Canadian Response To UPS Survey That Says Europe Is Behind In E-Commerce Revolution

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

28 June 2001

According to the tenth edition of the United Parcel Service of America's (UPS's) yearly survey, the Europe Business Monitor (EBM), European business leaders have been coping with a dramatic pace of change in the last few years. European leaders have had to contend with decisions of whether or not to merge with or take over others' companies. Most are introducing e-business strategies and are aware that their business will have to transform to take advantage of e-business.

However, Professor Jean Talbot, director of the IT Department at the École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Montréal, has noted: 'Because Canadian companies who do business with the Americans are close to the US, they have always had to adjust to the new e-commerce trends. On the other hand, the European Union, who is less exposed to the American market, has not felt as much that urge to keep up.'

He added: 'I am happy to see that Europe now shares the same e-commerce concerns as Canada. This is a factor that companies cannot ignore if they wish to tap into new markets.'

The EBM indicates that European business leaders clearly favour two markets - the UK (33 per cent of executives) and Germany (27 per cent) - as leading the e-economy. The majority of Europe's business leaders say their companies have changed their business strategies to take account of the challenge of e-business. They have adjusted their procedures to become more on-line and have employed e-commerce experts or consultants.

Commissioned annually by UPS, the EBM provides Canadian businesses with an insight into the attitudes, opinions and habits of European business leaders. This tenth edition of the survey considers some key issues facing business leaders: the business climate across Europe, economic and employment forecasts, prospects for European business, use of technology, etc.

At the end of the 1990s, Europe's business executives expressed concern that their companies were underutilizing technologies. UPS Canada Director of E-Commerce, Wayne Bosch, welcomed the new attitude evident in the most recent EBM results as he stated: 'UPS's vision is that by 2007 - the 100th anniversary of UPS - the concept won't be e-business, it will just be business, with technology as the underpinning. In a global marketplace driven by the Internet, the supply chain revolution will be where businesses see the greatest gains.'

The full text of the EBM Survey can be found at: http://www.ebm.ups.com/europe/ebmx/flash/index.html

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