1394 The Demise of a Business-to-Business Portal Macquarie Library (1981). The Macquarie dic- tionary. Sydney, Macquarie Library. McLure, B. (2004). Personal correspondence. Melbourne. McMaster, T., Vidgen, R. T., & Wastell, D. G. (1997). Towards an understanding of technology LQWUDQVLWLRQ7ZRFRQÀLFWLQJWKHRULHV,QPro- ceedings of the IRIS20 Conference, Information Systems Research, (pp. 1-16) in Scandinavia, Hanko, Norway, University of Oslo. Pliaskin, A. (2004). The life and times of BIZE- WEST. Information Systems. Honours thesis. Melbourne, Australia: Victoria University. Pliaskin, A., & Tatnall, A. (2005). Developing a portal to build a business community. In A. Tatnall (Ed.), Web portals: The new gateways to Internet information and services (pp. 335-348). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Rogers, E. M. (1995). Diffusion of innovations. New York: The Free Press. Searle, I. (2005). Portals in large enterprises. In A. Tatnall (Ed.), Web portals: The new gateways to Internet information and services (pp. 119-171). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Singleton, V., & Michael, M. (1993). Actor-net- works and ambivalence: General practitioners in the UK cervical screening programme. Social Studies of Science, 23, 227-264. Tatnall, A. (2000). Innovation and change in the information systems curriculum of an Australian university: A socio-technical perspective. PhD thesis, Central Queensland University, Rock- hampton, Australia. Tatnall, A. (2001). Adoption of information technology by small business—Two different ap- proaches to modelling innovation. In Proceedings of IRMA 2001: Managing information technology in a global economy, (pp. 1107-1110). Toronto, Canada: Idea Group Publishing. Tatnall, A. (2002). Modelling technological change in small business: Two approaches to theorising innovation. In S. Burgess (Ed.), Man- aging information technology in small business: Challenges and solutions (pp. 83-97). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Tatnall, A. (2005). Portals, portals everywhere In A. Tatnall (Ed.), Web portals: The new gateways to Internet information and services (pp. 1-14). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Tatnall, A., & Burgess, S. (2002). Using actor-net- work theory to research the implementation of a B-B portal for regional SMEs in Melbourne, Aus- tralia. In Proceedings of the 15 th Bled Electronic Commerce Conference—E-Reality: Constructing the E-Economy, (pp. 179-191),Bled, Slovenia, University of Maribor. Tatnall, A., & Burgess, S. (2004). Using actor- network theory to identify factors affecting the adoption of e-commerce in SMEs. In M. Singh & D. Waddell (Eds.), E-business: innovation and change management (pp. 152-169). Hershey, PA: IRM Press. Tatnall, A., Burgess, S., & Singh, M. (2004). Community and regional portals in Australia: A role to play for small businesses? In N. Al Quirim (Ed.), Electronic commerce in small to medium enterprises: Frameworks, issues, and implications (pp. 307-323). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Tatnall, A., & Gilding, A. (1999). Actor-network theory and information systems research. In Pro- ceedings of the 10 th Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS), (pp. 955-966) Wel- lington, Victoria University of Wellington. Tatnall, A., & Lepa, J. (2001). Researching the adoption of e-commerce and the Internet by older people. In Proceedings of the We-B Conference (pp. 28-36), Perth Australia. 1395 The Demise of a Business-to-Business Portal Tatnall, A., & Pliaskin, A. (2005). Technological innovation and the non-adoption of a B-B portal. In Proceedings of the Second International Con- ference on Innovations in Information technology (pp. 1-8), Dubai, UAE University. Turban, E., Lee, J., King, D., & Chung, H. M. (2002). Electronic commerce: A managerial per- spective. NJ: Prentice Hall International Inc. VEEM (2000). Victorian E-Commerce Early Movers Assistance Scheme. Melbourne, Victorian Government. Vidgen, R., T., & McMaster, T. (1996). Black boxes, non-human stakeholders, and the translation of IT through mediation. In W. J. Orlikowski (Ed.), Information technology and changes in organi- zational work (pp. 250-271). London: Chapman & Hall. WREDO (2003a). Bizewest—Future Direc- WLRQV²,Q&RQ¿GHQFH. Melbourne, WREDO. WREDO (2003b). Internal WREDO Report—the ‘BIZEWEST Portal’. Melbourne, WREDO. This work was previously published in Architecture of Reliable Web Applications Software, edited by M. Radaideh and H. Al- Ameed, pp. 147-171, copyright 2007 by IGI Publishing (an imprint of IGI Global). 