ECOMMERCE &

WOMEN
EMPOWERMENT





ECOMMERCE AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT:
EMPOWERING YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS THROUGH
ECOMMERCE


A PROJECT SUBMITTED TO UNIVERSITY OF DELHI IN
PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
AWARD OF
BACHELOR DEGREE OF COMMERCE (HONOURS)




BY
NIHARIKA BISHT
(SIXTH SEMESESTER BCOM (HONS))
SHAHEED BHAGAT SINGH COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF DELHI

Under the supervision of
Dr. BB GOENKA
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE




DECLARATION



I, NIHARIKA BISHT, declare that this project work entitled
ECOMMERCE AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT: EMPOWERING YOUNG
ENTREPRENEURS THROUGH ECOMMERCE has been prepared by me
under the supervision of Dr. BB GOENKA, Assistant Professor, Department
of Commerce, Shaheed Bhagat Singh college, university of Delhi.

I also hereby declare that this project work has not been submitted by
me fully or partially for the award of any degree, diploma, title or
recognition earlier.











ACKNOWLEDGEMENT




This Project Report entitled ECOMMERCE AND WOMEN
EMPOWERMENT: EMPOWERING YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS
THROUGH ECOMMERCE has been prepared by me and I had under taken
project survey under the supervision of Dr. BB Goenka, Department of
Commerce, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi.

I am immensely grateful to my guide Dr.BB Goenka and to all my
faculties for their constant encouragement and guidance throughout this project
period.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my friends who have
assisted me in completing this work.

Last, but certainly not the least, I am indebted to my Parents and Almighty.
Without their blessings or grace, I couldnt have finished this project under
stipulated time and with focused vision.






Contents:

1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Literature review about ecommerce
-Evolution of ecommerce
-Ecommerce and development
4. Women-Owned Small Business in Developing
Countries:
-Features and Barriers to Improve
5. Women empowerment through ecommerce
6. Some successful young entrepreneurs in India
empowered through e-commerce
7. Conclusion
8. References





ABSTRACT:
Gender and development do not establish within separate households and communities. In
these circumstances, women in business act as an essential player in the business world
because they can create jobs, hope and opportunities in economics. Nowadays, the role of
women entrepreneur or business women has become more significant than many areas of
business. In increasing the economic growth of the country, it is important to analyze the
opportunities and constrains to womens development. As e commerce is emerging as
powerful tool for gender empowerment. Here we will discuss the aspects and role of e
commerce for gender empowerment in developing country. We will also discuss the main
challenge and obstacles faces by women, suggests practical strategies to address those
challenges and goes on to suggest ways to improve the conditions leading to womens
empowerment. Within the access of women entrepreneur especially who owned small
business scale in e commerce, it will bring new information resources and can open new
communication channels for marginalized community. Instead of selling stuff online, e
commerce using online resources and tools to do business more efficient and productive.
Moreover, e commerce suits for any business as it involves the whole business cycle from
production, procurement, distribution, sales payment, fulfillment restocking and marketing.
On the other hand, equitable access to ecommerce among women entrepreneur, therefore
need some consideration from support services.
Recently, the role of women entrepreneur has become more significant than man in many
area of business. Fields of industries such as construction, architrave, leisure, entertainment
and art oriented industry have more realized the benefits of having counterpart due to their
way in understanding things differently. Furthermore women use their imaginative skills
more fluently than man do. It means, male consider more adoptive and straight towards the
work, whereas woman is soft hearted and looking at every aspect more concisely. Thus,
business comes to women more positively. Women tend to emphasize relationship of style
or equality and stability whether they are talking to men or women.






Entrepreneurship is definitely not for the
faint hearted. Though, in India we claim of
this ever-increasing support system to help
early stage founders, it just does not seem
sufficient.
So, getting started with the initial leap of
faith and staying at it, to strike the ball off
the field is indeed commendable-
irrespective of whether you are a women
entrepreneur or not.






INTRODUCTION:
Nowadays, information technology and the internet have a great effect on business
operations. Information and communication technology in various forms affects many of the
processes of business and government, how individuals live, work and interact, and the
quality of the natural and built environment. Between the various types of media, there is a
great deal of advertising and announcements going around about a topic called electronic
commerce. Some books define e commerce as the use of electronic communications and
digital information processing technology in business transaction to create, transform and
redefine relationships for value creation between government, citizens/households and
business. It means, electronic commerce is the sharing of business information, maintaining
business relationships and conducting business transactions by means of telecommunications
networks.

