NCSB 2004 Conference 13 th Nordic Conference on Small Business Research THE USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL TO CREATE CAPABILITIES – A STUDY OF THE RELATION BETWEEN USE OF ICT AND THE USE OF BEST BUSINESS PRACTICES IN MANUFACTURING SMES IN A REGION OF SWEDEN 1 Ragnar Ahlström Söderling Dalarna University Business Entrepreneurship & Technology Borlänge Sweden E- mail: ras@du.se Göran Land Dalarna University Department of Economics & Social Sciences Borlänge Sweden E- mail: gla@du.se May 2004 1 WORK IN PROGRESS, not to be quoted without written permit from the authors! E-mail: ras@du.se