1396 Copyright © 2009, IGI Global, distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 4.25 The BIZEWEST Portal Alex Pliaskin Victoria University, Australia INTRODUCTION In June 2000, the Western Region Economic Development Organisation (WREDO), a not- IRUSUR¿W RUJDQLVDWLRQ VSRQVRUHG E\ WKH VL[ municipalities that make up the western region of Melbourne, received a state government grant for a project to set up a business-to-business SRUWDO7KHSURMHFWZDVWR FUHDWH D ³KRUL]RQWDO portal”—BIZEWEST—that would enable small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in Melbourne’s west to engage in an increased number of e-commerce transactions with each other. The western region of Melbourne contains around 20,000 businesses, and is regarded as the manufacturing, transport, and distribution hub of South-eastern Australia (Tatnall, Burgess, & Singh, 2004). Traditionally, this region had encompassed much of the industry in metropolitan Melbourne. BACKGROUND Australia is a federation of six states and two territories. The states are segmented into smaller regions, or communities of interest, to deliver base-level services to the people. These services include things like the administration of build- ing standards, the policing of minor by-laws, the provision of garbage collection services, and ensuring the welfare of the aged. Much of the revenue of local government comes from the imposition of rates and charges on property RZQHUVZLWKLQWKHPXQLFLSDOLW\EXWDVLJQL¿FDQW part of the income comes in the form of grants from the other two levels of government. Local government is extremely vulnerable in that any administration can be dismissed by a state local government minister. Unlike the two upper levels of government, the parliament or council of local government is composed of politicians who are only part time and are not paid a salary. However, they are paid allowances to compensate them for expenses incurred whilst performing their duties (Pliaskin, 2004). Research Design A research project to investigate adoption of the portal (Tatnall & Burgess, 2002) consisted of several stages, beginning with interviews of the ”business champions” and other important players 1397 The BIZEWEST Portal LGHQWL¿HGE\:5('27KHVHFRQGVWDJHLQYROYHG returning to the businesses interviewed earlier and checking whether things are progressing as they thought they would, and whether they had made any changes to the way they did business resulting I URPW KHL U XV H RIW K H S RU W DO7 KH¿ QD O V W D J H Z K LFK is the subject of this chapter, collected historical data about the portal’s development, operation, DQG¿QDOGHPLVH DESIGNING THE PORTAL BIZEWEST was a regional, inwardly focussed, horizontal business-to-business Web portal based in the western suburbs of Melbourne in Australia that was established in May 2001 and ceased op- erations in June 2003. It was charged with enabling small- to medium-sized businesses within that r eg i on t o t a k e a d va nt a g e of e - c o m m e r ce op p or t u- nities, and to facilitate trade between these entities. The portal was established with the assistance of a government grant and was built under the auspices WREDO, a body sponsored by the six municipal authorities within the area and some of the larger businesses operating there. Its role was to foster economic growth and investment in the region, and so the notion of establishing and operating such a Web portal sat with that body quite comfortably (Pliaskin, 2004). The treasurer of the state of Victoria, John Brumby, announced the establishment of the Victorian E-Commerce Early Movers Scheme, or VEEM, in February 2000 (VEEM, 2000). This s c h e m e of f e r e d g r a n t s t o l o c a l g o ve r n m e n t t o h e l p it to assist local businesses to adopt emerging tech- nologies. WREDO formulated a proposal and sent it to the Victorian government on behalf of the six municipalities that sponsored it. The application was drawn up in a hurry and in the expectation that it would not be successful (Pliaskin, 2004). The submission included a number of initiatives that, in hindsight, should not have been there. Some of these included a provision for training secondary school information technology students in Web design, a provision for training business Figure 1. BIZEWEST portal 1398 The BIZEWEST Portal people in e-commerce use, and a provision for the establishment of a payment gateway to facilitate electronic payment for goods and services. In June 2000 WREDO received a grant from the Victorian government to build the BIZEWEST portal. Together, with its own contribution, WRE- DO had Aus$345,000 to spend, and this seemed to be a large sum of money at the time. BUILDING THE PORTAL There were, however, problems with the design and the hosting of the portal right from the begin- ning. Tenderers for the project seemed to be more interested in telling WREDO what they should have rather than vice versa. The funds provided for the construction of the portal were subject to time constraints and ultimately, WREDO had to settle for a product that was not exactly what was wanted. During the building phase of the Web site and immediately after this, there was much publicity surrounding the project. A number of business breakfasts were held where the topic was the BIZEWEST portal, with the keynote VSHDNHUVWDONLQJRQWKHSRWHQWLDOEHQH¿WVRIVXFK a facility. The keynote speakers were prominent people with strong associations with the west and with information technology. They created an atmosphere of enthusiasm