Relative size and complexity: e-business use in small and medium sized tourism enterprises in Thailand

Purpose - The research documented in this paper aims to explore e-business uses in small and medium-sized tourism enterprises compared with their larger counterparts. Design/methodology/approach - Five case studies were conducted with Thai tourism SMEs to investigate their technology adoption and use experiences. For large-sized enterprises, an extensive review of industry's practice was conducted. A comparison was then carried out based on the scope of the technology, namely inter-organisation, intra-organisation, and front-end side linking to customers. Findings - In terms of e-business use, it is not surprising that Thai SMEs remain less advanced in utilising e-business technology. However, size is found to be a significant factor in determining SME behaviour not only in comparison to larger travel agencies or hotels, but also with the SME sector itself. Associated with this is application complexity that is again significant and linked to relative size. Finally, the choices made by small hotels and travel agents are shown to be influenced by the technology providers. Research limitations/implications - The main research limitation is a limited generalisibility. Future research on SMEs in developing countries would make the comparison more sound and increase generalisability. Practical implications - SMEs should pay more attention on strategic use of IT in order to compete with their larger competitors. At the policy level, more education on IT development skills and business potentials of IT are needed. Originality/value - The paper adds to the literature on IT adoption in SMEs particularly with respect to size within the SME sector, the importance of complexity and the role of technology provider.