Impact of the Internet on small businesses Research Paper

Impact of the Internet on small businesses - Research Paper Example Through the internet, a business of any size can compete in the global marketplace. In fact, on the internet, the size of an organizations operation makes little difference because the internet is an open environment. Similar companies compete against one another while being only a click of the mouse away. In other words, a buyer can locate numerous sellers offering similar merchandise, similar prices and similar offers in a very short time period. As more people and businesses become comfortable with the internet, the marketing landscape will continue to evolve quickly in the coming years (The Influence of Internet on Modern Business, 2009). The arrival of internet related technologies helped small scale industries immensely. Many of the traditional business concepts were given way for internet related business strategies because of the arrival of computers and internet. For example, internet helped the business world to convert many of the offline market spaces into online market spaces. Moreover, outsourcing, offshoring like modern business principles were evolved out because of the developments in internet related technologies. Advertising is another in which internet helps small scale industries immensely. Social networks are used extensively by the businesses for marketing and advertising purposes. At the same time, internet has the potential to affect small businesses negatively also. For example, internet helped globalization in many ways. It should be noted that globalization helped corporate companies to expand their business all over the world. The intrusion of corporate companies in small scale industry segments is causing big threats to the small business groups. In short, internet provides both opportunities and threats to small businesses. This paper analyses the impacts of internet on small businesses. The Internet potentially can be used by small businesses to support external (inter-organizational and