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Survey Finds Large Global Companies Fall Behind In E-Commerce

Jan. 13, 2005

Contrary to popular belief, big global companies aren't leaders in e-commerce. That's the finding of a survey of 80 companies (each with at least $1 billion in annual revenues) by PricewaterhouseCoopers and The Conference Board. Surveyed companies came from manufacturing, financial services, transportation, retail, energy, and communications. Survey results included:

e-business accounts for less than 5% of total revenues at 79% of the companies.

Only 28% of the companies process online transactions.

Only 17% of the companies regard themselves as innovative in e-business.

Less than half of the companies have quantitative methods in place to measure e-business efforts.

25% have yet to move beyond basic brochure-type Web sites in their e-business efforts. One of the biggest disconnects, according to the survey, was the stated need for e-business and the actual investment. For instance, only 25% of the companies plan to invest in online procurement, though this was said to be a top priority.