Title: E-marketing utilisation, endogenous situation and organisational performance in small Austrian software businesses

Authors: Edward W.N. Bernroider

Addresses: Department of Information Systems and Operations, Institute for Information Business, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Augasse 2–6, A 1090 Vienna, Austria

Abstract: This article provides insights into e-marketing utilisation in terms of Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-business in conjunction with endogenous success factors and business performance-related criteria for Austrian micro and small to medium software enterprises (MEs and SMEs). The exploratory analysis is based on primary data collected from 141 Austrian software firms. For SMEs, the variability in e-marketing usage is very low; a majority utilises e-marketing. For MEs, the distribution is very symmetric, showing a large proportion operating with traditional marketing instruments only. The study reveals that firms that perceive their relative strengths on branding, pricing, product diversity, internationalisation and access to new technologies have adopted more advanced e-marketing support. The results reveal evidence supporting a positive relationship between assessed organisational performance factors and e-marketing utilisation especially in MEs. The research assumption that a more intense e-marketing usage is connected with a stronger competitive position is supported by the analysis.

Keywords: e-marketing; e-commerce; software industry; small and medium-size enterprises; SMEs; organisational performance; internet marketing; internet advertising; Austria; electronic commerce; B2C e-business; electronic business; success factors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2008.017025

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2008 Vol.4 No.2/3, pp.262 - 280

Published online: 04 Feb 2008 *

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