Researches have identified SMEs as a driver in boosting the economy of a country. Researches
have emphasized the need for adoption of ICT by SMEs in today's globalized world. Its
adoption is still low, particularly in developing countries. Researches in the recent past explored
various dimensions of application of ICT in big firms only, but now researchers have begun to
explore the implications of adopting ICT in small firms also. There are a number of factors that
affect the decision of owner-managers of these enterprises to adopt ICT. These factors are
internal and external, some are related to owners while others are related to employees.
Studies have also explored the barriers to adoption and ways have been suggested to overcome
these barriers. Various business models have been developed and critically analyzed. Though
differences between small and large firms have been studied, differences between developing
and developed countries also need to be identified in the context of ICT adoption. Models
also need to be proposed for problems arising from issues, which are specific to developing
countries. Researchers also need to focus on sector specific (for example, garments and food
processing) issues of SMEs in ICT adoption, which seems to have caught little interest.
Another issue that seems to be little explored is whether the gender of the owner-manager
has any impact on ICT adoption by SMEs.
The studies clearly indicate that ICT adoption is still very low in SMEs, but whether the increased
adoption of ICT by SMEs will result in increased researches in this area or whether the increased
researches will lead to increased adoption of ICT by SMEs remains to be explored.