p><p>　　The significant role that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play in the US economy is well documented in the litera

4、ture. As the pace of economic globalization continues to escalate, SMEs are increasingly experiencing fierce competition both from their domestic and foreign counterparts (Matlay and Westhead, 2005; Etemad, 2004; Julien

5、and Ramangalahy, 2003; Lu and Beamish, 2001). In order to offset their inherent resource and size disadvantages and stay competitive, SMEs employ a number of</p><p>　　E-commerce has increasingly become an im

6、portant technological medium through which businesses serve their customers, expand their geographical reach, respond to competitive pressure and reduce operational costs (Martin and Matlay, 2003; Beck et al., 2005; Wyme

7、r and Regan, 2005). Despite the tremendous amount of growth in e-commerce adoption around the globe, there is still a significant discrepancy between SMEs and large, well-established firms (Fomin et al., 2005; Pratt, 200

8、2). Pratt (2002), in</p><p>　　These and other similar studies have noted that, while small business owners (managers) value the importance of e-commerce, relatively few of them are able to establish an effec

9、tive web presence due to numerous organizational difficulties.</p><p><b>　　電子商務(wù)外文文獻(xiàn)</b></p><p>　　Past scholarly work in this area has extensively explored the potential strategic ben

10、efits and pitfalls of e-commerce adoption in SMEs (e.g. Johnston et al., 2007; Martin and Matlay, 2003; Wymer and Regan, 2005; Grandon and Pearson, 2004; Bianchi and Bivona, 2002; Webb, 2002). In general, past research e

11、vidence indicates that SMEs adopt e-commerce in order to pursue a global strategy that enables them to target a broader customer base (Mehta and Shah, 2001; Moodley, 2003; Beck et al., 2005), add</p><p>　　Th

12、is study seeks to contribute to the literature by addressing two research questions:</p><p>　　1. Is there a relationship between e-commerce adoption and performance of SMEs?</p><p>　　2. More imp

13、ortantly, does the degree of managers' entrepreneurial orientation moderate the relationship between e-commerce adoption and SME performance?</p><p>　　Accordingly, this study first examines empirically t

14、he relationship between e-commerce adoption and SME performance using cross-sectional data collected from the Southern part of the USA. This study then investigates whether owner-managers' level of entrepreneurial or

15、ientation moderates the e-commerce adoption-performance relationship in SMEs.</p><p>　　This study specifically focuses on this moderator (i.e. entrepreneurial orientation) for two reasons: first, since manag

16、ers (owner-mangers) of SMEs are often more directly involved in strategic as well as operational decision-making (including technology adoption decisions) than is the case in large businesses with multiple layers of mana

17、gement (Raymond and Blili, 2000; Wincent and Westerberg, 2005), examining the role of managerial cognitive and behavioral characteristics will enhance our under</p><p>　　Theoretical background and hypothesis

18、 development</p><p>　　E-commerce adoption and SMEs' performance</p><p>　　Following Kalakota and Whinston (1997), this paper defines e-commerce from the B2C perspective as being ―the buying a

19、nd selling of information, products and services via computer networks (p. 3). A substantial portion of the current literature on e-commerce adoption in SMEs focuses on factors that influence the adoption and non-adoptio

20、n decision (e.g. Riemenschneider et al., 2003; Grandon and Pearson, 2004; Matlay, 2004; Fomin et al., 2005; Wymer and Regan, 2005). The theory of planned behavior </p><p>　　For instance, in their study of 10

21、0 managers from SMEs in the USA, Grandon and Pearson found that organizational readiness, external pressure, and perceived ease of use significantly affect e-commerce adoption. Other studies in the literature considered

22、the benefits and rewards of e-commerce adoption in SMEs (Stockdale and Standing, 2004; Raymond et al., 2005). Raymond et al. (2005) studied the assimilation of e-business activities in manufacturing SMEs. According to th

23、eir findings, most of the </p><p>　　This study extends the ongoing research on e-commerce adoption by examining the relationship between e-commerce adoption and performance of SMEs. More specifically, it is

24、argued that there will be a positive and significant influence of e-commerce adoption on SMEs' performance due to two major intermediary organizational processes. First, e-commerce adoption positively affects SMEs pe

25、rformance by providing an enhanced and streamlined business process management. Several studies in the literature</p><p>　　The second intermediary organizational process through which e-commerce adoption inf

