The "Sectoral e-Business Watch" (SeBW) studies the impact of ICT and e-business on enterprises, industries and the economy in general. It highlights barriers for a wider or faster uptake of ICT and identifies public policy challenges arising from these developments. In this way, the SeBW supports the work of the European Commission's Enterprise and Industry Directorate General in the field of ICT (> policy context).
Current studies (in progress - to be published in June 2008) focus on the following sectors: the chemical industry, steel, furniture, retail, transport & logistics, and banking. Four cross-sectoral studies analyse RFID adoption patterns, Intellectual Property rights for ICT SMEs, links between ICT and energy consumption, and drivers and impacts of ICT uptake.
The "Sectoral e-Business Watch" is based on a service contract between DG Enterprise and Industry and empirica GmbH, involving the following main service providers: Altran Group, Databank, DIW Berlin, GOPA-Cartermill, IDC EMEA, Ipsos GmbH and Rambøll Management (> project team).
% Companies maintaining an e-catalogue
(based on industry standards)
The survey was conducted in 7 EU Member States (DE, FR, IT, ES, PL, SE, UK). Base (100%) = companies using computers. N = 811 (chemical) / 449 (steel) / 661 (furniture).
Electronic catalogues are based on industry standards for product classification. They facilitate e-commerce, because they make it easier for companies to exchange procurement and sales related data with business partners electronically. Interestingly, according to the e-Business Survey 2007, the share of firms in the chemical industry that reports the use of e-catalogues is lower than in the steel and furniture sectors, although the general adoption of ICT and e-commerce in this industry is relatively high.
More information: eBusiness Watch Brochure 2007/08
In 2007/08, the Sectoral e-Business Watch conducts the following e-business studies :
The top-5 publications of this website (by number of downloads) in April 2008 were:
