Buser, M and Carlsson, V (2014) Is anybody home? The role of company websites for small building contractors in Sweden. In: Raiden, A and Aboagye-Nimo, E (eds.) Proceedings of 30th Annual ARCOM Conference, 1-3 September 2014, Portsmouth, UK.
Abstract
During the last decades, being visible on the Internet has been advertised as the solution to develop businesses. Among other benefits, it should increase profitability by enlarging the number of customers and accelerating processes and communication. Indeed by 2012, 92% of the Swedish micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) had a website presenting their companies; the construction sector for once is no exception. Looking at SME building contractors we inquire into whether the announced potential of being online has been realized and, in particular if their relations to customers have improved. Referring to customer relationship management and e-business studies, we focus on 4 aspects of websites to assess their qualities: content, convenience, control and interaction. The material consists of a sample of 90 building contractors of the region of Gothenburg in Sweden. We have examined the companiesÕ websites, checked their profile, contacted them by phone and carried out in-depth interviews with 21 of them. The results show quite diversified strategies and benefits of their use of websites. Updating the sites regularly or gaining customers seem to be the exception, and the uses of the web sites are so far rather rudimentary. If there is no surprise in the SMEs building their customers relationship on direct contact and local network, the passivity and lack of visibility towards new customers and business opportunity are nevertheless intriguing. Even more as the sector is facing a rather bad reputation in the public. Finally a close contact with clients is said to be one of the most important factors contributing to innovation which these SMEs acutely need to face the new energy regulations.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | SME; websites; customers' relations; renovation |
| Index terms: | building contractor, interview, Sweden, small and medium sized enterprise, face, strategy, regulation, profitability, renovation, customer relationship management, interaction, internet, e-business, construction sector |
| Subjects: | organization, data collection methods, strategic management, practitioner, computing systems, psychology, economic analysis, digital commerce, renovation and retrofit, management, Geography, behavioral psychology, political science, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Digital Applications, Organizational Design, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Engineering Principles, Business Strategy, Governance, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here