e-Commerce as a Strategy for Improving Business Vitality: Lessons Learned from Small Rural Businesses

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USING E-COMMERCE CASE STUDIES IN FORMAL COMPREHENSIVE E-COMMERCE TRAINING PROGRAMS

In addition to supplementing the many learning modules available on this site, there are a myriad of opportunities for instructors and business owners to make creative use of these materials in stand-alone fashion or as value-added elements of other learning curriculums. While these case studies are meant to augment the curriculum offered on this Web site, there are also other formal e-commerce education sites that can also be enhanced by their usage. Perhaps the most obvious and direct target for integrating these case study materials is within an existing structured e-commerce program. Two examples include the following:

USING E-COMMERCE CASE STUDIES IN FORMAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT TRAINING PROGRAMS

Formal entrepreneurship training programs also present excellent opportunities to use e-commerce case studies and lessons learned. The primary objective of most entrepreneurship training programs is to help build the capacity of individuals and to provide them with the knowledge, skills, and tools with which to increase their probability of success in the modern, competitive, global economy. These case studies can help build understanding of e-commerce as a business development tool.

Most state Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) offer some type of entrepreneurship training. Many SBDCs, often in concert with Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) chapters, are partnering with existing entrepreneurship training providers (e.g., FastTrac or REAL) though some are developing their own programs. Extension and other e-commerce trainers are advised to discover what is being offered in their states and regions and to encourage their use of these e-commerce case study materials in their programs.

There are several significant formal training programs for entrepreneurs available across the entire country. Some are national in scope. Others are locally or regionally-based. All are designed to offer novice and experienced entrepreneurs the tools and capacities necessary for success in business. The following section highlights several of these programs and provides insights on how the e-commerce case studies and supporting materials might be integrated most effectively into them.

In addition to the programs spotlighted above, there are several other entrepreneurship trainings or train the trainer programs that could benefit from the inclusion of these case study materials: they including but not limited the following:

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These materials were developed as part of the Southern Rural Development Center’s National e-Commerce Extension Initiative. They are based upon work supported by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Award No. 2005-45064-03212

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Southern Rural Development Center.