The problem investigated is stated in this section. Additionally, the term "small business firm" is defined, and the variables involved in the analysis of the problem are described and explained.
The 1980 White House Conference on Small Business defined a small-business as one with 500 or fewer employees. This definition covered almost all business enterprises in the United States--99.7 percent--in 1993. (United States Small Business Administration, 1994, p. 14). Business enterprises included in this definition accounted for 47.8 percent of non-government and non-farm employment, 42 percent of sales revenues, and 38 percent of the country's gross national product in 1993. These proportions indicate that small-business plays an important role in the American economy, but not the dominant role often attributed to it.
The small business owner or manager seeking to acquire office automation technology must effectively address a complex and interrelated set of factors that deal with both the operations the individual business enterprise and with factors associated with electronic data processing technology. Among the factors that must be effectively addressed by the small business owner or manager seeking to acquire electronic data processing technology are the following: (1) the determination of exactly which tasks should be automated; (2) the determination of what technology will be required to support the automation of these tasks; (3) the determination of what technological support will be required subsequent to the acquisition of an electronic data processing system; (4) the identification and assessment of alternatives to developing an in-house computing capability; and (5) the establishment of decision rules for the in-house computing capability that will be acquired and developed.
The first decision that must be made by the small business owner or manager in relation to the acquisiti...