and expectation for the portal. Things were looking promising and businesses in the region seemed to be embracing the concept. WREDO also held several successful Web-a- thons at local shopping centres, where secondary school students helped local entrepreneurs to design pages for inclusion on the BIZEWEST site. PORTAL OPERATIONS The portal was launched in a blaze of publicity in May 2001, having been well received by the media and by the businesses in the area. The number of businesses in its catchment area grew quite rapidly and even beyond expectations. It was quite apparent, however, that many of the businesses that took advantage of it by posting pages on the site did not have a good grasp of its SRWHQWLDOEHQH¿WVEXWRQO\EHFDPHSOD\HUVLQWKH situation for reasons that were not entirely based on logic. Many entrepreneurs had an unshakeable belief in WREDO, and used this as the rationale behind their becoming involved with the portal project. Others had heard through third parties that it was a good idea and that there was a pos- sibility that they might be left behind if they did not commit to the BIZEWEST portal. The small businesses in the area suffered from a lack of computing expertise, a common problem among such enterprises (Burgess, 2002; Tatnall, 2002). Patronage of the portal was always extremely disappointing. Judging from the timing and on WKHVRXUFHVRIHQWULHVLWVHHPHGWKDWWKH³KLWV´RQ the site were mostly accidental. (Pliaskin, 2004; Pliaskin & Tatnall, 2005) Even those who elected to choose to display their wares on the portal were reluctant to use it to source goods and services for themselves. The budget for the site had long since been expended, and WREDO found that it did not have the funds to provide the training to users and prospective users that it had hoped that it would be able to do. The cost of hosting the portal site seemed to be incomprehensively high when compared to the costs associated with hosting the main WREDO Web site. There did not appear to be any rationale for this situation. Up to this point, WREDO had been providing the site free of charge to those who were using it, but it had become apparent that this could not JRRQ:KHQ¿UPVZLWKSDJHVRQWKHVLWHZHUH 1399 The BIZEWEST Portal asked to contribute to the cost of running it most elected not to do so, and this left WREDO with little option but to close the portal in June 2003 (WREDO staff, 2001). Much of the information from the BIZEWEST portal was transferred to the primary WREDO Web site, MelbWest.com. au, and this new part of MelbWest became more like what had been envisaged for the portal in WKH¿UVWLQVWDQFH CONCLUSION The construction and commission of BIZEWEST had been a brave move but, in that form, was doomed to failure (Tatnall & Pliaskin, 2005). Time had proven that it had been overambitious in its scope and that something a little more conserva- tive would have been better. At the same time, a similar portal had been successfully built in Bendigo, a major rural city in central Victoria, also under the VEEM scheme. This had been a success. The Bendigo site had been treated as a SURWRW\SHZLWKRQO\VHYHQ¿UPVLQYROYHG$WRQH stage, the possibility of sharing resources between the two projects had been mooted, but this had never come to fruition (Pliaskin, 2004). Even though BIZEWEST had stumbled at the last hurdle, the project should not be considered a failure as it had enabled some positive outcomes for e-commerce in general and the western region of Melbourne in particular. Because of the existence of the portal, some secondary students from the western suburbs of Melbourne were trained to work in participating businesses using the latest e-business technologies. There was a growth in the use of emerging technologies by businesses, as evidenced by participation in the project rising from 25 registrations in May of 2001 to 180 by December 2001. A model was established for the development of regional Web portals for business- to-business electronic commerce. This model is capable of being replicated in other regions. An e-commerce toolkit for small- to medium-sized businesses was developed. In conjunction with the development of the portal, and because of its introduction, WREDO was able to compile a regional register of 11,000 local businesses. This register was incorporated into the BIZEWEST Web site in December of 2001. WREDO was itself coming under heavy ¿QDQFLDOSUHVVXUHDQGLQODWHLWVERDUGRI directors decided that it had come to the end of its useful life. The organization ceased opera- WLRQVHDUO\LQ7KHFKLHIH[HFXWLYHRI¿FHU of WREDO subsequently took up a position with Victoria University, an institution based in the western suburbs of Melbourne, and performs a liaison role between it and local industry, helped, in a major way, by the information acquired dur- ing the BIZEWEST experience. REFERENCES Burgess, S. (2002). Information technology in small business: Issues and challenges. In S. Bur- gess (Ed.), Information technology and small business: Issues and challenges. