E-commerce adoption by small medium enterprises: rural and regional general practices

There is a crisis in healthcare provision in remote and rural locations, as more and more GPs are leaving the countryside for positions in metropolitan centres. E-commerce may help to overcome the lack of services and remoteness of a country practice. But rural and regional GPs are not adopting E-Commerce at the same rate as other Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This study aims to answer the question: What are the major issues faced by rural and regional General Practice in adopting E-commerce? The study presents the results of a survey of E-commerce adoption by GPs in a rural location (South East NSW) and a regional location (The Illawarra region of NSW). The survey gathers data on the business characteristics of the GPs and their perception of the factors influencing E-commerce adoption and the benefits and disadvantages of E-commerce adoption. Statistical analysis of the results has confirmed some of the trends found in the literature but, more interestingly, our analysis also challenges some of the most widely observed trends. Overall, the results show that rural and regional GPs (SMEs) perceive E-commerce adoption differently to their metropolitan counterparts. In addition, there are differences in the perception of E-commerce adoption by service-oriented SMEs (GPs) compared to other industry sectors, such as manufacturing, retail etc.