The European e-Business Report The European e ... - empirica

The European E-Business Report 2005
Industry background
In 2001, the T&C industry in (today's) EU-25 generated a combined production value of about €203
billion. Data that are available for 2002 indicate a negative variation of -4.8% in textile and -12.8% in
clothing. More than 224,000 companies are active in these industries. They employed 2.5 million
people, representing 7.6% of total manufacturing employment. In 2002, employment went down by
4.9%. 54
The EU textile and clothing sector is predominantly an SME-based industry. Enterprises with less than
50 employees account for 60% of the workforce in the EU clothing sub-sector and produce almost
50% of value added. Textile companies tend to use high-tech machinery, while clothing manufacture
is more labour-intensive and is performed in smaller firms.
2.2.2 ICT and e-business adoption in 2005
ICT infrastructure
The usage of basic ICT infrastructure in the T&C sector is fairly in line with the weighted average for
10 sectors covered by the e-Business Survey 2005 (EU-7). Comparisons with specific sectors,
however, show that the sector lies in between the manufacturing sectors with more advanced ICT
use – which tend to be equipped with more powerful ICT technologies – and service sectors with a
lower ICT intensity such as tourism and construction. For example, the availability of remote access
solutions in the T&C industry (41% by employment) is in line with the weighted average for 10 sectors
covered in 2005 (40%), but lower than in the other manufacturing sectors.
The average connectivity of a company tends to increase with company size. In the T&C industry,
there is a clear dichotomy within the sector itself. While medium and large companies appear to be
fairly equipped with ICT infrastructure, small and micro enterprises lag behind.
The picture that emerges of the diffusion of basic ICT infrastructure mirrors the composition of the
sector, and in particular the large share of micro and small enterprises, many of which have the
characteristics of handcraft workshops more than companies playing on the market. Being
production oriented, often for very few – if not single – customers, providing them with input sources
and determining production timing and flows, these companies have little investment capacity, but
possibly also little demand for ICT. A stand alone, basic system can be sufficient to suit their
requirements.
As regards internet connections, DSL is the most commonly used internet connection: it is used by
companies accounting for 51% of employment in the sector (of those with internet access). This type
of connection is also common among micro companies: 32% of them use these connections.
On average, companies from the textile and clothing industry reported an annual expenditure of
about €12,300 for investments in ICT infrastructure and software in 2004. Obviously, investment
differs considerably depending on firm size.
Internal business processes and collaboration with business partners
In the textile and clothing industry, 45% of employees work in enterprises that have implemented an
intranet, which can be a useful platform for the secure exchange of information within a company and,
possibly, the implementation of internal training programmes.
Close to 60% of firms with more than 250 employees and 34% of medium-sized companies have
adopted an ERP system. Overall, companies representing 34% of employment in this sector can rely
on such systems.
54
Source: Eurostat New Cronos / DIW Berlin 2005. See full sector report (July 2005), chapter 6.2.
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