26、luences SMEs performance is enhanced marketing capability. One of the most obvious shortcomings of SMEs is their size and resource disadvantage vis-à-vis their larger competitors. Hence, SMEs face significant challe

27、nges not only in identifying and developing a broader customer base but also in competing against global competitors (Etemad, 2004; Loane, 2006). By developing e-commerce (e-business) capabilities, SME</p><p&g

28、t;　　? increase their global visibility and attract a new customer base despite their geographical restrictions (Mehta and Shah, 2001; Moodley, 2003);</p><p>　　? serve existing customers with much more effici

29、ency and improved convenience, since customers can access the e-commerce platform virtually anywhere and any time (Johnston and Wright, 2004; Beck et al., 2005);</p><p>　　? better understand and cater to the

30、 dynamic nature of existing and prospective customer needs (Auger, 2005). </p><p>　　Accordingly, the following hypothesis is proposed:</p><p>　　H1. There is a significant positive relationship b

31、etween e-commerce adoption and SME performance.</p><p>　　Entrepreneurial innovativeness is defined as the ―willingness to support creativity and experimentation in introducing new products/services, and nove

32、lty, technological leadership and R&D in developing new processes (Lumpkin and Dess, 2001, p. 431). The risk-taking behavior of entrepreneurs has been examined extensively in the literature and is generally associate

33、d with the ―willingness of entrepreneurs to engage in calculated business-related risks (Brockhaus, 1980; Kreiser et al., 2002). Proac</p><p>　　Entrepreneurial orientation and e-commerce adoption in SMEs<

34、/p><p>　　Originally developed by Miller (1983) and later refined by Covin and Slevin (1989), the term ―entrepreneurial orientation (EO) refers to the managerial attributes of risk-taking, innovativeness and pro

35、activeness. Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) refers to the managerial characteristics of risk taking, innovativeness and proactiveness (Covin and Slevin, 1989). It also explains the degree of importance that a firm place

36、s on the activities of identification and exploitation of new opportunities (Sh</p><p>　　According to the seminal work of Covin and Slevin (1989), the EO construct has three major dimensions:</p><

37、p>　　1. innovativeness;</p><p>　　2. proactiveness; and</p><p>　　3. risk-taking. </p><p>　　Past research on EO argued that entrepreneurial firms tended to take more risks than non-

38、entrepreneurial firms and that these firms proactively search for new business opportunities (Khandwalla, 1977). In addition, Miller and Friesen (1982) observed in their study that entrepreneurial firms tend to have a hi

39、gh emphasis on new product innovation. Such organizations are characterized by the willingness ―to innovate boldly and regularly while taking considerable risks in their product-market strate</p><p>　　This s

40、tudy proposes that the level of EO among SME managers positively moderates the relationship between e-commerce adoption and firm performance. Specifically, it is expected that managers of SMEs that have high level of EO

41、are more likely to exploit e-commerce technology in order to achieve higher operational efficiency and marketing capability than those that have low level of EO (Matlay and Addis, 2003). Managers of SMEs that have high E

42、O generally tend to explore new processes and technolo</p><p>　　In addition, entrepreneurially oriented small business managers are more likely to take advantage of e-commerce technology than their counterpa

43、rts because they are more inclined to take perceived ―risks in adopting new technology or processes in expectation of improved business performance (Kreiser et al., 2002). Last but not least, entrepreneurially oriented s

44、mall business managers are also more likely to leverage the benefits of e-commerce technology because of their tendency to seek for oppor</p><p>　　H2. The level of EO of SME managers positively moderates the

45、 relationship between e-commerce adoption and SME performance such that under higher levels of EO, e-commerce adoption will have a more positive effect on SME performance. </p><p>　　Methodology</p>&l

46、t;p>　　Sample and data collection</p><p>　　In order to test the above hypotheses, this study focuses on all manufacturing and service SMEs located in the state of Texas, USA, as the study's population.

