Electronic Commerce

Foreword

With more and more companies and individuals getting 'wired', connected up to the Internet and the World Wide Web, it is increasingly clear that a new business medium has arrived which transcends traditional geographic boundaries. And it is not only geographic boundaries which are being challenged. New electronic goods and services are emerging and new types of consumer. The traditional workplace is being transformed, the 'virtual enterprise' is becoming a model for the future as employees start to work in previously unforeseen ways.
All of this raises issues which, inevitably, due to the global nature of the Internet, need to be dealt with at a global level. It was with this aim in mind that the G8 Pilot Project 'A Global Marketplace for SMEs' was launched as a follow-up to the G7 (as it then was) Ministerial Conference in Brussels in February 1995. The project has brought together contributors from North America, Europe, the Far East and other places to examine the critical issues in electronic commerce.
The project itself is structured around three themes, each of which is coordinated by one of the US, Japan and EU:

• Theme 1: Global Information Network for SMEs (coordinator: Japan) - The Internet is a goldmine of information for SMEs keen to do business electronically. To make this information easier for SMEs to reach, a network of interlinking web sites has been set up by all the national coordinators of the project.
• Theme 2: SMEs' Business Requirements (coordinator: European Commission) - Doing electronic commerce is potentially lucrative, but it also poses numerous technological, legal and commercial hurdles for SMEs. Eight working groups have been set up to address specific issues in this area such as on-line copyright, staff training and so on.
• Theme 3: International Testbeds for Electronic Commerce (coordinator: US) - All the G8 countries have their own programmes to promote pilot projects in electronic commerce but, until the G8 project, there has been no attempt to launch projects on a truly international scale. Now there are several dozen so-called international testbeds which are aiming to prove the value of international partnership in providing novel business solutions.

As head of unit responsible for coordinating the European Commission's role in the G8 Pilot Project, I would like to thank all those who have contributed to this book. I believe it provides a valuable opportunity to spread the message that electronic commerce is a key tool for SMEs in enhancing their competitiveness in what is, and this cliché is really becoming true now, a Global Marketplace.

 

Rosalie ZOBEL
Head of Unit DG III-F-6
The European Commission,
Rue de la Loi 200,
B-1049, Brussels,
Belgium