The Business-to-Business implications of low-tech Entrepreneurial Ethnic Minority Businesses in a virtual environment

The evidence of limited ICT adoption and use among Ethnic Minority Businesses is growing, supported by the work of Ram and Smallbone (1999), Foley and Ram (2002) and SBS (2004). The reasons discussed are many including firm size, lack of skills, culture, markets and sectors (SBS, 2004 and Allinson et al, 2004). However, existing examinations of ICT adoption and use by EMBs have failed to consider business-to-business (B2B) activities especially by firms in sectors where B2B activities are rapidly developing and increasingly the norm. Given, the increasing economic impact of EMBs in the UK and the growing push towards international trade the paper identifies the factors that both aid and limit B2B development among EMBs and potential International partners. The focus of B2B development is the UK’s first Virtual Trade Fair bringing UK EMBs, US EMBs and US Corporates together virtually. The paper identifies a number of factors creating and limiting B2B development and the formation of any international strategic alliances including: limited ICT use; limited understanding and use of virtual trade fair technologies, operating sectors and markets. The recommendations to overcome such issues include greater inclusion of EMBs in UK government backed e-procurement programmes, improved matching of sectors between buyers and sellers and raised ICT awareness and adoption in the EMB community.