47、 This particular geographical area was chosen because of the presence of highly vibrant SME population as well as a strong state economy that is relatively less affected by the current economic crisis. By including both

48、manufacturing and service SMEs, the intent was to increase the generalizability of the study's findings across diverse bus</p><p>　　A structured questionnaire and a cover letter explaining the purpose of

49、 the study was mailed to owner-managers (managers) of 379 manufacturing and service SMEs operating in the state of Texas. A second wave of the survey questionnaire was mailed approximately eight weeks after the first wav

50、e of surveys was sent out. Twenty-nine surveys were returned due to inaccurate mailing addresses and business relocation. Of the remaining 350 questionnaire surveys mailed out, 55 were received with complete i</p>

51、<p>　　In order to address the issue of non-respondent bias, the first and second wave of responses were compared on annual sales, number of employees and managerial tenure using a t-test (Armstrong and Overton, 197

52、7). The results show no statistically significant difference between the early and late respondents (t(53)=1.036, p=0.305 for number of employees; t(53)=?0.137,p=0.892 for annual sales and t(51)=0.456, p=0.651 for manage

53、rial tenure). Hence, it was concluded that non-response bias is not a se</p><p>　　Measures and operationalizations</p><p>　　Dependent variable</p><p>　　This study used self-reported

54、 annual sales growth rate as the dependent variable (i.e. SME performance). Although other performance metrics such as return on assets (ROA) and net income have been used in the past (Auger, 2005), it was determined tha

55、t using the annual sales growth rate is appropriate since the goal is to study the influence of e-commerce adoption in SMEs. Consistent with past studies (e.g. Beck et al., 2005; Bharadwaj and Soni, 2007), one of the maj

56、or benefits of e-commerce adopt</p><p>　　Independent variable</p><p>　　E-commerce adoption is the independent variable in this study. Following the definition of e-commerce as ―the buying and se

57、lling of information, products and services via computer networks (Kalakota and Whinston, 1997, p. 3), respondents were asked whether they were selling their products over their company's website. E-commerce adoption

58、 was treated as a dichotomous variable and assigned a value of 0 for those respondents who replied ―no and a value of 1 for those respondents who replied ―Yes.</p><p>　　Entrepreneurial orientation (EO)</p

59、><p>　　Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is measured using the standard and widely accepted eight-item instrument originally developed byCovin and Slevin (1989) and further validated by Kreiser et al. (2002). Th

60、is instrument has three sub-dimensions – i.e. proactiveness, risk-taking and innovativeness – and is anchored on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). In general, highe

61、r scores indicate a higher EO for each respondent. The internal reliability c</p><p>　　Control variables</p><p>　　This study controlled for both organizational (managerial) as well as environmen

62、tal factors. These factors include owner-manager's tenure, functional background, firm size and owner-manager's perceived competitive intensity. Specifically, the number of years the owner-manager (respondent) sp

63、ent in the current position within the company was used as the measure of tenure. Firm size was measured by the number of employees (log transformed) in the SMEs. The functional background of the owner-manage</p>

64、<p>　　―Competition in our industry is cutthroat;</p><p>　　?? ―There are many promotion wars‘ in our industry; and ―Price competition is the hallmark of our industry. The overall Cronbach's α for th

65、is measure is 0.70.</p><p><b>　　Results</b></p><p>　　Table II presents the means, standard deviations and zero-order correlations of the study's variables. The average participat

66、ing SME has slightly above 15 employees with a mean self-reported annual sales growth around 14.6 percent. Fifty of the respondents (91 percent) were owner-managers of the SME while the remaining five (9 percent) describ

67、ed themselves as managers. The average respondent in the study is 49 years old, has spent 14 years in his/her current managerial position, and has some for</p><p><b>　　譯文</b></p><p>

68、　　電子商務(wù)的應(yīng)用與中小企業(yè)的績效</p><p><b>　　邁克爾·阿貝貝</b></p><p><b>　　引言</b></p><p>　　中小企業(yè)在美國經(jīng)濟(jì)中扮演的重要的角色，在一些文獻(xiàn)里是有據(jù)可查的。隨著經(jīng)濟(jì)全球化的步伐不斷加快，越來越多的中小企業(yè)正面臨著來自國內(nèi)和國外同行的激烈競爭 (麥特里和韋斯

69、特黑德 2005;艾特馬,2005;朱利安和羅曼格蘭西2003; 陸和比米什2001)。為了抵消他們固有的資源和規(guī)模劣勢(shì)，以及保持企業(yè)競爭力，中小企業(yè)都積極采用競爭策略和工具。而電子商務(wù)就是這樣一個(gè)有競爭力的工具(雷蒙德等2005;克蘭德2000;斯圖爾特,1997)。</p><p>　　電子商務(wù)正成為企業(yè)服務(wù)顧客的一個(gè)越來越重要的技術(shù)媒介，擴(kuò)大了他們服務(wù)的地理范圍，降低了競爭壓力和運(yùn)營成本(馬丁和麥特來,20

