Ict, e-business and Small and Medium Enterprises

Figure 14. Small and large businesses facing barriers to Internet payments, 2000 

Percentage of businesses using a computer with ten or more employees 

0

5

1 0

1 5

2 0

2 5

3 0

3 5

4 0

4 5

Ita ly

S p a in

A u s tria

U n ite d

K in g d o m

F in la n d

G re e c e

D e n m a rk

L u x e m b o u rg

S w e d e n

P o rtu g a l

%

1 0 -4 9

5 0 -2 4 9

2 5 0 +

1 0 +

 

Source: Eurostat, E-commerce Pilot Survey 2001. 

Firms in non-OECD countries face rather similar barriers to adoption as in OECD countries, but 

they also face particular barriers where the infrastructure and business environment is not well-developed, 

and these barriers will take precedence particularly for SMEs. On the other hand for SMEs in countries 

where the infrastructure is better-established and a favourable business environment is well-established, 

concerns are similar to those in OECD countries, for example privacy and legal issues (see Table 1). 

Concerns about privacy and legal protection for Internet purchases are the two first obstacles pointed out in 

the CRITO global survey (2 139 firms in 10 countries) and are important in Singapore, Brazil and China.  

Those obstacles seem particularly important for large firms in Singapore (61.5 and 63.5%) that already use 

e-commerce and e-business in supply chains and markets. Overall, SMEs are more sensitive to local 

environmental obstacles than large firms (costs of Internet access, business laws, prevalence of credit card 

use in the country, taxation of Internet sales), while large firms are more sensitive to international strategy 

and organisation effects.  

---

 28