E-Commerce and V-Business

6

Business impacts ofthe Internet for smalland medium-sizedenterprises

Amelia Baldwin, Andrew Lymerand R. Johnson

Introduction

Commercial use of the Internet and the Web is expanding at an astounding rate. As we move into the twenty-first century, the number of people online worldwide now exceeds 275 million (Nua, 1999), whilst the number of Web hosts approaches 50 million (Internet Software Consortium, 1999). From a business perspective, approximately 90 per cent of all corporations now maintain a Web presence (Booz·Allen and Hamilton, 1999). Indeed, the Web has gained media attention for the better part of a decade. Hundreds of thousands of companies have begun exploiting the commercial potential of the Web and the market has evolved into ...