70、03;貝克等2005；懷默和里根2005)。盡管全球電子商務(wù)應(yīng)用飛速增長，中小企業(yè)之間的具體應(yīng)用情況仍有顯著差異。普拉特(2002)的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，通過美國小企業(yè)管理局(SBA)的資料，發(fā)現(xiàn)只有58%的中小企業(yè)網(wǎng)站，而大公司則是77%。同樣，弗雷斯特的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，只有40%的中小企業(yè)在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上出售他們的產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)(維斯,2004)。這些研究以及其他類似的研究指出，雖然小企業(yè)主(經(jīng)理)知道電子商務(wù)的重要性，但是相對(duì)較少的能夠建立有效的電子商

71、務(wù)網(wǎng)絡(luò)。</p><p>　　在這一領(lǐng)域，之前的學(xué)術(shù)研究工作已經(jīng)對(duì)中小企業(yè)應(yīng)用電子商務(wù)的潛在戰(zhàn)略利益和陷阱進(jìn)行了廣泛地探索 (如：約翰斯頓等2007;馬丁和麥特來2003; 懷默和里根2005;格瑞德和皮爾森2004;比安奇和比沃納 2002;韋伯2002)?？偟膩碚f，過去的研究證據(jù)表明，中小企業(yè)采用電子商務(wù)以追求全球戰(zhàn)略目標(biāo)，獲得更廣泛的客戶群，解決他們的行業(yè)環(huán)境和競爭壓力問題(懷默和里根2005;格瑞德和皮爾

72、森2004，并實(shí)現(xiàn)成本節(jié)約與技術(shù)進(jìn)步的目標(biāo)(雷蒙德等2005; 里門施奈德等2003;圣雷利和阿特瑞2003)。盡管關(guān)于中小企業(yè)電子商務(wù)問題的實(shí)證研究越來越多，但這些研究在很大程度上都局限于探索性研究，主要是研究中小企業(yè)應(yīng)用電子商務(wù)的各種影響因素 (懷默和里根2005;霍頓和維恩霍夫2004;麥特萊2004)。 </p><p>　　本研究旨在研究兩個(gè)問題:</p><p>　　1 中小企

73、業(yè)電子商務(wù)應(yīng)用和績效之間的關(guān)系?</p><p>　　2更重要的是，經(jīng)理人的學(xué)歷層次是否會(huì)影響中小企業(yè)電子商務(wù)應(yīng)用和績效之間的關(guān)系?</p><p>　　因此，本研究首先對(duì)中小企業(yè)采用電子商務(wù)和企業(yè)績效之間的關(guān)系進(jìn)行了實(shí)證分析，收集的數(shù)據(jù)主要來自美國南部。本研究特別關(guān)注企業(yè)經(jīng)理人，有兩個(gè)原因:首先，由于中小企業(yè)的經(jīng)理人往往更直接參與戰(zhàn)略以及經(jīng)營決策(包括技術(shù)采用決策)，這與大型企業(yè)有所不同

74、，大型企業(yè)一般是高層管理者才會(huì)參與戰(zhàn)略以及經(jīng)營決策。因此，對(duì)企業(yè)經(jīng)理人的角色認(rèn)知和行為特征進(jìn)行一些研究，將加強(qiáng)我們對(duì)中小企業(yè)應(yīng)用電子商務(wù)的理解及其對(duì)公司的整體績效的影響。其次，本研究通過研究這個(gè)特定的經(jīng)理人，擴(kuò)展了目前本領(lǐng)域正在進(jìn)行的研究。因此，對(duì)這個(gè)特定的經(jīng)理人關(guān)注提供了一個(gè)寶貴的權(quán)變觀點(diǎn)，可以作為電子商務(wù)條件下，企業(yè)績效增強(qiáng)或減弱的一個(gè)影響因素。</p><p><b>　　理論背景和發(fā)展</

75、b></p><p>　　采用電子商務(wù)和中小企業(yè)的績效性能</p><p>　　克拉克塔和溫士頓 (1997)，將B2C電子商務(wù)定義為 ―通過計(jì)算機(jī)網(wǎng)絡(luò)來進(jìn)行信息、產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)交易。當(dāng)前的研究，很大一部分都集中在中小企業(yè)電子商務(wù)應(yīng)用的影響因素(里門施奈德等2003; 格瑞德和皮爾森2004;麥特來2004; 懷默和里根2005)。計(jì)劃行為理論(哈森1991)，技術(shù)接受模型(戴維斯198

