The European e-Business Report 2004 - Berlecon Research GmbH

The European E-Business Report 20043.4 B2B Metrics: Measuring Forms, Content, Strategyand Impacts of B2B E-CommerceBackgroundby Hans Schedl, ifo Institute for Economic Research 91This article summarises briefly the main objectives and conclusions of the B2B Metrics project(www.b2b-metrics.de). B2B Metrics was a joint initiative of five international research organisationsfunded by means of the European Union's IST Programme. 92 It started in January 2002 and wasrecently finalised in July 2004. B2B Metrics set out to develop indicators for the measurement offorms, content, strategy and impacts of Business-to-Business e-Commerce (B2B). The mainobjectives were to benchmark development, identify enablers and barriers, test the applicability of theapproach and develop toolkits for statistics.Though a larger number of surveys has already been conducted in the field, a lack of clarity withrespect to definitions of B2B, widely differing methods for data collection, an absence of comparabilityin questionnaires and samples, and marked inconsistencies in approaches to analysis are just someof the factors that have underlined the necessity for a new perspective.The B2B Metrics study developed a clear definition of Business-to-Business electronic commerce anda questionnaire with the help of experts and practitioners. The results can help business users todefine their own position by using the results from benchmarking. Statisticians can use the instrumentsdeveloped by the project as tools to devise short and efficient questionnaires for several purposes.Politicians, finally, can cross-check their assumptions on B2B development and the efficiency ofrelated policies.The need for new indicatorsPrior analysis has often neglected the preconditions of successful application: standardisation,organisational adaptation, process integration and data exchange between partners. Questionsrelated to these aspects, together with the defined basic processes of the enterprise, form thestructure of approach to indicator measurement. The proposed questionnaires are accessible on thewebsite of the B2B Metrics project.Benchmarking results: e-business in the automotive industryOne of the underlying assumptions of e-business was that new forms of e-transactions would rapidlydisplace traditional forms by offering richer information with wider reach.Is this assumption valid for B2B? And if so, is it measurable?Results of the project indicate that the use of specific Internet techniques such as demandaggregation, marketplaces or auctions is still not widely spread. 93 Diffusion in the B2B segmentdepends on standardisation. This also limits the richness of transmitted information and its reach.What are the appropriate indicators for development phases?As a starting point for analysis, the project defined three development stages based on the use ofapplications:• early, based on the use of “simple” stand-alone transactions,919293Hans Schedl is a senior researcher at the ifo Institute for Economic Research, Munich, in the area humancapital and structural change.B2B METRICS was a joint project of five institutes: ifo Institute for Economic Research, Munich, NomuraResearch Institute, Tokyo, PREST, Manchester, RCS Conseil, Paris and VATT, Helsinki, commissioned bythe Directorate General Information Society of the European Union in the context of the IST Programme.for details see the country reports on www.b2b-metrics.de208