Over the past 7 years, a number of "community" portals (usually
geographically based) have stated that a primary purpose of the portal
is to encourage small business to adopt ecommerce/ebusiness. From my
research, most seem to offer directory listings and linkages to
existing web sites of the businesses only.

1.Are there examples of portals (please identify them)which have
succesfully encouraged small business to adopt ecommerce, that is,
beyound a simple directory listing and a basic information web site?
What applications/business processes/models are they using?

2.Are there any studies/research reports that analyse the success or
otherwise of portals (geographic or "community of interest") in
encouraging the adoption of ecommerce by small business? For the
successful,what applications/business processes/models are they using?

I am willing to pay more for great work!

Thank you