76、9)，理性行動(dòng)理論(菲什拜因1980)和技術(shù)的擴(kuò)散理論(羅杰斯,1995)是大多數(shù)研究的主要理論基礎(chǔ)。決定中小企業(yè)采用電子商務(wù)的研究，有內(nèi)部和外部兩方面的影響因素 (格瑞德和皮爾森2004)。</p><p>　　例如，通過對(duì)100位美國中小企業(yè)的管理者的研究，瑞德和皮爾森發(fā)現(xiàn)，組織準(zhǔn)備、外部壓力、易用性等因素大大影響了中小企業(yè)電子商務(wù)的采用。雷蒙德等(2005)研究了制造業(yè)中小企業(yè)的電子商務(wù)活動(dòng)。根據(jù)他們的發(fā)現(xiàn)

77、，來自電子商務(wù)的大部分的益處主要來源于―無線通信/信息功能、―商業(yè)智能功能和―事務(wù)/協(xié)作功能。電子商務(wù)的交流功能可能包括促進(jìn)產(chǎn)品和/或服務(wù)與客戶的互動(dòng)。商業(yè)智能功能，包括吸引潛在客戶，以及收集競爭對(duì)手和市場情報(bào)(奎爾奇和克萊因,1996;比安奇和比沃納2002;霍頓2004)。最后，事務(wù)/協(xié)作功能主要是銷售產(chǎn)品和/或服務(wù)以及與業(yè)務(wù)伙伴交互以實(shí)現(xiàn)合作研發(fā)和營銷(雷蒙德等 2005)。這種合作包括保持和發(fā)展與客戶、渠道合作伙伴、供應(yīng)商和網(wǎng)絡(luò)

78、合作伙伴的關(guān)系 (考特曼等 2001;洛阿內(nèi)2006;奧格2005)。協(xié)作的好處還包括促進(jìn)中小企業(yè)在新市場和客戶服務(wù)中降低運(yùn)營費(fèi)用(圣雷利和阿特瑞 2003;羅哈克等2006)。</p><p>　　本研究擴(kuò)展研究了正在進(jìn)行的中小企業(yè)電子商務(wù)應(yīng)用情況以及中小企業(yè)應(yīng)用電子商和企業(yè)績效之間的關(guān)系。更具體地說，文章認(rèn)為中小企業(yè)應(yīng)用電子商和企業(yè)績效之間有正向且顯著的關(guān)系。首先，電子商務(wù)的應(yīng)用對(duì)中小企業(yè)增強(qiáng)和簡化業(yè)務(wù)流程管

79、理有著積極影響。一些研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，電子商務(wù)在降低交易成本以及中小企業(yè)內(nèi)部業(yè)務(wù)流程的處理中扮演一個(gè)重要的角色 (如：特納2000;陳和李2000圣雷利和阿特瑞 2003;羅哈克等2006)。圣雷利和阿特瑞(2003)，通過對(duì)意大利中小制造和服務(wù)企業(yè)的分析，采用可靠的電子商務(wù)功能允許企業(yè)降低交易成本與外部分銷渠道。同樣，羅哈克等(2006)，根據(jù)TCE理論提出中小企業(yè)采用電子商務(wù)降低交易成本，可以獲得高度的客戶支持。根據(jù)47個(gè)美國中小制造業(yè)企業(yè)

80、的研究，更加支持了他們的論點(diǎn)。過去的研究也表明，中小企業(yè)采用電子商務(wù)可以改進(jìn)內(nèi)部業(yè)務(wù)流程，而且可獲得更廣泛的供應(yīng)鏈(約翰斯頓和賴特2004;吉姆等2008)。這些研究以及其他類似的研究都表明，采用電子商務(wù)會(huì)影響到中小企業(yè)的整體績效，通過提供一個(gè)更有效和流線型的內(nèi)部業(yè)務(wù)流程，進(jìn)而節(jié)約成本和增強(qiáng)盈利能力。</p><p>　　面對(duì)更大的競爭對(duì)手，中小企業(yè)的一個(gè)最明顯的缺點(diǎn)是它們的大小和資源劣勢(shì)。因此，中小企業(yè)不僅面臨

