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Main Factors for ICT Adoption in the Czech SMEs

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Information Systems for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Part of the book series: Progress in IS ((PROIS))

Abstract

This paper will outline the findings of a long term survey among thirty small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Czech Republic and will describe the important factors related to barriers to adoption of information technology and information systems. This qualitative survey of the examined companies was made by using multiple interviews, monitoring the attitudes of the management to the information and communication technology (ICT), using ICT as a competitive advantage, use of various types of applications and their impact on the organisation’s performance. We can see that managers or owners of SMEs are, however, often afraid of the organisational and financial demands of implementation of ICT. From the successfully growing companies we analysed the importance of establishing business, information and knowledge strategy. Without the articulation of these strategies companies will, with difficulty, find their way in the current business environment. These three strategies have to be followed by other supporting strategies, i.e. marketing, finance and human resources.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technical University of Liberec, Economic School, Voronezska 13, 46117, Liberec, Czech Republic

    Klara Antlova

Authors
  1. Klara Antlova
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Correspondence to Klara Antlova .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. ELIT - Lab, Ghent University University College West-Flanders, Kortrijk, Belgium

    Jan Devos

  2. Industrial Management, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium

    Hendrik van Landeghem

  3. Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Ghent University Faculty of Economics and Business Admin., Ghent, Belgium

    Dirk Deschoolmeester

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Antlova, K. (2014). Main Factors for ICT Adoption in the Czech SMEs. In: Devos, J., van Landeghem, H., Deschoolmeester, D. (eds) Information Systems for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Progress in IS. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38244-4_7

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