WHY E-PROCUREMENT DOES NOT WORK IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMES): SOME INSIGHTS FROM AN ITALIAN CASE

There are some generally agreed-upon advantages for enterprises and public administration in using e-procurement systems. Statistics about business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce show widespread adoption and new industries increasingly joining the e-procurement arena. But this trend is not generalized. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are marginal in this trend because they perceive e-procurement more as a threat for their margins than as an opportunity for savings. As a subproject of BIT Italian experience, in joint collaboration with Insubria University (Varese), analyzing the procurement activity of a sample of enterprises in the highly industrialized area of Varese (Italy), the authors draw some conclusions about structural factors influencing the adoption of e-procurement by SMEs and the potential that e-procurement has.