81、著重大的挑戰(zhàn)，這不僅體現(xiàn)在識(shí)別和發(fā)展客戶基礎(chǔ)方面，而且體現(xiàn)在與全球競爭對(duì)手競爭方面(艾特馬，2004;羅阿內(nèi)2004)。中小企業(yè)發(fā)展電子商務(wù)(電子商務(wù))功能，可以:</p><p>　　·增加其全球可見性和吸引新的客戶群，而不用受地理限制(梅塔和沙2001;摩德利 2003);</p><p>　　·更有效率的為現(xiàn)有客戶提供產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)，因?yàn)榭蛻艨梢詭缀踉谌魏蔚胤胶腿魏螘r(shí)

82、間訪問電子商務(wù)平臺(tái) (約翰斯頓和賴特,2004;貝克等2005);</p><p>　　·更好地理解和滿足現(xiàn)有和潛在客戶的動(dòng)態(tài)需求(奧格2005)。</p><p>　　因此，提出以下假設(shè):</p><p>　　H1. 中小企業(yè)應(yīng)用電子商和企業(yè)績效之間有積極的關(guān)系</p><p>　　企業(yè)定位和電子商務(wù)在中小企業(yè)中應(yīng)用</p&

83、gt;<p>　　企業(yè)定位這一概念最初是由米勒(1983)引出的，后來斯萊文(1989)重新對(duì)它進(jìn)行了定義。 ―企業(yè)定位(EO)這一術(shù)語指的是管理風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的屬性、創(chuàng)新性和積極性。這也解釋了重要性的程度，一個(gè)公司的活動(dòng)場所的識(shí)別和新機(jī)遇的開發(fā) (肖恩和文卡塔拉曼2000)。因此之前的研究表明，它有別于市場取向(米勒和阿諾德1991)。他們認(rèn)為，盡管市場取向強(qiáng)調(diào)客戶和競爭對(duì)手的情報(bào)，EO則在很大程度上是未開發(fā)的市場機(jī)會(huì)。</

84、p><p>　　根據(jù)科恩和斯萊文的研究 (1989)，EO的構(gòu)造有三個(gè)主要的維度:</p><p><b>　　1、創(chuàng)新性；</b></p><p><b>　　2、積極性；</b></p><p><b>　　3、冒險(xiǎn)行為。</b></p><p>　　企

85、業(yè)創(chuàng)新被定義為―愿意在引入新產(chǎn)品/服務(wù)上支持創(chuàng)新、技術(shù)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)和開發(fā)新流程(蘭普金和黛絲2001年)。對(duì)于企業(yè)家的冒險(xiǎn)行為，一直都有很多學(xué)者對(duì)它進(jìn)行了相關(guān)研究，主要是指―企業(yè)家愿意參與評(píng)估業(yè)務(wù)相關(guān)的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)( 布羅克豪斯1980;克瑞斯等2002)。積極性則被定義為―尋找機(jī)會(huì)，以前瞻性視角來預(yù)期未來需求的變化和環(huán)境(蘭普金和黛絲2001)。</p><p>　　過去對(duì)EO的研究認(rèn)為，創(chuàng)新型企業(yè)往往比非創(chuàng)新型公司承擔(dān)更大的

86、風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，這些公司積極尋找新的商機(jī)。此外，米勒和弗瑞森(1982)觀察到在他們的研究中，創(chuàng)新型公司往往有很高的新產(chǎn)品創(chuàng)新。這些組織的特點(diǎn)是:意愿―在他們的產(chǎn)品市場策略中，大膽創(chuàng)新和承擔(dān)相當(dāng)大的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。過去大量的實(shí)證研究已經(jīng)表明EO水平與中小企業(yè)績效之間有一個(gè)強(qiáng)大而積極的關(guān)系(例如：薩拉和科恩1995;蘭普金和黛絲2001;柯倫德和夏普德2005)。</p><p>　　本研究提出，創(chuàng)新水平高的中小企業(yè)，偏向于采用電子商

87、務(wù)。具體地說，它預(yù)計(jì)，中小企業(yè)的管理者,有高水平的EO更容易利用電子商務(wù)技術(shù),以實(shí)現(xiàn)更高的運(yùn)營效率和營銷能力 (麥特萊和艾迪斯2003)。有很高的EO水平的中小企業(yè)的管理者，通常傾向于探索新的流程和技術(shù)用于創(chuàng)建產(chǎn)品/服務(wù)給他們的客戶(蘭普金和黛絲1996；阿勒迪斯和撒拉瓦2007)。麥特萊和艾迪斯(2003)的研究方發(fā)現(xiàn)，許多經(jīng)理人都認(rèn)識(shí)到電子商務(wù)的好處，而更有可能積極地推動(dòng)，并最終在企業(yè)中應(yīng)用電子商務(wù)。因此，小型企業(yè)經(jīng)理人的積極性趨勢(shì)

88、會(huì)導(dǎo)致企業(yè)傾向于采用電子商務(wù)(巴拉和索尼，2007)。按照這個(gè)論點(diǎn)，認(rèn)為電子商務(wù)可視為中小企業(yè)競爭的工具(約翰斯頓 2007;梅塔和沙2001)。</p><p>　　此外，抱有創(chuàng)新型導(dǎo)向的中小企業(yè)管理者相比于他們的同行，更有可能利用電子商務(wù)的技術(shù)，因?yàn)樗麄兏鼉A向于為了采用新技術(shù)或流程改善業(yè)務(wù)性能的期望(克瑞斯等2002)，并非認(rèn)為 ―風(fēng)險(xiǎn)不重要，但是抱有創(chuàng)業(yè)導(dǎo)向的中小企業(yè)經(jīng)理更看到了應(yīng)用電子商務(wù)技術(shù)的好處，因?yàn)?/p>

89、他們傾向于尋求機(jī)會(huì)和技術(shù)，可以幫助他們的業(yè)務(wù)在市場上保持競爭力(李等人2008)。從某種程度上來說，電子商務(wù)作為一種手段，可以擴(kuò)大企業(yè)現(xiàn)有的客戶基礎(chǔ)，以及可以讓企業(yè)對(duì)市場趨勢(shì)可以有更好的把握，并能夠收集到關(guān)鍵業(yè)務(wù)情報(bào)(雷蒙德等它可以合理地認(rèn)為高水平的EO可以改善利用電子商務(wù)技術(shù)在中小企業(yè)達(dá)到提高性能。因此,提出以下假設(shè):</p><p>　　H2。中小企業(yè)經(jīng)理的創(chuàng)新水平與中小企業(yè)應(yīng)用電子商務(wù)和中小企業(yè)的績效之間有

90、積極的關(guān)系，更高水平的企業(yè)創(chuàng)新性將對(duì)中小企業(yè)電子商務(wù)應(yīng)用后的企業(yè)績效有一個(gè)更積極的影響。</p><p><b>　　方法</b></p><p><b>　　樣本和數(shù)據(jù)收集</b></p><p>　　為了檢驗(yàn)上述假設(shè)，本研究著重于研究美國德克薩斯州的所有制造和服務(wù)型中小企業(yè)。選中這個(gè)特定的地理區(qū)域的原因是因?yàn)檫@里存在高

91、度活躍的中小企業(yè)，以及相對(duì)較少受到經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)的影響。包括生產(chǎn)和服務(wù)中小企業(yè)，目的是提高研究結(jié)果的普遍性。按照美國小企業(yè)管理局的定義，中小企業(yè)主要是只有不到500名員工的公司。全州范圍內(nèi)和當(dāng)?shù)厣虝?huì)網(wǎng)站被用來收集聯(lián)系信息和其他信息。然后隨機(jī)選擇379個(gè)中小企業(yè)，這些中小企業(yè)代表在德克薩斯州的各種制造業(yè)和服務(wù)業(yè)。被納入研究的樣本包括服裝和紡織品、機(jī)電設(shè)備、皮革產(chǎn)品、機(jī)械、測量儀器、紙和盟軍產(chǎn)品、印刷、零售和批發(fā)等。</p><

92、;p>　　結(jié)構(gòu)化的問卷被寄給德克薩斯州的379個(gè)制造業(yè)和服務(wù)性型中小企業(yè)的所有者或管理者(經(jīng)理人)。第二波調(diào)查問卷大約在第一批調(diào)查被送出去8周后再郵寄。返回調(diào)查由于不準(zhǔn)確的郵寄地址和業(yè)務(wù)搬遷。收到完整信息的反饋率為15.7%。盡管反應(yīng)率相對(duì)較低，我們認(rèn)為這是因?yàn)橛性S多最近的研究都在關(guān)注中小企業(yè)( 奧格2005;巴拉和索尼2007;湯等2008)</p><p>　　為了解決非反饋偏見的問題，第一和第二波的反

