The European e-Business Report 2004 - Berlecon Research GmbH

The European E-Business Report 2004Secondly, it has frequently been experienced that the adherence to traditional, establishedbusiness cultures can be very strong among small firms, particularly in craft and trade sectors.• A certain degree of reluctance among many small firms to abandon traditional business culturesand models, even if for the benefit of doing things more efficiently, can also be an obstacle to cooperationamong themselves. In some sectors, however, new ways of co-operation among SMEshave already proved to be successful and necessary, for example in the furniture industry. 41Policy measures to stimulate the participation of SMEs in business networks are thereforeparticularly relevant in these sectors where such co-operations appear to have the highestpotential and impact.Exhibit 1.8-1: Relevance of SME e-business policy objectives by sectorTo improvemanagerialunderstanding andskills for e-businessamong SMEsTo improve theavailability ofe-businesssolutions for SMEsTo promoteparticipation ofSMEs in businessnetworks ande-marketplacesTextile industries Chemical industries Electronics Transport equipment Craft and trade Retail Tourism ICT services Business services Health services = not relevant; = some relevance; = rather relevant; = highly relevantSource: e-Business W@tch (2004)Othermeasures(sector specific)The grouping of policy challenges identified in the e-Business W@tch Sector Studies under the threeobjectives of the EC framework is a useful but rather crude simplification. Furthermore, the frameworkdoes not indicate whether the challenges must or should rather be dealt with at a European, nationalor regional level. Some policy approaches require the co-ordination of different governmental levels,for example RTD oriented policies, while others need to be implemented predominantly on a specificgeographical level. The support of standardisation developments, for example, which has beenrecommended in several of the reports, can best be addressed by the European Commission orEuropean industry groups, if at all (considering that standardisation is mostly a voluntary process).Awareness raising targeted at SMEs, on the other hand, can only be effectively achieved throughintermediaries at the regional level.Exhibit 1.8-2 groups suggestions for possible policy initiatives that were raised in the Sector Studiesaccording to the underlying objective and the policy level (from regional to European) on which thesuggested action should probably be addressed, acknowledging that many of the policies could ofcourse be addressed at different levels. Thus, it can be considered as an extension of the SME e-business policy framework proposed by the EC which can be further developed at the national,regional, local or sectoral level depending on the specific conditions. It is a main objective of the e-Business Support Network (eBSN) 42 to communicate and exchange such policies across the EU,together with the lessons learned. Replication of successful policies, while avoidance of making thesame mistakes again, is the goal of this initiative.4142See Sector Study on Craft and Trade, August 2004.The eBSN is an initiative launched by DG Enterprise to improve co-operation among e-business policy-makingactivities in Europe (for more information, see www.e-bsn.org).69