---- E commerce involves all types of communications technology, including the WWW,
email, private bulletin board systems or value-added networks, intranets and extranets.
----Moreover, within e commerce relationship between customer and supplier will improve.
In this area, the web merchant gives customers direct to their personal account online which
can saves time and money.
----The other benefit can gain from e commerce involves enhance customer loyalty, market
leadership, new product services, intellectual and human capital and technology.
So, all the benefits of ecommerce were limited to the extent of making trade easy and
decreasing the distance between buyer and seller, saving time etc. So these benefits only
accrue to people transacting through this system but does it really contributes to the
development of the economy as a whole.

Some studies resume the benefit of e commerce in increasing women
empowerment. It was argued that e commerce as a part of ICTs promoted
as a key solution for comprehensive development, poverty eradication and
the empowerment of disadvantaged groups, such as women and minorities
(Bhatnagar & Schware, 2000; Friedman, 2005; Hafkin & Huyer,
2006; Hafkin & Taggert, 2001; Heeks, 1999, Huyer & Mitter, 2003;
UNCTAD, 2002). It stressed out that women participation rate in
political, social and economic will increase and it will support
empowerment for themselves, their families and their communities.

This project will address how e commerce will empower women,
especially for women-owned small business .


The methodology of this project consist of the literature review
about e commerce which covers definition, scope, aspect and
their relations.
The second section will discuss the feature about women-
owned small business includes their obstacles in surviving in
business competition.
On the third section, this project presents the opportunity of
how this group will have benefits in using e commerce.
The final section, briefly resume the conclusion and proposes a
set of question to consider.










LITERATURE REVIEW ABOUT
ECOMMERCE:
Definition:
The term ecommerce emerged when business started to realize the role of internet as a
powerful medium in conducting business especially in the service sector which is the main
goal to improve customer-supplier relationship.
Laudon and Traver defines ecommerce as all about time cycle, speed, globalization,
enhanced productivity, reaching new customers and sharing knowledge across institution,
through digitally enabled transaction across boundaries in return for products and services.
In various means of relationship, ecommerce evolved within business circle that can be
broken into four main categories:
Categories of ecommerce

B2B B2C C2B C2C
B2B (business to business) refers to a broad range of intercompany transactions, including
wholesale trade as well as company purchases of services, resources, technology,
manufactured parts and component and capital equipment.
B2C(business to customer) defines as a transaction conducted over the internet between a
business and a customer and a customer and it is consider as a ecommerce store model as a
publicly accessible web site offering product for sale, just like a store on a street ,public can
walk in and make purchase.
C2B (customer to business), customer posts his project with a set budget online and within
hours companies review the customer requirements and bid on the project. Then, customer
reviews the bids and selects the company that will complete the project. This form will
empower customers around the world because it provides the meeting ground and platform
for such transactions.
C2C (customer to customer), also called person to person can be defined as individuals doing
business in an online environment. And it has been in existence for a long time before the
internet. It could be argued that it is the oldest form of all ecommerce. Flea markets and
classified advertisements in newspapers are forms of c2c commerce familiar to us all.

THE EVOLUTION OF ECOMMERCE:
The beginning of ecommerce can be traced all the way back to when business first use telex
and fax, telegram, telephone to conduct commerce activities. During the 1980s a major effort
to standardize business information exchanged digitally was achieved using EDI. Here
connections between businesses had to be pre-arranged, normally based on value added
network. This improves the efficiency of conducting business but has limited commercial
viability because of the high cost of connectivity. In the early 1990s, with the
commercialization of internet and the advent of open computer technology, connectivity
becomes affordable not only for businesses but also for individuals. The interconnections
have from the World Wide Web (WWW). The powerful search engines and the proliferation
of websites turn the WWW into rich information recourse, attracting browser on a global
scale. Business begins to reach their potential customers through the internet and provide
them with the marketing information and product catalogue online.
During the 1990s, WWW evolves from merely an information resource to become virtual
place for ecommerce activities, which in turn require a more secured and interactive
environment. The secured and interactive features transform ecommerce activities from a
single buyer-seller connection to a multiple buyers- sellers exchange. Additionally, websites
can be customized or even personalized. Business also begins to adopt wireless technology
to internet. The most recent ecommerce need is to enable business to business exchange,
which requires interoperability across business, as well as within business enterprise. As
ecommerce activities extend across business processes-business processes.


