says CEO of alibaba.com
According to David Wei, CEO of Alibaba.com, SMEs in UK are not utilizing the web potential, thus hampering their growth prospectus. He attributed this to the perceived safety of existing relationships and channels. He said although Internet penetration in UK is actually relatively high, it is more for personal than business use and smaller companies in particular are failing to exploit its potential.
Wei said: "I think UK SMEs are used to a very stable export or procurement approach. And that stable relationship actually stops the entrepreneurship of these small businesses thinking about expanding their business scope. Our advice to SMEs would be to reduce their concentration risk on both the buying and the selling side. To diversify their business is the best way to fight against global recession.
He also warned that with the current concern about the economic climate, companies need to address this issue sooner rather than later. Wei said the UK has several strong competitive advantages over other countries -such as engineering and the service sector - which could be exploited through the Internet.He said: "I think the global economy situation will give pressure to SMEs. Their stable relationships may be forced to change."
Source: silicon.com