Collaborative Commerce Model for SMEs: A Knowledge and Resources Sharing Mechanism for Co-Creation

As a response to the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) must collaborate and work together; namely, using collaborative commerce (c-commerce). To some extent, SMEs have taken advantage of various web, e-marketplace, and social media resources to collaborate in their business activities. However, this only occurs to a partial extent. Consequently, a study was conducted to build a conceptual model of c-commerce for SMEs, for use as a standard in these collaborative activities. Data collection was performed through in-depth interviews, observation, and literature reviews. The sample selection was done via purposive sampling; specifically, SMEs’ fashion products with high personalisation and good production quality. The conceptual model of c-commerce is based on the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), a suitable method for building models for new and complex ecosystems. The conceptual model is compared with a rich picture and then analysed. The final result of the conceptual model is employed to construct a c-commerce system for SMEs in creating joint products and sharing resources with their stakeholders.