Digital Boomerang Singapore 

The internet heralds an age where SMEs can compete with heavyweights, but how far does that axiom hold true?

The ability of the Internet to generate business revenue is no longer in question. Large and small businesses alike have rushed to get themselves wired in order to tap into this seemingly limitless income resource.

When the Internet was in its infancy years ago, gurus and other Internet enthusiasts saw the Internet as a paradigm shift. One of the virtues propounded was the ability of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) and/or small offices-home offices (SOHOs) to appear bigger online than they actually are in the physical world.

The advantage of that? Trust.

Axioms: “People buy from businesses they trust. The bigger the business the higher the level of trust and the greater the ability to overtake established commercial giants.”

Yet today, any SME or SOHO can tell you how difficult it is to really succeed in doing business over the Internet. This is true even of SME and SOHO websites that are well-designed and well implemented. The prediction of success is at best a half-truth. Looking big is simply not enough.

Being big is still important.

Big companies often have established names - names that instill trust. Consumers are more willing to buy online from Dell and Sony because of an intangible and elusive trust in these companies whose names have become associated with good products.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that SMEs and SOHOs cannot be wildly successful on the Internet. In fact, many flourishing Internet companies like Yahoo! began as SMEs and SOHOs. All I am saying is that size does matter. Any myth that SMEs and SOHOs can overtake traditionally established companies by primarily seeming big should be dispelled.

We should instead recognise the difficulties that SMEs and SOHOs face in competing with giants and lend our support by extending the same degree of trust to legitimate SMEs and SOHOs. This is especially true with home-grown SME start-ups like BuzzCity BuzzCity, CalendarONE and Third Voice that are poised to compete with the big boys. They deserve our support.

- First published on IT AsiaOne, This is IT

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