It had never used the Internet to purchase or sell its products internationally and had not registered with an
e-market place. The firm was not using the Internet for supply chain management. Selecting and
purchasing fabric is believed to require face-to-face contact to ensure the quality of the fabric.
The firm started to use B2B e-commerce to increase the speed of its operation and to gain experience,
which might lead to learning and long-term benefits. It was indicated that the B2B e-commerce
application in which the company is engaged were developed or promoted by suppliers or customers and
that the company had not changed suppliers or buyers due to its use. Use of B2B e-commerce has made
operations easier and greater use was expected. It was cheaper, quicker or more reliable. It was pointed
out that a weakness of using B2B e-commerce lies in the fact that one cannot negotiate deals through email, but this did not detract from the view that e-commerce will gain in importance in the future. B2B ecommerce was being used to inform customers about the status of shipments.
FIRM F
The firm employs 350 workers and its main products are sweaters, socks and woven products. Woven
products are the most significant sources of revenue sweaters with socks next in importance. The firm
exports its products to the UK, Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its inputs are
sourced from Indonesia, India, Malaysia, the UK and Italy. The firm is connected to networks using
modem-based analogue technology and has access directly to the public Internet. The firm frequently
uses e-mail in its business transactions to maintain contact with buyers or suppliers and to place or accept
product orders. The firm is a frequent user of the web to obtain general information about input markets
and about specific suppliers. The firm seldom makes use of the web to obtain general information about
product markets, to obtain information about specific customers, to accept orders from international
customers, or to place orders with international suppliers. It also has no Extranet and Electronic Data
Interchange usage.
When the firm uses the Internet, it browses the Internet via the web. The firm has not registered with an emarketplace due to the fact that the market the firm serves is not believed to require the use of the Internet
or B2B e-commerce. The firm started using B2B e-commerce to keep up with other firms but its
customers or suppliers have not developed or promoted its use. The firm has not changed suppliers or
buyers since the introduction of B2B e-commerce and its use are believed to have helped to increase
revenues and profits because of the reduced cost of mail. B2B e-commerce is seen as fast and timesaving and would be used more if it were cheaper, quicker and or more reliable. Spare parts are the main
inputs the firm purchases using B2B e-commerce from Japan and the main products the firm sells in this
way are woven products, sweaters and socks sold to neighbouring countries – Uganda and Tanzania. The
future of business is thought to lie in B2B e-commerce, but there is a need to improve down loading time.
FIRM G
Firm G is based in Nairobi, employs 200 workers, and specialises in making uniforms. All production is
to order, so regular buyers are very important. Among its domestic customers are hotels, security firms,
oil companies, parastatals and the military. The annual turnover of the firm is Kshs. 70 million. The
firm’s products are exported to Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia. Its inputs are obtained from the UK,
Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and the Czech Republic, Slovakia and India. The firm is connected
using modem-based analogue technology and has access directly to the public Internet. The firm
frequently uses e-mail to maintain contact with buyers and suppliers and to place or accept product
orders. The firm makes use of the web frequently to obtain general information about input markets, to
obtain information about product markets, to obtain information about specific suppliers and to place
orders with international suppliers. The web is seldom used to obtain information about specific
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