The evidence indicates that the firms were combining data communication with non-electronic forms of
communication, even when they were familiar with each other. For example, the firm that joined e-sokoni
now receives orders through the electronic catalogue, but it prepares purchase orders and invoices in the
usual way and physically delivers them to the client.
The firms in the sample did not appear to be applying B2B e-commerce in all parts of their business
transactions, i.e., ordering, invoicing, and financial transactions. The parts of their transactions that were
being supported by electronic forms of communication were mainly peripheral activities. One firm, for
example, was using the public Internet to process export documents and other reported uses were for price
comparison and obtaining information about markets and suppliers.
In the sample of 12 firms, five firms were not using the public Internet to purchase inputs from global
markets or sell products (see Table 7). According to one respondent, websites were regarded as being
expensive to install and maintain under the current economic conditions. Besides the high cost, many
respondents who also said that firms are unwilling to sponsor workers to acquire training in Internet use
because the workers have to learn on the job and this takes time reported lack of information and skills to
manage Internet connections as problems. This suggests that these respondents did not consider B2B ecommerce as a core project for their businesses. The lack of information and training were compounded
by the fact that the education system in Kenya offers only limited courses in computer use. Most of those
graduating from schools, technical institutes, colleges and tertiary institutions are not computer literate.
Polytechnics and universities offer computing science degrees, but graduates are few in number and often
not oriented towards industry occupations.
The way the firms in the sample were organising their supply, production, and marketing processes
appeared to be contributing to the lack of Internet use in their business transactions. One of the non-user
firms was sourcing all of its inputs and selling all of its products within Kenya. Another was an exporter
operating as a cut-make-and-trim contractor and was not sourcing inputs or marketing its products. This
was done by an intermediary or broker, which was taking full responsibility for transactions, including
letters of credits with buyers and sellers. One respondent indicated that his firm had 15 regular customers
providing enough work so that it did not need to advertise on the Internet. The firm’s Director observed
that in the garment manufacturing process, many specifications are involved and these cannot be met
using e-commerce. In his view, B2B e-commerce is best suited to the needs of retail traders.
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