E-Entrepreneurship for E-Startups: Potentials, Common Challenges and Way Forward

  • Mohammad Aminul Islam King Khalid University, College of Business, Management Information Systems, Abha
  • Mohammed A Alghobiri King Khalid University, College of Business, Management Information Systems, Abha
Keywords: Entrepreneurship, e-entrepreneurship, e-startup, e-business, net economy

Abstract

In today’s economic world, the advancement in technology has opened up new forms of economic activities, particularly business. Whilst entrepreneurship is a major factor in business, e-entrepreneurship has become a buzzword facilitated by the rapid advancement of internet and developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). E-entrepreneurship, in the name of transforming business from the local marketplace to the global one, has revolutionized the entire business processes. This set of new business mechanism has created new opportunities for the startups, which in this regard is termed as e-startups. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the concept of eentrepreneurship by addressing related potentials and challenges. Extant literature has been reviewed to this end. The analysis indicated that flexibility of and accessibility to technology and products, less capital and risk in comparison to physical businesses are the major advantages that an e-entrepreneur might enjoy while commencing an e-startup. On the other hand, lack of institutional support, digital security threat, tough competition with established brands, less innovation and lack of academic and practical exposure in terms of business and marketing are some barriers that challenge the operation of e-startups. The conclusion of the paper draws on some recommendations accordingly.  

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Ademola, I. S., Olaleye, S. O., Olusuyi, A. E.& Edun, F. (2013). Why small scale businesses failed as a remedy to unemployment problem in Nigeria. Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 8(4), 68-93. Blanchflower, D. G.& Oswald, A. J. (2007). What Makes a Young Entrepreneur, IZA Discussion Papers 3139. Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). Brandel, M. (2010). Are you LISTENING? Computerworld, 44(13), 13-15. Brooks, G., Heffner, A.& Henderson, D. (2014). A SWOT analysis of competitive knowledge from social media for a small start-up business. The Review of Business Information Systems (Online), 18(1), 23. Drucker, P. F. (1974). Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (1st ed.). New York: Truman Talley Books, E. P. Dutton. Edleman, D. (2010). Branding in the digital age: You’re Spending Your Money in All the Wrong Places. Harvard Business Review, 88(12), 62-69. Elzinga, D., Mulder, S.& Vetvik, O. J. (2009). The consumer decision journey. McKinsey Quarterly, 3, 96-107. Finkelstein, S. (2001). Internet startups: so why can't they win? Journal of Business Strategy, 22(4), 16-21. Hébert, R. F.& Link, A. N. (1989). In search of the meaning of entrepreneurship. Small business economics, 1(1), 39-49. Hunter, M. G.& Long, W. A. (2003). Adopting the entrepreneurial process in the study of information systems and small business. In Managing IT in government, business & communities (pp. 1-14). IGI Global. Kollmann, T. (2006). What is e-entrepreneurship?–fundamentals of company founding in the net economy. International Journal of Technology Management, 33(4), 322-340.
Kotler, P.& Armstrong, G. (2012). Principles of Marketing (14th ed.). Pearson Education. Landstrom, H. (2007). Pioneers in entrepreneurship and small business research (Vol. 8). Springer Science & Business Media. Maguire, S. (2002). Identifying risks during information system development: managing the process. Information Management & Computer Security, 10(3), 126-134. Manjoo, F. (2017, 10 18). Retrieved from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/technology/frightful-five-start-ups.html Manuel, E. (2006). e-Entrepreneurship. Munich Personal RePEc Archive, Paper No. 2237(13). Retrieved from https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/2237/1/MPRA_paper_2237.pdf Martin, D. M. (2009). The entrepreneurial marketing mix. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 12(4), 391-403. Matlay, H. (2004). E-entrepreneurship and small e-business development: towards a comparative research agenda. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 11(3), 408-414. Matlay, H.& Martin, L. M. (2009). Collaborative and competitive strategies in virtual teams of e-entrepreneurs: A pan-European perspective. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 16(1). Matlay, H.& Westhead, P. (2005). Virtual teams and the rise of e-entrepreneurship in Europe. International Small Business Journal, 23(3), 279-302. McNurlin, B., Sprague, R. H.& Bui, T. (2009). Information Systems Management in Practice (8th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc. Meyer, G. D., Neck, H. M.& Meeks, M. D. (2017). The entrepreneurship‐strategic management interface. In Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset (pp. 17-44). Oxford, UK:Blackwell. Ngige, C. D. (2014). Management as a Factor of Production and as an Economic Resource. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 4(6), 162-166. Phillips, M., McFadden, D. T.& Sullins, M. (2010). How effective is social networking for direct marketers. Journal of Food Distribution Research, 41(1), 96-100. Reynolds, P. D. (2005). Understanding business creation: Serendipity and scope in two decades of business creation studies. Small Business Economics, 24(4), 359-364. Rumelt, R. P. (2005). Theory, strategy, and entrepreneurship. In Handbook of entrepreneurship research (pp. 11-32). Springer, Boston, MA. Sharma, M., Pathak, D.& Chowhan, S. (2014). E-Business: Strategic Management Practice for New Entrepreneurship. Social Science Research Network. Stokes, D. (2000). Entrepreneurial marketing: a conceptualisation from qualitative research. Qualitative market research: an international journal, 3(1), 47-54. Turban, E., King, D., Lee, J. K., Liang, T. P.& Turban, D. C. (2015). Electronic commerce: A managerial and social networks perspective (8th ed.). Springer. Zhao, F. (2007). Issues and challenges facing e-entrepreneurship and e-innovation. 18th Annual Information Resources Management Association International Conference (pp. 945-948). IGI Global. Zontanos, G.& Anderson, A. R. (2004). Relationships, marketing and small business: an exploration of links in theory and practice. Qualitative market research: an international journal, 7(3), 228-236.
Published
2019-01-14
How to Cite
Islam, M. A., & Alghobiri, M. A. (2019). E-Entrepreneurship for E-Startups: Potentials, Common Challenges and Way Forward. Information Management and Business Review, 10(4), 44-50. https://doi.org/10.22610/imbr.v10i4.2646
Section
Research Paper