Ict, e-business and Small and Medium Enterprises

Figure 2. Internet use by SMEs in Japan, 2001  

6%

8%

17%

18%

20%

23%

33%

43%

68%

82%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

B2B e

-comm

erce

B2C e-

comm

erce

Softwar

e purc

hase

Purchas

ing mate

rials/of

fice eq

uipme

nt 

Receiv

ing cu

stmer'

s feedb

ack

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itment

Order 

exhan

ges wi

th regul

ar clien

ts

PR of p

roducts

/servic

es/tec

hnolog

ies

E-mail

s with c

lients

Genral

 inform

ation s

earch

 

Note: Percentage of responses of 1 700 SMEs with 300 or fewer employees using the Internet as of August 2001. 

Source: Central Co-operative Bank for Commerce and Industry (Shoko Chukin Bank of Japan) (2001). 

Adoption of Internet e-commerce by SMEs 

Computers and access to the Internet have become common in most OECD countries, but sales 

and purchases over the Internet have yet to take off. While available data suggest that electronic commerce 

is growing, it still accounts for a relatively small proportion of economic activity for firms of all sizes. 

Taking a wide definition of electronic commerce to cover transactions over computer-mediated networks 

(including traditional EDI) and inter-firm transactions, e-commerce sales were 13.3% of total business 

sector sales in Sweden and 7.9% in Finland. Excluding the financial sector they were 10% in Norway, and 

6% in the United Kingdom and Denmark. For retail sales (B2C) shares were much lower, around 1.4% in 

the United Kingdom, 1.2% in the United States. Shares for SMEs are probably lower than these shares for 

the whole economy (see OECD 2002b and 2002c). Purchasing over the Internet is more common than 

selling. For 16 countries for which both Internet purchasing and Internet sales data are available, only one 

in eight on average reported making Internet sales. Twice as many businesses on average use the Internet 

for purchases as for sales (Figure 3), with between 63% and 93% of businesses reported using the Internet, 

except in Greece and Luxembourg (OECD, 2002c)

. 

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