ECOMMERCE AND DEVELOPMENT:
Ecommerce as a part of ICTs are consistently hailed as one of the most effective tools for the
economic development, the share of value added that potentially lends itself to electronic
commerce represents around 30 percent of GDP, most importantly distribution, finance and
business services. Nevertheless, ecommerce is also likely to boost international flow of many
services significantly.
The explosion in the use of ecommerce has been tremendous since its inception only a few
years ago. From government to multinational companies to one person start-ups, ecommerce
is increasingly viewed as a key business modality of the future. Ease of transactions,
widening markets , decreased overheads are the factors that make ecommerce solutions more
and more attractive, as evident as the growth of online sales.
Women-Owned Small Business in Developing
Countries:
Features and Barriers to Improve

Increasing numbers of women however are establishing business in the formal sector as a
way of generating income. Women entrepreneurs make significant contributions to their
economies. It is estimated that Small medium enterprises (SMEs) with full or partial female
ownership represents 31 to 38 percent (8 to 10 million of the formal SMEs in emerging
markets (IFC McKinsey, 2011). This pattern represents a significant share of employment
generation and economic growth potential. Even in some project it is found that women are
starting businesses at a faster rate than men and making significant contribution to job
creation and economic growth in many developed economies, (OECD, 2003;IFC, 2010). In
some developing countries especially in East Asia for example, women owned SMEs have
shown a consistent growth trajectory and in some countries are growing at a faster rate than
business owned by men.


Growth Rate of Male/Female SMEs in Some Developing Countries
(Percentage for Latest Year)


Country Female Male

Indonesia (2007) 8.1 0.27
Malaysia (2008) 9.7 7.43
Philippines
(2007)
2.5 NA

Singapore (2009) 4.2 NA
Thailand (2008) 2.3 0.31
Vietnam (2004) 42.5 40.93

There are two main factors that lead to barrier for women entrepreneur in developing country
in expanding their enterprise,
- Non financial barriers and financial barriers.
- Non financial barrier includes legal environment as well as cultural environment that can
constrain women entrepreneur in improving their business. Legal environment covers smart
regulation as the way for women to start and operate their business. Smart regulations that
will support women in starting and operate their business needs transparency, efficiency and
implemented in a simple way.
- Cultural environment can constraint the opportunities of women entrepreneur pursue in
improving their business. Having less time for entrepreneurial activity become fundamental
factor that limiting womens entrepreneur mobility. The greater time demand on domestic
and sector child care activities affect their market time allocation, duration and type of
experience, learning and absolutely, the sector and choice activity. Thus, intra house hold
bargaining position also contributes the womens entrepreneur mobility. This means,
sometimes women have less voice and control over resources including their own income.
- Some studies also found there is some restrictions on mobility that limited womens ability
to start and grow their business. In highly restrictive societies, women may not be allowed to
talk to strangers or go out alone which is it necessary in starting and growing a business.
Then, women have few access to safe place to save as well as access to product and services
to meet their life cycle needs such as education, health, insurance, pension etc which can
take effect on their ability to reinvest their earning in business growth.
- Other aspect that prevent women entrepreneur to operate their business is human capital.
Human capital consider as a strong predictor of entrepreneurial activity. Some research
found that women entrepreneur still have lower measures of human capital. Even formal
education is reaching out tremendous progress that closed gender gap in education in recent
years, there are other measures of human capital such as literacy and management skill
where gender gap still persist. Furthermore, even women have greater access to education,
they tend to be least educated entrepreneurs, with lower work experience and education
levels in developing countries. Some studies found out 54 percent of women entrepreneurs
have not completed secondary education, compared to the 34 percent who have some
graduate experience in developed countries.
Access to finance is a key constraint for both male and female small business in developing
countries. Some studies and project showed that women entrepreneurs in some regions and
sector receive smaller loan. And it is the reason why their business grows at slower pace
than business owned by men. Also women have less access to basic banking services such as
banking and savings accounts. Also, they are more likely to rely on internal and informal
resources such as their own saving, or loans from family, friends and Microfinance
Institutions (MFI).


WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH ECOMMERCE:
Entrepreneurship consider as a herculean task which is fraught with struggle, entailing both
risk and effect. Basically, entrepreneurship also provides another means to generate income
and reduce inequalities among men and women. In transition economies, which are
characterized by limited growth in employment, entrepreneurship can help expand these
economies while also leading t less inequality to less inequality in society.
Considering the contribution of women entrepreneur, empowered women become major
catalysts for development, as they usually re-invest their money in their childrens health,
nutrition and education. Reducing gender equality is resource and improving the status of
women is thus smart economics. There is mounting evidence to show that womens
economic activity results in better bargaining power in the home. More bargaining power for
women not only benefits the women but also results in greater investments in the health and
education of children, thus promoting human capital of the next generation and therefore
improving the potential for the economic growth.
Ecommerce offers the promise of fundamentally changing women entrepreneurs live and it
links it to the economic development. We can say that the use of ICTs in contributing to
women empowerment as well as the improvement of their marketable skill, independent
income, and self confidence, increasing knowledge about the world and the political,
economic, cultural factors that shape women life.
In order to survive in todays challenging environment, it is imperative that women
entrepreneurs be competitive and resilient. To reach this goal, they need to improve
continuously by strengthening their capacity and capability to produce high quality products
and services at competitive price. Previous studies, have resume that small business order to
survive need to enhance the product quality, promotion and distribution innovation. One
way for small business to prosper and for ongoing survival is using the ecommerce.
The role of ecommerce in providing avenue to shift out of the home and into consumers
digital telecommunication devices by matching message to customer preference and
demographics, marketers will be able to better target the right recipient with the right
message at the right time. A successful of the application of ecommerce among the
women entrepreneurs same as their counterpart. In this case, successful ecommerce
business must be globally aware, system oriented and customer sensitive. This because
companies can use the direct access to consumer to customer information that will help them
better develops products to meet customer need through customizations or create new niche
product.
In general, most firms used ecommerce primarily to provide information about the company,
its products and services and for both internal and external communication. Then, in addition
, online consumer can easily gain access to graphics, sound and movies. Moreover, within
the use of ecommerce will enable real time transactions interactively at a selected convenient
time. This illustration becomes a good opportunity for women entrepreneurs to market
their products internationally since the information can be widely spread all over the
world.
The application of ecommerce among the women entrepreneur changing the shape of
competition, the speed of action and the streamlining of interactions and payments from the
customers to companies and from companies to supplier. On the other hand, interesting
features concerning ecommerce from the side of marketing, is attractiveness of its flexibility
as compared to traditional approach. This flexibility surely not only add new items and
update info based on the direct feedback received from the customers but the powerful
unlimited accessibility resulted with increase business hours across the world.
As small business apply ecommerce, they indirectly remove the need of intermediary
distribution channels and extend the distribution coverage across the globe. When
ecommerce become acceptable and practically used it change the trend in distribution
channels because the e-retailers at the same time become retailer and a distribution center.
Then, there are some more advantage that small business can gain in using ecommerce from
the point of view of logistics, which is cost reduction through improved process efficiency,
improved reach, the unbinding of business systems and price reductions. Then, within online
based procurement system, women entrepreneur also can gain the advantage immediately.
The administrative costs for each purchase are significantly reduced due to less paperwork
running by the system and not by the employees themselves.













Why women rule the internet?
Comscore says women are the majority of users of social networking sites and spend
30% more time on sites than men; mobile social network usage os 55%female
according to Nielsen.
In e-commerce according to Gilt women are 70 % of customer base and they drive
74% of revenue.
77% of groupons customers are female according to their site.
Women shop more on Chegg, which offers textbook rentals on college campuses
across the country. According to chegg females are 65% of rentals.
Sheryl sandberg, COO of facebook, says that women are not only the majority of its
users, but it drives 60% of its activity in terms of messages, updates and comments
and 71% of the daily fan activity.
Even in gaming seemingly a bastion of men in their men caves, Zynga says 60%
players are female.
Women also dominate sites like Opentable, the majority of bookings are
overwhelmingly made by females.
The point here is not to be proud that women purchase more books or shoes
or book more restaurants online than men, but rather to point out the reality
that women are the dominating purchasing population. So if business is
smart, it should take this reality into account.
How?
I f you are at a customer web company and would like to your cost of
customer acquisition or grow revenue faster, take a look at your product,
your marketing , your customer base.
Also take a look at your team. Do you have women in your key positions?
If you are planning on targeting female customers, why wouldnt you
want to have great women on your team.
And the board of directors; how many women do you have?
Women are the routers and amplifiers of social web. They are the rocket fuel of
ecommerce.