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Pliaskin, A. (2004). The life and times of BIZE- WEST. Information systems. Melbourne, Victoria University. Pliaskin, A., & Tatnall, A. (2005). Developing a portal to build a business community. In A. Tatnall (Ed.), Web portals: The new gateways to Internet information and services (pp. 335-348). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Tatnall, A. (2002). Modelling technological change in small business: Two approaches to theorising innovation. In S. Burgess (Ed.), Man- aging information technology in small business: Challenges and solutions (pp. 83-97). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Tatnall, A., & Burgess, S. (2002). Using actor- network theory to research the implementation 1400 The BIZEWEST Portal of a B-B portal for regional SMEs in Melbourne, Australia. The 15 th Bled Electronic Commerce &RQIHUHQFH²³H5HDOLW\&RQVWUXFWLQJWKHH(FRQ- omy,” Bled, Slovenia, University of Maribor. Tatnall, A., Burgess, S., & Singh, M. (2004). Community and regional portals in Australia: A role to play for small businesses? In N. Al Quirim (Ed.), Electronic commerce in small to medium enterprises: Frameworks, issues and implications (pp. 307-323). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Tatnall, A., & Pliaskin, A. (2005). Technological innovation and the non-adoption of a B-B portal. Second International Conference on Innovations in Information technology, Dubai, UAE, UAE University. VEEM. (2000). Victorian E-Commerce Early Movers Assistance Scheme. Melbourne, Victorian Government. WREDO staff. (2001). WREDO background interview about Bizewest. Melbourne. KEY TERMS E-Business Technology: Technologies such as portals, broadband, and payment gateways that enable business to take place using the Internet. Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce): Computers, communications technologies, and information systems used by people to improve the ways in which they do business. Horizontal Industry Portals: Portals utilised by a broad base of users across a horizontal market. Payment Gateway: The infrastructure (in the form of a Web page) designed to automate payment for goods and services via the Internet. It is often hosted by a bank. Portal: A special Web site designed to act as a gateway to give access to other related sites Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs): Those businesses with 1-20 employees (small) and 21-50 employees (medium). Vertical Industry Portals: Usually based DURXQGVSHFL¿FLQGXVWULHVWKH\DLPWRDJJUHJDWH information relevant to these groups of closely related industries to facilitate the exchange of goods and services in a particular market as part of a value chain. This work was previously published in Encyclopedia of Portal Technologies and Applications, edited by A. Tatnall, pp. 94-97, copyright 2007 by Information Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global). Section V Organizational and Social Implications This section includes a wide range of research pertaining to the social and organizational impact of e- business around the world. Chapters in this section analyze consumer and vendor attitudes toward online purchasing, organizational challenges of implementing e-business, and digital marketing. The inquiries and methods presented in this section offer insight into the implications of e-business at both a personal and organizational level, while also emphasizing potential areas of study within the discipline. 1402 Copyright © 2009, IGI Global, distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 5.1 A Community Web Site Initiative: Impacts on Small Businesses Heather Fulford Loughborough University, UK ABSTRACT This chapter reports on a study investigating a community Web site project operating in a UK village community. The aim of the study is to determine the impacts the online business di- rectory component of this community Web site is having on the small businesses in the village, LQFOXGLQJFRQVLGHUDWLRQRIWKHEHQH¿WVWKH\DUH deriving from their participation in the directory, the problems they have encountered through their participation, and the effects their involvement is having on their wider Internet adoption strategy DQGGHFLVLRQV7KH¿QGLQJVKLJKOLJKWWKHYDOXH of community Web sites for small businesses, both for those that have already adopted various Internet applications into their operations, as well as for non-adopters of the Internet. It is suggested that existing discussions of small business ap- proaches to Internet adoption might usefully be extended to incorporate the role of community Web sites. INTRODUCTION Towards the end of the 1990s, a Web site was launched as part of a community project in a UK village. The purpose of the Web site was WZRIROG¿UVWLWZDVVHWXSWRSURYLGHDIRUXPIRU community groups and charitable organisations located in the village to communicate news about, and details of, their activities and/or services to the local population; and second, it was intended to provide businesses based in the village with an opportunity to promote their products and/or services. To achieve