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İşletme Araştırmaları Dergisi 3/3 (2011) 58-75

A Field Study on the Approach of Small and Medium Enterprises
(SMEs) to the Information and Communication Technologies and Its
Required Skills*
Küçük ve Orta Boy İşletmelerin Bilgi İşlem ve İletişim Teknolojileri ve
Becerilerine Yönelik Yaklaşımları ile İlgili Bir Alan Araştırması
Orhan KOÇAK
Yalova Üniversitesi
okocak@yalova.edu.trAbstract
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the main driver of a country’s
economic growth. SMEs are thought to be an important source and factor in job creation
and they provide flexible working opportunities for the white collar workers. The
importance of the SMEs is growing since they have an important impact on the
economy which is recently in crises. The rising unemployment rates of thecountries
cause many social and economic problems in the world. Therefore, SMEs, as an engine
in economies, should be studied in terms of their adaption of new technologies which
are the most important means to enter new markets and create new jobs. With the
globalization, SMEs couldn’t go beyond their national borders as much as big
companies did and lagged behind of the new global markets.To be able to reach new
customers who are far from their countries and to compete with their rivals in both
national and international arena, SMEs should adapt to the information and
communication technologies. These technologies make them faster and stronger by
establishing new channels, reducing time to market, providing opportunities to work
more flexible and creating new jobs. In order tocatch up with these new developments,
which make the firms more competitive, SMEs should consider the ICTs as a strategic
integral part. In this study, it is aimed to find out to what extend small and medium
companies use information technologies, if they integrate these technologies into their
business processes, cut their costs by using ICTs and want to invest more for
informationtechnologies.
In this work, the subject is separated into 2 sections. In the first section, the
literature is reviewed and some explanations and examples are given from the world and
Turkey. In the second section of the study, the survey is used to find answers to the
questions mentioned above in relation to SMEs and their integration with information
*

Primary version of this paper presented atEconAnadolu 2009: Anadolu International Conference in
Economics

O. Koçak / İşletme Araştırmaları Dergisi 3/3 (2011) 58-75

and communication technologies. This survey was conducted on January in 2009, with
288 small and medium companies in Istanbul -is the biggest city of commerce in
Turkey. The SPSS program is to be used to compile this data which is cross-examined
and then results willbe obtained to be used for the present study.
Keywords: SMEs, Information Technologies, Productivity, Industry, Flexible Working
Özet
Küçük ve Orta Boy Firmalar (KOBİ) bir ülkenin ekonomik büyümesinin asıl
unsurlarındandır. KOBİ’ler iş yaratmada önemli bir kaynak ve faktör olmanın yanında,
beyaz yakalı çalışanlar için de esnek çalışma imkânları sunmaktadırlar. Son yıllarda
krizler içerisindeolan ekonomi üzerinde artan etkisinden dolayı, KOBİ’lerin önemi
giderek büyümektedir. Ülkelerin artan işsizlik oranları Dünya’da birçok sosyal ve
ekonomik sorunlara neden olmaktadır. Bu nedenle, ekonominin motoru olarak
değerlendirilen KOBİ’lerin, yeni işleri yaratma ve yeni piyasalara girmenin en önemli
aracı olan yeni teknolojilerin benimsenmesi yönüyle çalışılmaları gerekmektedir.Küreselleşme ile birlikte KOBİ’ler, büyük firmaların açılabildiği kadar ulusal sınırların
ötesine gidemediler ve yeni küresel piyasaların gerisinde kaldılar. Kendi ülkelerinden
uzak olan yeni müşterilere ulaşabilmek ve hem ulusal ve hem de uluslararası alanda
rakipleri ile mücadele edebilmek için, KOBİ’ler bilgi işlem ve iletişim teknolojilerini
benimsemiş olmalıdırlar. Bilgi teknolojileri sayesinde...