ALIBABA.COM
Lets see an example of alibaba.com
Alibaba.com, the global leader in B2B e-commerce has expressed its intent to promote
innovation and encourage entrepreneurship amongst women in India. Alibaba.com has
committed to educating women about the benefits of the internet and how e-commerce as a
tool can help them build and grow their own businesses. As a part of this intent, Alibaba.com
has participated in the Women Mean Business Conference organized by the Cherie Blair
Foundation, to raise awareness about e-commerce as an innovative business tool.
Speaking at the Women Mean Business Conference organized by the Cherie Blair
Foundation, Mei Lu, Director of Global Sales said, "Today, women are breaking stereotypes
and moving away from traditional roles and corporate profiles to turn entrepreneurs. It is not
just the educated, urban woman but also women from the lower and middle-classes as well
as rural women who are setting-up independent businesses. The challenge that these women
often face is gaining visibility and acceptability. The Internet is a very potent business tool
that is far-reaching and cost-effective. Online B2B portals like Alibaba.com provide an
efficient, trusted platform to connect buyers and suppliers from around the world, removing
barriers of time and distance. A woman entrepreneur can access a world of opportunities,
gain more visibility in the market, establish trust with their trading partners and compete
with large companies on more equal terms - all by simply sitting at home with a simple
mouse click without the hassles of business travel or marketing calls."
Alibaba.com has helped numerous women entrepreneurs from across the country set-up and
manage virtual storefronts. Take for instance the case of Waves Hair, a company based in
Kochi that is completely managed by women and offers various hair extension solutions.
Mallika Sreekumar, business Owner and CEO of Waves Hair, had no prior experience in
managing a manufacturing unit for an international product. In 2005, she took a bold step
and decided to set-up her company on Alibaba.com's platform.
"In 2005, I took up a free membership at Alibaba.com as I was still learning the ropes of
managing my company. However, I realized that that Alibaba.com offers great potential to
grow my business in the international market. Within 2-3 months I had signed up for the
Gold Supplier Membership and today, Waves Hair exports to countries in North America,
South America, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, Mid East and Eastern Asia and
Western Europe," said Mallika.
Another example is that of Mazda Ltd. Based in Ahmadabad, Mazda Ltd. manufactures
premium instant powdered soft drink mixes, food color, flavoring essence, rose syrup,
custard powder, baking powder, vanilla essence, jams and soft drinks. It was in 2005 when
Ms Shanaya Mody, Director of Mazda Ltd turned to e-commerce and discovered
Alibaba.com while searching for an online promotional channel. "Through Alibaba.com, our
division has grown by 120%. We have regular customers in Russia as well as many others in
the UAE, Saudi Arabia and US."
Shanaya believes that using a reputed B2B portal has helped build trust with buyers, giving
them more confidence to conduct business with Mazda Ltd through Alibaba.com. She
elaborates, "As a Gold Supplier member, I get more enquiries than ever before. Last year
alone, Alibaba.com gave us two crore rupees (US$430,000) of business! With Alibaba.com
there's really no need to use any other promotional channel."
"The women in India are breaking stereotypes and making successful forays as
entrepreneurs. And this is not a phenomenon that is restricted to the metropolitan cities. At
Alibaba.com, we have seen women from various small cities and towns from all over the
country use e-commerce to grab global opportunities. This is a trend that will continue to
grow and we are committed to encourage businesswomen grow their businesses. We want
Indian women entrepreneurs to realize and capitalize the great global opportunities that await
them. We are committed to by raising awareness about the benefits of e-commerce as a
business tool," said Sandeep Deshpande, Country Manager, Alibaba.com, India.















Some successful young entrepreneurs in India
empowered through e-commerce:
Anisha Singh
Founder and CEO, mydala.com



Established in the year 2009, headquartered in New Delhi, mydala is the largest mobile
coupon provider in India. Mydala has partnered with over 100,000 merchants across 145
cities. Mydalas offers reach to 200 million unique users monthly through internet, mobile
devices and TV.
In just four years, mydala has created a benchmark for the e-commerce & m-commerce
industry, leveraging the power of group-buying.
Mydala features unbelievable deals on the best stuff; from things to do, see, eat, and buy in
your city. Mydala provides SMEs and National/International brands with a comprehensive
marketing platform allowing them to reach their target audience through attractive deals,
innovative branding, visibility and promotional campaigns.
mydala has tied up with leading telecom providers, Vodafone, Idea & Tata Docomo to offers
deals on the mobile phone, according to the dynamic usage, location patterns, spend &
buying type and demands of the consumers.
Specialties
Online deals, Marketing & advertisement, e-commerce, Mobile Coupon, Group buying,
Mobile app, m-commerce.

