internal operations were electronically integrated with those of its customers and suppliers. This firm was
not, however, requiring its suppliers to implement B2B e-commerce.
6. CONCLUSION
In this study the extent and the form of involvement with B2B e-commerce by 12 Kenyan firms in the
garment industry has been examined. All but one of these firms was found to be selling their products in
external markets and all but two were sourcing inputs from outside Kenya. Most of these firms might be
expected to be prime candidates for developing applications of computer-mediated trade. The findings
indicated that there was only limited use of B2B e-commerce by the sample firms at the time the research
was undertaken in mid-2002. The substantial differences in usage patterns among firms in the sample
suggest that these patterns are influenced by many factors in addition to the characteristics of the physical
or institutional infrastructure, which is in place to support B2B e-commerce. These include the awareness
levels of managers, the preferences for traditional forms of communication, the difficulties of establishing
the quality standards of projects using electronic means of communication, the capacity of Kenya-based
firms to increase their output, and the extent to which relationships with upstream and downstream firms
and other organisations outside Kenya are moving towards the implementation of B2B e-commerce. The
results of this study based on a small sample of firms and key informant interviews are indicative of a
range of issues that influence the scope for the introduction of B2B e-commerce in the garment sector.
The garment firms in the sample were using electronic networks to conduct international trade to some
extent. All the firms had access to modem-based analogue connectivity to reach the public Internet and
there was limited use of extranets and EDI. Extranets were being used to accept orders from international
customers and to place orders with international suppliers. EDI was being used to accept from and place
orders with both domestic and international customers and suppliers.
The firms were participating in B2B e-commerce if the use of e-mail and the web Web is included in the
definition of B2B e-commerce.
The predominant use of these applications was as tools for messaging
and posting information or for obtaining information about other firms in the local, regional and
international markets. E-mail was being used mainly for maintaining contacts with buyers and to accept
product orders while the web was being used to obtain general information about inputs, product markets,
and specific customers and suppliers as well as for accepting orders from domestic customers and for
placing orders with international suppliers.
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