ABSTRACT
Global competition and the potential of information and communication technologies (ICT) to increase massively the speed of communication and access to information offer enormous business opportunities though added complexities mean that individual firms are finding harder to manage on their own. Small and medium enterprises (SME), with their more limited resources and significantly weaker market power, find the competitive pressures are even more intense. A number of different models of ICT adoption are described and considered in the light of empirical research conducted among SME in Britain. Social network diffusion models, in emphasising the social influences on SME decisions and different personal consumer profiles at different phases in the adoption process, are more subtle and explanatory than simple technology-push or business-pull stage models. The findings from both the small enterprise research Team analysis and the NEWTIME study, in revealing strong early adopter effects, provide support for the social network theory of innovation adoption and diffusion.
