EFFECT OF E-COMMERCE ON THE GROWTH OF SELECTED SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES IN SOUTH-EAST 

ABSTRACT

This work examined the effect of e-commerce on the growth of small and medium scale enterprises.  This study aims to determine the effect of B2B (Business to Business), B2C (Business to Consumer), B2E (Business to Employee) and C2B (Consumer to Business) e-commerce on the growth of SMEs in South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The study is anchored on Technological, Organizational and Environmental Model and Resource-Based View (RBV) Theory. Survey research was adopted in this study.  This study made use of primary data and the instrument employed for data collection is questionnaire. The population of the (45) selected small and medium scale enterprises in South-East are 2633. The statistical formula devised by Borg and Gall (1973) was employed to determine the sample size of 517. The study used face and content validity. Correlation coefficient was use in determine the reliability. Four hypotheses were formulate and tested. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were employed to analyze the data generated. The study found that B2B (Business to Business), B2C (Business to Consumer) and B2E (Business to Employee) were found to have significant effect on the growth of small and medium scale enterprises in Nigeria. C2B (Consumer to Business) e-commerce was found to has no significant effect on the growth of small and medium scale enterprises. Base on the findings, the study conclude that e-commerce has significant effect on the growth of SMEs in South East Nigeria. It is recommended that Small and medium scale enterprises should lay more emphasis on B2B, B2C and B2E form of e-commerce since they were found to stimulate growth in small and medium scale enterprises.