ICT and e-Business in the Pulp, Paper and Paper ... - empirica

Pulp, paper and paper products
These findings, which are quite in line with the picture in other sectors, also demonstrate
that a majority of firms in the P&P industry (about 60%) do not feel that ICT have an
important influence on firm organisation. ICT impact is rather experienced on the level of
internal work processes, but not so much in terms of the overall organisational structure
or job descriptions. While companies representing about 65% of employment reported an
important impact on work processes (see Exhibit 5-3), 'only' about 40% did so with regard
to organisational structure and job descriptions (see Exhibit 5-4).
In specific areas, the introduction of new technologies can lead to changed skills requirements
for employees (e.g. when RFID is introduced in warehousing and logistics);
however, since RFID (and other emerging technologies) are not yet widely diffused (see
Section 4.3), the experienced impact of their implementation in the company does
probably not really show up in the figures of Exhibit 5-4.
ICT impact on competitiveness and productivity
ICT-induced productivity effects vary significantly between sectors and countries. The
largest productivity growth effect occurs in the ICT-producing sectors themselves. The
highest impact of ICT on firm-level productivity and performance is found when ICT
investments are combined with complementary investments in work practices, human
capital and firm restructuring. 114
In the P&P industry, about 40% of small firms and 60% of medium-sized and large firms
said in the e-Business Survey 2006 that they observed a positive influence of ICT on
productivity (see Exhibit 5-3). Only about 2% reported a negative impact, the rest
observing no impact at all. This self-assessment differs considerably between sectors,
even among manufacturing sectors. ICT related industries observe a much stronger
influence than other sectors; the P&P industry, once again, represents the average of
sectors (see Exhibit 5-6).
The ICT impact on productivity depends on several factors, which do not only include the
technologies used themselves, but also the organisational culture and conditions in a
company in which these technologies are embedded.
Evidence in this report indicates that for (large) firms in the P&P industry, a sophisticated
ERP system is often the main platform for e-business processes between a company and
its suppliers and customers (see Section 3.4.1, and case studies on Stora Enso, VPK
Packaging and Mayr Melnhof), and probably enables the most significant productivity increases.
The rising acceptance of e-business standards for trade within the value system
(papiNet®, GUSI – see Sections 3.3 and 4.1) could further enhance B2B integration.
However, as long as many SMEs do not have ERP systems, the full potential for industrywide
productivity gains cannot be exploited (see policy implications, Section 5.2). During
this transition period, larger firms are pushing their small business partners to 'upgrade'
their systems in order to enable digital integration. The case study on VPK Packaging
(see Section 3.5) illustrates that there non-ERP-based supply chain integration with
customers can also lead to productivity gains.
114 See e-Business W@tch Special Study on the "Impact of ICT on corporate performance,
productivity and employment dynamics" (2006), available at www.ebusiness-watch.org
('resources').
160