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Devil's Advocate: The chauvinism of ebusiness
And the argument against e-league tables

By editorial@silicon.com

Published: Tuesday 10 December 2002

Should retail, corporate procurement, tourism and financial services naturally be revolutionised by the web? Let's make sure change is for the right reasons, says Martin Brampton...

The government's wave of enthusiasm for broadband and e-government is not carrying the private sector. Latest figures from the Department of Trade and Industry bemoan the fact that small and medium-sized enterprises have actually reduced the extent of their online trading. And, perhaps inevitably, there is a league table, showing the UK trailing behind other countries.

Is there really an international competition for the best ecommerce nation? Is the DTI's league table any more relevant to everyday life than the results of the Miss World competition? We could have international league tables for the most fashionably dressed nation or the nationality that whistles most in tune. Surely this kind of one-dimensional thinking is exactly the thing to avoid in a complex world?

Internet trading seemed very seductive when it was novel. We all hailed the new companies that would leverage the online advantages to take over from the stuffy traditionalists. But then most of the new companies finished up worthless, losing huge sums for the adventurous investors who had backed them. Tesco turned out to be a shining example. Starting out with risibly crude technology, old world Tesco plugged away until it had a substantial share of the online grocery market.

Retailing is not the whole world, though. Nor is it significantly international, making league tables of nations irrelevant. British retailers are renowned for their skill, yet nearly all have retreated from their overseas ventures. The trade between nations is mostly not retail trade. And even tourism, which attracts a sizeable number of customers from around the world, is only marginally operated through the internet.

There is growth in international electronic trade that is driven by the giant corporations, most of whom are shifting their purchasing into internet-based systems. Crude statistics about the number of UK companies with web connections fail to really tell us much about how well UK manufacturing companies are adapting to those changes. Most likely they are doing quite well. For years now, the manufacturing sector has been struggling and yet it still remains a strong element in the UK economy.

Focusing on consumers, there are obvious international differences. Australia is comfortably in the lead, according to the DTI. But why would we compare retailing in our small and crowded country with that in a vast, thinly populated continent? The claim that England is a nation of shopkeepers perhaps misses the point. The English like spending time in shops and the pattern of retailing reflects that.

Inevitably there are variations. Although I mostly travel up and down the country by train, many of my other journeys are by motor bike. That is not so unusual, especially in the IT sector, but there are many fewer motor cyclists than car owners. Buying parts and accessories for motor bikes is often easier by mail order, whereas car parts are easily found in any town or city. It is especially useful to be able to find details and place orders through the web.

Financial services ought to lend themselves ideally to web transactions. Yet progress has been hesitant. Many financial products are extremely complex and the regulatory requirement often insists that they be explained in detail to putative purchasers. Obtaining relevant quotations can be tedious and time consuming. It seems that a good deal more exploration and innovation is needed before the internet can be the preferred way to buy financial services.

As usual, we need something more sophisticated than a crude league table. Only by assessing the precise circumstances in which an organisation operates can the potential contribution of the internet be properly evaluated. These are not primarily technical issues but questions about human interactions and organisational processes. If we can solve them well, who cares about international league tables?

** Martin Brampton is a director and founder of Black Sheep Research (http://www.black-sheep-research.co.uk ), an independent consultancy providing research, writing and speaking services on a wide range of business and technology subjects. Martin was previously a director at Bloor Research, and has worked with IT as a user and analyst for over 20 years. He is a frequent contributor to silicon.com's weekly Behind the Headlines TV programme and can be contacted at silicon@black-sheep-research.co.uk.