The Impact of Cloud Adoption on The SMB Profit: Evidence from Panel Data analysis

Musaab Mohammad  Alhaddad

Authors

Musaab Mohammad Alhaddad Service Delivery Director HCL Technologies https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0721-2482

Keywords:

Cloud computing, Profit maximization, SMB, Technology

Abstract

Cloud computing is among the most recent advanced techniques that can play a critical role in small and medium-sized organizations, especially because it allows small businesses to access ICT resources without incurring big upfront expenditures or investing in specialized personnel. The backbone of any country's economy is small and medium businesses (SMBs). They generate employment and serve as a catalyst for innovation and entrepreneurship. Businesses are leveraging the benefits of cloud computing to gain a competitive advantage, cooperate, connect, and grow. This research hypothesizes that small companies that deploy cloud computing outperform those that do not deploy it in terms of profit growth. The purpose of this study is to examine this hypothesis. The data originated from small and medium enterprises in the Middle East. The data represents balanced panel data of 55 small and medium enterprises over 3 years, from 2015 to 2017 (n=55, t=3). This research employed panel data regression models, namely the fixed-effect and the robust M-estimation methods. The empirical findings appear to confirm the hypothesis that adopting cloud computing favorably affects the profit growth of SMEs. The conclusions of this research might be valuable for business owners in the Middle Eastern countries who seek profit maximization with emerging technologies.

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