Electronic commerce (EC) has radically revolutionizedtraditional business practices across the globe. It is alsobelieved that EC offers considerable benefits andopportunities for enterprises.Despite the benefits, however, several scholars have shownthat Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have beenlagging in EC adoption. In this regard, this study aimed toexplore the factors that influence EC adoption among SMEsin developing countries, in the context of Kenyan retailSMEs.The study employed a qualitative approach through whichempirical data was collected by semi-structured interviews.The target population consisted of managers/owners of retailSMEs that use some form of EC technology in their businessoperations. The study identified several motivating factors forthe adoption and implementation of EC. Moreover, theresearch used (TOE) framework, the technological,organizational, and environmental (TOE) framework withan added national factor, to study and understand the factorsaffecting EC adoption among SMEs. The study identifiedsome factors ranging from, but not limited to the cost of IT,the benefits offered by EC, compatibility, lack of cleargovernment regulations, the role of managers, lack ofinfrastructure. The study further identified a national factorassociated with the social and cultural context in Kenya suchas the resistance to adopt a culture of purchasing online, lackof trust, lack of IT awareness, national address system, etc.

Taiwan steel industry has stepped from grown-up into mature period. Especially, the midstream and downstream of steel industries will face the problems of sterner challenges and overcapacity, because of the oversupply of global steel. Not only the prices of oil, coal, water and power have climbed, but also the shipping cost has increased continuously. The improvement of Supply-Chain-Management (SCM) has become a significant issue under the circumstances. The SCM of Taiwan flat cold-rolled steel industry is different from the other ones that it doesn¡¦t use BOM. The main feature of Technical System ¡V ¡§Standard of Operation¡¨(SOP) is the kernel module that links the sales order entry, production management, purchasing, ¡Ketc. The production type is to input a sole coil and output many sub-coils. It is not like the electronic industry to assemble many parts on a product. It only coats the surface of steel with microelements, such as oil, zinc, aluminum and paint. The feature makes it impossible to apply SCM or ERP package directly on this industry. The procedures of this study are mainly through the interview of steel companies, and review on the relevant reference documents related to the subject of those have been published domestically and internationally, meanwhile to get a better understanding on the most recent development of Supply Chain Management and e-business of steel industry. Besides, through the comparison of the similar companies, it is likely to understand the associated topics and models on the SCM and e-Business for flat cold-rolled steel industry. The key point is to analyze the characters of supply chain system of Taiwan cold-rolled steel industry and consider the features of flat cold-rolled steel ¡V SOP and coil- based Standard Cost system, to establish an appropriate e-SCM model, exploring the suitable information technologies and applications to improve the drawbacks of present SCM. Finally, to make a recommendation for the industry as their reference when they plan for the implementation of e-SCM.

The procedures of the study are mainly through the review on the relevant reference documents related to the subject of those have been published domestically and internationally, meanwhile to get a better understanding on the most recent development on Information Technology and its associated models which are being applied to the customer relationship management by the organizations and/or business units in the world. Then, through the investigation and review on steel industries to understand the real situations domestically and internationally, specifically to focus on the Sheng Yu Steel Co., Ltd. As an example, for which to plan the implementation of Extranet System for the improvement of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) by using Information Technology, what problems it will be faced and how is the best strategyfor this implementation. Then after the completion of the study, to make a constructive recommendation to the Sheng Yu Steel Co., Ltd as an useful reference when the Extranet system to be planned and implementedfor. In Chapter-1 ¡©Introduction¡ª¡Ato descibe the backgroud, purposes, procedures and the limitation related to the study¡Fin Chapter-2, the major is concentrate on the review and understand on the relevant documents of the subject related¡Fin Chapter-3, specifically to focus on the existing situations of the steel industries and the Sheng Yu Steel Co., Ltd. how it is the current situation to the subject issue¡Fin Chapter-4, to have further investigation on recent situations for the use of Information Technology in Sheng Yu Steel Co., Ltd. to make a recommendation for their reference whn they plan for the implementation of Extranet System for the improvement of Customer Relationship Management¡Fand finally, in Chapter-5, to describe the findings and issues for whicht to be expected to have further study in the future to come up a generalized model for which can be applied to all companies not only for steel industies but also to all conventional enpterprises as an important and valuable reference guideline.