93、饋率，將會(huì)比較企業(yè)的年銷售額、員工數(shù)量和管理任期，使用t來表示(阿姆斯特朗和奧夫頓1977)。結(jié)果表明在早期和晚期受訪者之間沒有統(tǒng)計(jì)上的顯著差異(t(53)= 1.036,p = 0.305的員工數(shù)量;t(53)=?0.137,p = 0.892銷售額和t(51)= 0.456,p = 0.651管理任期)。因此，得出的結(jié)論是，反饋率偏差并不是一個(gè)嚴(yán)重的問題。</p><p><b>　　措施和運(yùn)作&l

94、t;/b></p><p><b>　　因變量</b></p><p>　　本研究將年銷售額增長率作為因變量(即中小企業(yè)績效)。盡管其他性能指標(biāo)如資產(chǎn)回報(bào)率(ROA)和凈利潤已經(jīng)在過去研究中廣泛使用(奧格2005)，對(duì)于研究中小企業(yè)電子商務(wù)應(yīng)用的影響因素來說，年銷售額增長率是最合適的目標(biāo)（貝克等 2005;巴拉和索尼2007)。在中小企業(yè)中應(yīng)用電子商務(wù)的主要好處

95、之一就是能夠通過現(xiàn)有的和―新的客戶，產(chǎn)生更多的銷量。因此，我們認(rèn)為這將是測試不同創(chuàng)新性水平管理者采用電子商務(wù)和中小企業(yè)績效之間關(guān)系的最好方式。因此，受訪者被要求提供該公司最近的財(cái)政年度銷售增長率。</p><p><b>　　獨(dú)立變量</b></p><p>　　在本研究中，電子商務(wù)應(yīng)用作為獨(dú)立變量。電子商務(wù)的定義為―通過計(jì)算機(jī)網(wǎng)絡(luò)進(jìn)行信息、產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)交易(克拉克塔和

96、溫斯頓1997)。電子商務(wù)應(yīng)用被視為二分變量，并分配兩個(gè)值，一個(gè)是0，表示的受訪者回答―不，一個(gè)值為1，表示受訪者回答―是。</p><p><b>　　創(chuàng)新性</b></p><p>　　創(chuàng)新性有三個(gè)潛在的屬性——即積極性、冒險(xiǎn)和創(chuàng)新，并有七級(jí)，從1(強(qiáng)烈不同意)到7(非常同意)。一般來說，更高的分?jǐn)?shù)表明更高的EO。內(nèi)部可靠性系數(shù)(克倫巴赫α)整體光電測量在這項(xiàng)研究

97、中是0.785個(gè)人系數(shù)0.739(創(chuàng)新性)、0.644(積極性)和0.813(冒險(xiǎn))。</p><p><b>　　控制變量</b></p><p>　　本研究中，控制變量主要是組織控制(管理)以及環(huán)境因素。這些因素包括所有者經(jīng)理的任期內(nèi)，公司老總的競爭強(qiáng)度。具體來說，公司規(guī)模可以衡量中小企業(yè)員工的數(shù)量。簡單地說，因?yàn)樵撗芯恐械碾[含假設(shè)，即電子商務(wù)的應(yīng)用代表了一個(gè)企業(yè)

98、的重大戰(zhàn)略決策，管理信念的程度決定戰(zhàn)略決策的本質(zhì)和最終績效。所有者或管理者的競爭強(qiáng)度測量使用由賈沃斯基和克里(1993)開發(fā)的測量指標(biāo)。其中的一些指標(biāo)包括:</p><p><b>　　·―存在惡性競爭;</b></p><p><b>　　·―有很多促銷大戰(zhàn)</b></p><p>　　·―

99、價(jià)格競爭是行業(yè)特點(diǎn)。</p><p>　　整個(gè)克倫巴赫α的測量數(shù)據(jù)是0.70。</p><p><b>　　結(jié)果</b></p><p>　　表二給出了測量方法，以及其他各變量、標(biāo)準(zhǔn)差和變量值。參與調(diào)查的中小企業(yè)的年度平均銷售增長率為14.6%左右。91%的受訪者是中小企業(yè)的所有者或管理者，其余9%是經(jīng)理。研究的受訪者平均是49歲，從事管理職位