School of Information Systems
Faculty of Business and Law
The School's Small and Medium Enterprises research group focuses on research projects in which there are practical outcomes which serve the SME community. The group currently comprises experts and PhD students researching in areas of significant importance to SMEs, such as supply chain management, project management, government initiatives and eBusiness.
The Group works closely with industry associations, government entities and SMEs to expand knowledge of the problems facing SMEs in achieving success in today's global marketplace. This knowledge, in turn, will enable the School to contribute to the development of strategies, programmes and support tools to serve SMEs grappling with the plethora of opportunities, including eBusiness.
The Group welcomes collaboration with industry, government and other universities. If you would like to be involved in any of its projects, or would like to propose new projects to serve the needs of SMEs, please contact the group Convenor below.
Rodney Carr (Deakin Business School)
Jeff Chamberlain (Deakin Business School)
Darryl Coulthard
Annemieke Craig
Bardo Fraunholz
Cecily Mason (Deakin Business School)
Craig Parker (Convenor)
Dilal Saundage
Luba Torlina
Michael Tse (School of Accounting, Economics and Finance)
Matthew Warren
Marie van der Klooster
The research group has established an international journal which focuses on publishing current, innovative research concerning the combined fields of information systems and small businesses. It is an online journal which is intended to facilitate expedited publication once a paper has been double-blind refereed. For more details, please see the journal website .
Federal, State and Local Governments have all initiated programmes intended, among other things, to encourage SMEs to adopt eCommerce. The programmes vary in their degree of intervention, ranging from passive web sites to local level engagement with SMEs by such associations as the Whitehorse Business Group. This project will examine the effectiveness of these programmes from the perspective of SMEs and will study the roles which can be played by different levels of government. The key outcome expected from this research will be recommendations to Government on the most effective suite of initiatives aimed at furthering the development of eCommerce in Australian SMEs.
The School runs third year projects in which groups of students design and develop eCommerce solutions for SMEs in the Whitehorse Business Group. Students gain valuable real-life skills to prepare them for employment and SMEs receive quality and highly valued solutions. This research project will examine the long-term impact of these projects on SMEs' use of eCommerce. Interviews with SME participants will be conducted to determine whether their use of eCommerce has extended further over time.
This project investigates whether Communities of Practice (CoPs), and their virtual equivalents, can be established in regional clusters of SMEs to promote the creation of value through innovation, fostering trust and commitment to the regional area by SMEs. Governments worldwide are recognising the importance of establishing innovative SME clusters in regional areas to improve the sustainability of the local communities. This project will involve case studies of regional clusters to investigate the strategies and practices for establishment and to enhance the collective intelligence of the SMEs comprising these clusters.
This project investigates the importance of switching costs and network effects, in a model that incorporates other factors influencing the choice of software by SME. The project complements previous studies of factors affecting software acquisition, with new dimensions which have recently become important when SMEs are considering improving their current system.
This project investigates the way projects are managed in SMEs and how common practice can be improved by integration. The research is conducted in cooperation with six SMEs in trade. Among the many questions explored, it is important to understand why project management has not been popular with this part of the production sector. Additionally the project explores the special needs of the trade sector with its particular structure, the education of the employees, the size of the businesses, the manpower involved, typical projects and organisational issues thus designing a framework for integrated project and knowledge management for SMEs.
This project investigates the potential for mobile payment in SMEs. The purpose of the study is to determine the potential and challenges for the uptake of mobile payments. Currently payment using the mobile phone is considered unpractical and costly and trials have not been able to determine a practical business model. This research is conducted by semi-structured interviews with payment providers as well as a representative selection of SMEs.
As a result of increasing use of the Internet to conduct business activities, SME's are now exposed to a growing number and a wider variety of threats and vulnerabilities. This raises new issues for security. SME's should be aware of the relevant security risks and preventive measures assume responsibility and take steps to enhance the e-security of their systems. The behaviour that people display towards their organisation's information systems and security is known as an organisations e-security culture. There is a need for greater awareness, understanding of security issues and training. This thesis will discuss the concept of SME e-security culture and what approaches the author will undertake in developing a model to improve an SME's e-security culture.