E-commerce and Export Performance By Munib Karavdic

1.5 Limitations

To make this study a viable undertaking, some restrictions to the research were introduced. Three limitations are:

1. The study focuses on exporters with experience in e-commerce and is not concerned with exporters without e-commerce experience.

2. The study takes an interest in exporters with a minimum of three years experience in export business and does not take into consideration early stages of export business development and e-commerce applicability in that phase.

3. The data collection method, an online survey, was appropriate only for respondents who had access to and are familiar with the Internet.

1.6 Delimitation of research scope

The major delimitation of this research is that the setting was confined to Australian exporters. Although utilisation of e-commerce is becoming a widely adopted strategy internationally, exporters operate in their own economic, cultural, and technological context. Therefore, the way in which some exporters develop strategies and the extent to which businesses utilise e-commerce in their export management may differ across cultural boundaries. Generalisation of the findings of this study beyond Australia should be made carefully and with caution because of possible cultural differences that may impact the nature or degree of e-commerce adoption. Nevertheless, the findings may apply to other developed countries where e-commerce usage displays a similar pattern to that of Australia such as the nations of the European Union, the United States, and Canada.

1.7 Definitions used in this research

Definitions adopted by researchers and practitioners in the field of e-commerce and export business vary. Definitions of terms that are used in the study are as follows: