ADOPT DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES OR SHIP OUT OF BUSINESS: COVID-19 EXPERIENCES OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTREPRENEURS IN THE BULAWAYO METROPOLITAN PROVINCE, ZIMBABWE
| Dublin Core | PKP Metadata Items | Metadata for this Document | |
| 1. | Title | Title of document | ADOPT DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES OR SHIP OUT OF BUSINESS: COVID-19 EXPERIENCES OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTREPRENEURS IN THE BULAWAYO METROPOLITAN PROVINCE, ZIMBABWE |
| 2. | Creator | Author's name, affiliation, country | Kudakwashe Maguraushe; National University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Commerce, Graduate School of Business, P O Box AC 939, Ascot, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe |
| 2. | Creator | Author's name, affiliation, country | Gwendoline Vusumuzi Nani; National University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Commerce, Graduate School of Business, P O Box AC 939, Ascot, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe |
| 3. | Subject | Discipline(s) | |
| 3. | Subject | Keyword(s) | digital exclusion, small to medium enterprises, technological gadgets, training |
| 4. | Description | Abstract | This interpretive research study sought to ascertain the technological challenges faced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Zimbabwe during the COVID-19 pandemic. The thrust of the study was qualitative and semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 30 purposively selected SME owners. Through thematic analysis, the findings revealed that SMEs without technological gadgets faced an array of challenges such as poor communication with business partners, inability to view business transactions, delay in making payments, high operational costs, difficulty in advertising products, and failure to place orders on time. From the research, it was concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the digital divide amongst SMEs, as those without the technological gadgets and the requisite skills were either forced to close or had minimal business transactions. The study recommended that deliberate policies be put in place to equip SME owners with technological gadgets and internet facilities at subsidised rates and offer free training to prepare SMEs for the digital world.
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| 5. | Publisher | Organizing agency, location | Open Access Publishing Group |
| 6. | Contributor | Sponsor(s) | |
| 7. | Date | (YYYY-MM-DD) | 2023-01-09 |
| 8. | Type | Status & genre | Peer-reviewed Article |
| 8. | Type | Type | |
| 9. | Format | File format | |
| 10. | Identifier | Uniform Resource Identifier | https://oapub.org/soc/index.php/EJSSS/article/view/1401 |
| 10. | Identifier | Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v8i3.1401 |
| 11. | Source | Title; vol., no. (year) | European Journal of Social Sciences Studies; Vol 8, No 3 (2023) |
| 12. | Language | English=en | en |
| 13. | Relation | Supp. Files | |
| 14. | Coverage | Geo-spatial location, chronological period, research sample (gender, age, etc.) | |
| 15. | Rights | Copyright and permissions |
Copyright (c) 2023 Kudakwashe Maguraushe, Gwendoline Vusumuzi Nani This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The research works published in this journal are free to be accessed. They can be shared (copied and redistributed in any medium or format) and\or adapted (remixed, transformed, and built upon the material for any purpose, commercially and\or not commercially) under the following terms: attribution (appropriate credit must be given indicating original authors, research work name and publication name mentioning if changes were made) and without adding additional restrictions (without restricting others from doing anything the actual license permits). Authors retain the full copyright of their published research works and cannot revoke these freedoms as long as the license terms are followed. |