Industry Portals for Small Businesses

Various initiatives, promoted by public and private organizations, attempt to overcome the difficulties hindering the actual use of Web technologies by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Among such initiatives, the design and implementation of industry portals are deemed to be an earlier step toward e-business by SMEs. There has been a proliferation of portals, especially in traditional sectors, created with the purpose to facilitate the communication by SMEs with their trading partner, to favor information sharing, improve the efficiency of individual firms and supply chains, and promote innovation. While there are interesting examples of successful industry portals, several others failed. This article aims to investigate the particular factors that affect the success of such projects, and in detail to: delineate the con cept of industry portal and describe its basic features; review the economic and organizational factors that can lead to its success; provide empirical evidence, by comparing cases of industry portals devoted to SMEs; and discuss managerial implications, and offer insights into possible “best practices.”