White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 9Lastly, Table 9.8 shows the percentageof companies using corporateinformation systems. The use ofplatforms for managing orders andintegrating various company functionsis mainly found in large companies.Moreover, the highest percentageinternet activity for small companies isfor orders, whereas the percentages fallsharply (thus widening the gap with theother sizes of companies), as regardsintegrating company functions.Table 9.8 – Companies with at least 10 employees using IT systems for managingsales/purchase orders and links to other company functionsCompaniesusing ITsystems tomanage salesand/orpurchaseordersPurchasing ofraw materialsorsemifinishedproductsInvoicingandpaymentsProduction,supply ofservicesandlogisticsManagement ofrelations withsuppliers (forgroup companies,only suppliersoutside the group)Managementof relations withcustomers(for groupcompanies,only customersoutside thegroup)Company Size(No.employees)10-49 52.8 30.1 43.4 23.5 26.2 27.550-99 74.9 54.6 66.0 48.7 41.3 42.9100-249 73.5 58.4 67.2 57.8 43.5 44.5250 And Over 84.1 67.4 77.1 66.0 51.0 51.5GeographicalDistributionNorthwest 60.3 37.1 51.8 30.5 30.0 31.7Northeast 60.2 37.6 50.1 30.6 30.4 32.5Centre 51.9 29.8 43.5 24.6 26.6 29.0South & Islands 43.9 24.0 33.6 18.6 23.3 21.9Italy 55.6 33.4 46.3 27.2 28.2 29.5The Italian case thus seems to presenta number of highly specific elements,distinguishing it from the structuralfeatures of countries which havesuccessfully managed the transitiontowards the knowledge economy. Thedistinctive situation in terms ofcompany size with a preponderance ofsmall to average-size companies andsectoral specialisation still dominatedby the manufacturing sector arefeatures requiring further reflection.This paragraph has highlighted a clearcutgap between small and largecompanies. Although the adoption ofbasic technology, such as computersor an Internet connection, is not adistinguishing feature, there areconsiderable differences in the usecompanies make of technology. TheWHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 226