Diffusion and Impacts of the Internet and e-Commerce: The Case of Denmark

The Danish companies are ahead of the US in B2C e-commerce. With the exception ofGermany, Denmark is leading the group of 10 countries included in the survey dataforming the basis for this report. The average global sample and countries as Germanyis performing substantial better than Denmark on B2B on-line sales.Danish companies have high level of investments in IT, have the lowest barriers for ecommerceand the highest levels of e-commerce drivers. On most indicators forreadiness e-commerce such as companies use of e-mail, intranet, EDI, extranet, andprovision of mobile services, the Danish business sector has adopted the technologiesthat can foster e-commerce further on.Yet, our analysis points to alarming and surprisingly findings. The companies haveprimarily managed to incorporate e-business in the processes controlled by thecompany themselves (marketing and customer service) but have failed to implement ebusinessin interorganizational system and business integration. Thus, the companiesappears to have the inhouse means aligned for e-commerce exploitation, but have yetto transform their external business relations. The financial sector is the bestperforming sector with regards to sales, but not leading the pack in on-line services.Also, deficiencies of e-services are found especially within manufacturing companies,where few companies are providing product configuration information and ordertracking. The Danish companies have failed to implement services such as giftcertificates and product catalogs at their web site.There are not a substantially higher number of Danish companies reporting onsuccesses in terms of more efficient business processes, increased staff efficiency, costreductions, increased sales areas etc. On several of these dimensions, there are evenfewer Danish companies reporting on positive e-commerce impacts.We group the policy implications of our analysis in four classes of actors (government,industry associations/service providers, companies and citizens/ individuals)suggesting that government will have to increase research, increase the production ofengineers, intensify and broaden public e-procurement and e-government, furtherfacilitate e-commerce (de-) regulation to boost on-line use in all business processes,further European harmonization of legislation regarding cross border on-line businessprocesses, accelerate liberalization of labor market to make it easier to expand andcontract, and increase public funding schemes for entrepreneurs.Finally, we point to the need for critically accessing the role of industryassociations/service providers in awareness campaigns, and stress the need for surveysand identification of weaknesses as well as best business practice and dissemination ofthis knowledge in spite of the reluctance of SME's to listen. For the companies, thereseems to be a need for giving higher priority to integration with suppliers/customers,focusing on exploiting benefits of e-business investments and higher awareness andengagement in e-marketplaces. For the citizens/ individuals the report discusses theneed for continued emphasis on further education and training in IT, languages andbusiness processes and the increased willingness to change.