Shreya Bajaj
Founder, ItsHandMade.in


Its Handmade is an online marketplace that offers vibrant, heartwarming handmade creations
from across India. We help shoppers find unique, greed-inducing goodies and artists find
inspiration and homes for their original designs without worrying about logistics.

The dream is to create a world where everyone learns to share, earn, and love everything
handmade.

Aien Jamir
Owner, facebook.com/AJ store

Aj-store.com is serving beauty and fashion accessories. A representative of Avon Products
and Glutathione.
Jennifer & Mansi
Owners, bakebox.com

Theres a new service in Delhi, and it plans to fatten you up. How? By sending over a
carefully curate box of assorted baked goods and dessert to your home every month. The
nerve of those guys!This is Bake Box, a delivery service that calls itself Indias first cake
club. Currently, all you can do is put your email address in the sign up box and wait for the
oven to go ping, but heres how it will work: you pay a flat fee (yet to be revealed) and get
a box filled with surprise dessert sourced from boulangeries and home bakers across the
city delivered to your city.
Were imagining pretty boxes filled with pastel macaroons, freshly baked muffins, slices of
warm cake, buttery- crumbly pie and other such floury language.
Shivani & Tanvi
Owners, FabAlley.com

FabAlley is the ultimate Indian fashion destination for fashion-forward, indie-chic girls.
Founded in 2012, Tanvi Malik and Shivani Poddar started FabAlley as a highly curated
accessories only store. In a few short months, FabAlley has grown to become the mecca of
globally trendy apparel and accessories both, and all of them designed in-house!
Who is the FabAlley girl? She is part quirky, part conventional and totally cool. Possibly, the
coolest girl in the room. The one wholl follow her honed style impulses to pick up the
funkiest, wildly unique pieces on a mere whim. At FabAlley, we are our own customers,
which makes our job the easiest in the world to inspire and be inspired by cool girls all
across the nation.












CONCLUSION:
New information and technologies can be powerful tools for increasing the
competitiveness of countries and contributing towards economic growth and
development. However, in many parts of the world, women especially in
rural areas, are still excluded from accessing the internet or do not have the
skills to use it in a profitable way. On the other hand, examples from
developing countries demonstrate that, if given access and knowledge-how,
women entrepreneurs have benefitted from using the new technologies in a
large number of areas, such as getting access to valuable business
information, finding new (export) markets, marketing their products and
services over the internet, securing large orders through networking with
community members, and generally cutting costs through more efficient
business practices.
We have seen various examples of successful women entrepreneurs
benefited by e-commerce and are now self sufficient in running their
business. Women if given access and freedom have always proved to be the
best in business world especially e-commerce as they have proved to rule the
internet.
Among the best practices that empowered women are strong initial and
continued training, access to necessary resources, help in expanding the
market, government and societal support, good networks in the community
and an open and participatory management style. Among the challenges
that women in ICT-based e-commerce businesses still have yet to overcome
are dependence on government contracts, societal conflicts that arise as
existing power structures are threatened by the increasing economic
independence of women involved in these projects and issues related to
work-life balance in more traditional societies. The best practices we have
identified and discussed will serve as a useful framework for further
development of ICT-based projects and also provide valuable guidance to
policymakers and prospective entrepreneurs. Eliminating the need for trial
and error significantly reduces the start-up costs, which is particularly
important for women.

References:
[1] Abu Bakar A Hamid and Rohaizat Baharun (2004), Perceptions of E Commerce
Applications in Small and Medium Enterpreneurs (SMEs), (online),
http://www.uum.edu.my.

[2] Ahmad Mahmood and Nor Azah Jahaari (2005), The Awareness and Level of
Implementation of E Commerce among SMEs in Malaysia, Proceedings in
International Conference on Ecommerce 2005, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Kedah,
Malaysia.

[4] Farhoomand, A. and Lovelock, P. (2001), Global E Commerce:Text & Cases, Prentice
Hall, U.S.A., pp. 336352.

[5] Fatimah Mohd Arshad (1999), Prioritising research in marketing in a computer
mediated environment in Malaysia, (Online), http://www.econ.upm.edu.my.

[6] Hoffman, D.L. and Novak, T.P. (1996), Marketing in Hypermedia Computer-Mediated
Environment Conceptual Foundations, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 60, pp. 50-60.