this latter purpose, the com- munity Web site contains an online business directory in which details of local businesses are listed. The aim of the study reported in this chapter is to explore the impacts this community Web site, and particularly the online business directory component of the site, is having on the small businesses located and operating in the vil- lage. This exploration includes consideration of WKHEHQH¿WVWKRVHVPDOOEXVLQHVVHVDUHGHULYLQJ 1403 A Community Web Site Initiative from their participation in the online business directory component of the community Web site; the problems they have encountered to date as a result of their participation; and the effects their involvement is having on their wider Internet adoption strategy and decisions. In so doing, the study contributes to, and builds on, the burgeoning array of literature in which the Internet adoption behaviour of small businesses is discussed. 7KHFKDSWHULVVWUXFWXUHGDVIROORZV¿UVWDUH- view is provided of pertinent literature on Internet adoption in small businesses; then an overview is presented of the contents and structure of the village community Web site under investigation in this study. This is followed by an explanation of the research method employed in the study. 7KHQDVXPPDU\RIWKHVWXG\¶V¿QGLQJVLVJLYHQ DQGWKHLPSOLFDWLRQVRIWKRVH¿QGLQJVGLVFXVVHG and, where appropriate, situated in the existing small business Internet adoption literature. In a concluding section, the threads of the study are drawn together, and indications given of possible fruitful areas for further research. BACKGROUND: INTERNET ADOPTION IN SMALL BUSINESSES It has been widely suggested in the literature that WKH,QWHUQHWSUHVHQWVDVLJQL¿FDQWLIQRWXQSUHF- edented, opportunity for small businesses to com- pete alongside larger enterprises (see for example Daniel, Wilson, & Myers, 2002; Fillis, Johannson, & Wagner, 2004; Grandon & Pearson, 2004) and to penetrate the global marketplace (Hamill, 1997; Quelch & Klein, 1996), through the low- cost marketing facility of the World Wide Web. However, it has also been noted in the literature that the Internet poses a considerable challenge for small businesses, particularly with regard to the decisions that must be made about which of the available Internet technologies to adopt and to integrate into existing business processes (Poon & Swatman, 1999; Quayle, 2002). Furthermore, the ¿QGLQJVRIYDULRXVUHVHDUFKVWXGLHVFRQGXFWHGWR date in the area of Internet adoption indicate that small businesses have been slow to incorporate Internet applications into their operations (see for example Brown & Lockett, 2004; Fillis et al., 2004; Grandon & Pearson, 2004; Poon & Swat- man, 1999). In the light of both its bright promise of enhanced business opportunities, as well as its challenge for small businesses, the Internet and its deployment in SMEs has rapidly become an important topic of research inquiry. The role of community Web sites in the Inter- net adoption behaviour of small businesses does not seem to have received much attention in the literature, and so it is envisaged that the present study will help to address that gap. In order to inform, shape, and provide context for the study, a number of relevant themes have been explored in the burgeoning array of Internet research lit- HUDWXUH3URPLQHQWDPRQJWKHVHWKHPHVDUH¿UVW studies examining the factors that motivate small businesses to adopt or reject the Internet (see for example Grandon & Pearson, 2004; Mehrtens, Cragg, & Mills, 2001; Scupola, 2003). A second WKHPHFRQFHUQVWKHEHQH¿WVWKDWVPDOOEXVLQHVVHV are deriving from their Internet adoption (see for example Daniel & Wilson, 2002; Poon & Swat- man, 1997, 1999). A third theme emerging from the literature centres on the approaches that small businesses take to adopting the Internet into their operations (examples here include Daniel et al., 2002; DTI, 2000; Fillis et al., 2004; Rao, Metts, & Monge, 2003). :LWKUHJDUGWRWKH¿UVWWKHPHRIIDFWRUVWKDW motivate small businesses to adopt the Internet, VWXGLHVKDYHLGHQWL¿HGDQXPEHURIIDFWRUVWKDW seem to play an important role. These include the SHUFHLYHGEHQH¿WVRI,QWHUQHWDGRSWLRQVXFKDV the relative advantage of the Internet over other methods or technologies (Kendall, Tung, Chua, Ng, & Tan, 2001; Mehrtens et al., 2001; Rao et al., 2003), reduced marketing costs, and access to new markets (Fillis et al., 2004). Another factor is the readiness of an organisation to adopt the . business: Issues and challenges. In S. Bur- gess (Ed.), Information technology and small business: Issues and challenges. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Pliaskin, A. (2004). The life and. authorities within the area and some of the larger businesses operating there. Its role was to foster economic growth and investment in the region, and so the notion of establishing and operating such. as portals, broadband, and payment gateways that enable business to take place using the Internet. Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce): Computers, communications technologies, and information