Poon and Swatman (1999) identified the importance of entrepreneurship and managerial
support as the way in which sustainable advantage can be obtained. As the small firm moves
from traditional business to e-business, this must be accompanied by the development of
appropriate knowledge and competence among the employees. e-business competitive
advantage can be achieved through the exploitation of relevant hard and soft competencies.
Fillis and Wagner (2005) believe that it can be achieved by thinking entrepreneurially about e-
business issues. The internal competencies of the organization are central to the efficient
production of products and services through the construction of profitable relationships with
customers (Schuppel et al., 1998). The small firm grows through its ability to exploit its internal
knowledge competencies and the entrepreneurial small firm is best placed to do so with its
higher levels of creative thinking (Blackle, 1995; Fillis, 2002r). Thus, there is a need to view
SME e-business development in terms of how well the owner-manager and related key