The recent e-Business W@tch survey confirms once again that the size of a company and the sector in which it operates are the major determinants for its e-business maturity, rather than the location of a business.

Large companies are still ahead of their smaller counterparts. Manufacturing industries, such as the automotive or electronics and electrical machinery sectors, are strongly focussing on improving their supply chain efficiency, while consumer-oriented services, like tourism or retail, are using e-business mainly to improve their customer relations.

The survey also included the new EU Member States. Findings show that companies in Slovenia and Estonia in particular, but also the Czech Republic, tend to be just as advanced in using electronic business technologies as their average counterparts in the current EU Member States. In other countries, the average e-readiness is at a slightly lower level, particularly when it comes to more complex e-business applications and e-business integration.

Survey results are available in electronic format (MS Excel spreadsheets) and can be downloaded from the "database" section of this website.

Summaries and Sector Studies based on this survey will be published in April and May (see "publications").