Electronic Commerce:
Opening Up New
Opportunities for Business
Edited by Paul
Timmers, Brian Stanford Smith & Paul T. Kidd
2001, ISBN 1-901864-04-9
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
|