2 / 2018-02-28 23:08:48

e-Commerce and Economic Development in European Countries: Hierarchical Clusters Analysis

e-Commerce,Development,Cluster Analysis,Hierarchical Cluster Analysis,Barriers

e-Commerce has become extensively used across the globe with the purpose to simplify the process of communication between sellers and buyers. Objective of the paper is to investigate to what extent European companies use e-Commerce and what are the obstacles that they encounter. The analysis will be conducted by the means of hierarchical cluster analysis. Results indicate that European countries can be divided into groups with similar characteristics regarding e-Commerce usage. On the other side, the intensity of e-Commerce usage in European countries is not linearly related to the level of economic development, measured by GDP and GDP change. In addition, companies in those countries which are leading by the usage of e-Commerce also perceive that the level of barriers towards e-Commerce is the highest. Possible conclusion is that companies which do not use e-Commerce stick to old business model, and they do not perceive barriers as important simply because they are just not trying as hard as they could.