Conceptualizing Competences in E-Services Adoption and Assimilation in SMES

This article investigates the competences deemed necessary both at top managerial and individual levels for the successful adoption and assimilation of business-to-business e-services in small and medium size enterprises. To this end, an in-depth case study of a business-to-business e-service system, a Web-based travel reservation system, was conducted. The results show that three main competences, namely vision, value and control, are important at top management level for the primary adoption of e-services. For secondary adoption and assimilation, three categories of competences were identified as being important either to have or to develop at the individual level, namely technical, interpersonal and conceptual skills.