A review on IT outsourcing practices for e-business transformation among SMEs in Malaysia

SMEs are major contributors to the Malaysia's economic growth. They constitute about 99.2% of registered companies in Malaysia. E-business is believed could help to increase the SMEs competitiveness by venturing into global and virtual marketplace. However, it is reported that only 20% of SMEs have an Internet presence but not fully e-business. Among the limitations that the SMEs faced are lack of IT skills and resources, thus IT outsourcing is seen as one of potential solutions. This research aims to investigate factors that influence the decision to deploy IT outsourcing approach for e-business transformation among the SMEs. This paper discusses the literature review on e-business and IT outsourcing practices for SMEs. A qualitative method via case study approach is used to gather in-depth understanding of the situation. The expected outcomes from this research will be an IT outsourcing model to assist e-business transformation for SMEs. However, this paper will only discuss findings from the literature review.