Problems of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the adption of E-Commerce in Tanzania: a case study of Dar es salaam city’s SMEs

The thesis describes problems of adoption of e-commerce technology to Small and Medium Enterprises in Tanzania. Dar es salaam are more likely to be using e-commerce than any where in the country, because the Internrt technology which enables e-commerce is more concentrated in Dar es salaam than in any other area of the country. The research collected data from 60 SMEs found in Dar es salaam. The data collected were then subjected to analysis using SPSS pogram and othe statistical tests like ANOVA. The results showed that there are technology challenges and management attitudes that limit SMEs from adopting e-commerce. Technical challenges include high equipment and Installation costs, lack of fund to employ computer expert, poor communication infrastructure which is able to support mainly e-mail, lack of relevant skills and expertise within the companies, absence of enabling infrastructure such as internet exchange and others. On the part of management attitudes, these are lack of awareness of the e-commerce technology, technophobia, management not committing enough resources to IT related issue. Finally it was concluded that to overcome these challenges, tariff should be reduced in telecommunication equipment, Government to act as role model in applying e-commerce and Public awareness of the technology should be enhanced.