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

Pulp, paper and paper products
Exhibit 3-29: Companies receiving orders from customers online
Accept orders
from
customers
online
Receive 1-25%
of orders
online
Receive more
than 25% of
orders online
Use specific
ICT solutions
for e-selling
Weighting scheme:
% of % of % of % of % of % of % of % of
empl. firms empl. firms empl. firms empl. firms
Pulp & Paper (EU-10) 26 28 78 77 22 23 19 11
Micro (1-9 empl.) 30 75 25 9
Small (10-49 empl.) 26 80 20 12
Medium (50-249 empl.) 24 77 23 15
Large (250+ empl.) 26 84 16 24
NACE 21.1 (p&p man.) 18 19 77 81 23 19 20 14
NACE 21.2 (converting) 29 31 78 73 22 27 18 11
All 10 sectors (EU-10) 35 25 73 75 27 25 18 9
Micro (1-9 empl.) 23 79 21 6
Small (10-49 empl.) 26 76 24 12
Medium (50-249 empl.) 29 75 25 16
Large (250+ empl.) 26 74 26 27
Base (100%)
firms using
computers
firms accepting
orders online
firms accepting
orders online
firms using
computers
N (for sector, EU-10) 964 271 271 964
Questionnaire reference F4 F6 F6 F10
* Data are not displayed because the number of observations in individual countries is too low for this indicator.
** Data only indicative due to low number of observations (N ~ 25-50).
Source: e-Business W@tch (Survey 2006)
As in 2005, e-Business W@tch asked companies whether they "support marketing and
sales processes by specific ICT solutions." The rationale for this question is to further test
to what extent their e-commerce activities are digitally integrated processes, or whether
they use rather "simple" forms of e-commerce, such as receiving orders by e-mail without
any system integration of the related information and document flow.
In the P&P industry, more than 10% of firms (representing close to 20% of sector
employment) reported the use of software solutions or internet-based services for their
marketing and sales activities (see Exhibit 3-29). This shows that, in fact, there is a
considerable gap between the percentage of companies receiving at least some orders
online (~30%) and those that have special software for doing so (~10%). The percentage
is much closer to the one for ERP adoption (16%). In essence, the systematic management
of online orders will in many cases be conducted via the ERP system of a company.
Those companies which have specific sales systems in place tend to use them mainly for
the core functions of publishing offers to customers (62%), for enabling customers to
place orders (74%) and also for answering calls for tender (57%). Only one in five
companies with such systems also enable customers to actually pay online for the goods
which they have ordered. The latter incidence shows how important it is to make a
difference between the various phases in e-commerce transactions when analysing this
topic. Enabling customers to place an online order is in many cases still separated from
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