ACTIVITY THEORY APPLIED AT CHANNEL EXPANSIONS IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

TitleACTIVITY THEORY APPLIED AT CHANNEL EXPANSIONS IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2017
AuthorsLundqvist, S, Marcusson, L, Jeansson, J
JournalProblems of Management in the 21st Century
Volume12
Issue1
Start Page20-38
PaginationContinuous
Date PublishedJune/2017
Type of ArticleOriginal article
ISSN2029-6932
Other NumbersE-ISSN 2538-712X
Keywordschannel expansion, channel transition, digital commerce, multichannel, omni-channel, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), “expansive visibilization of work method” (Sic! Engeströms’ expression)
Abstract

Today’s commonly carried out channel expansions of commerce could be both costly and problematic to manage. Especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that often suffer from a lack of digital competence, time and monetary resources in generally. Still, these transitions would be necessary to carry out because of customer demands and expectations concerning 24/7 availability, and access to digital commerce alternatives. Scarce resources are important reasons to search for how to carry out channel expansions with minimized problems. Activity theory (AT) focuses on the whole in order to detect problems that hinder successful outcomes. Hence, this theory was applied to prior findings, from a project about SME’s channel expansions, highlighting several problems that could appear during these activities. Implications for research foremost involve issues connected to the use of AT; implications for practice particularly concern if and how AT could be used to support channel broadening activities.

URLhttp://oaji.net/articles/2017/450-1500448334.pdf
DOI10.33225/pmc/17.12.20
Refereed DesignationRefereed
Full Text