Small Business Use of the Internet: Findings from Indonesia

Abstract

In the current era of globalisation, small businesses are required to be able to compete in the market. Utilising information technology in the form of Internet media is the way out for them. This study aims to explore the use of the Internet by micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Indonesia. For this purpose, this study analysed secondary data on Internet use by MSEs and primary data were collected from face-to-face interviews with randomly selected 482 owners of MSEs in various cities and types of business. The secondary data analysis shows that only a small fraction of MSEs in the country utilise the Internet for their businesses, although it varies by province and type of business. From the primary data analysis, three interesting findings revealed, namely: (i) manufacturing industry is the type of business with the most Internet usage; (ii) young respondents use the Internet more than older respondents; and (iii) higher educated respondents are more likely to use the Internet in running their businesses than low educated respondents.