E-commerce offers business organisations significant operational and strategic opportunities. However, the implementation of effective e-commerce-based business models is not without serious organisational technological challenges. Some of these challenges tend to hinder the implementation of e-commerce in small to medium-sized organisations. The objective of this research is to shed some light on these challenges. Based on the results of this study, some lessons learned and their practical implications are underscored.

With the growth of e-commerce-related activities and practices in recent years, the role of culture in promoting such growth has been brought to question. Cultures that tend to foster e-commerce practices have been labelled as e-cultures. In contrast, cultures that binder e-commerce growth have been labelled as traditional cultures. Most of our knowledge related to ecommerce applications and frameworks for implementation is based on studies from e-cultures. The study, at hand, examines e-commerce activities and practices in the traditional Arab culture. The results obtained from this study tended to be similar to the results obtained from the US e-culture. Thus, the growth of, or lack of, e-commerce may not be explained solely based on cultural factors. Perhaps, other factors such as informational infrastructure may be more relevant in explaining the acceptability and growth of e-commerce than the cultural context. Research examining the impact of these factors on e-commerce growth is needed towards establishing frameworks for the implementation of e-commerce and guidelines for managers in a global context.