• Home
• ICT
• Electronic Commerce
• Archive
• Internet Business Use Survey
• 2. Businesses with Internet

• Electronic Commerce

• Archive

• E-Comm Guide for Business
• Electronic Transactions Act
• Scoping Study: E-Commerce
• Internet Business Use Survey
• Government's Programme
• Readiness Strategy
• Electronic Commerce
• Freezer Ship
• Media Statement
• NZ E-Commerce Website
• Key Issues & Way Forward

In Tables 2.1 and 2.2, business use of the Internet as measured in the BRC survey is compared with corresponding figures from an Australian survey published by the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE) carried out in February of almost 1500 businesses². Inclusion of Australian statistics is useful since Australia is our closest neighbour and largest trading partner and because comparisons are often made of the use of technology and general e-business readiness between the two countries.

The surveys from the two countries are consistent in showing larger firms to be well ahead of their smaller counterparts in use of the Internet generally. Email use is assumed to be a good indicator of a connection to the Internet. Use of email by firms with 20 or more FTES is approaching saturation across all business sectors (above 90%), in both New Zealand and Australia. However, smaller businesses in both countries are well behind the larger firms in their use of email, acquisition of domain names and establishment of Web sites.

Any comparison between the figures should make allowance for the six month gap between the New Zealand (BRC) and Australian (NOIE) surveys because business use of the Internet in both countries is growing rapidly. NOIE notes an increase in connectivity of 20% for small firms over 12 months from February 1999 to February 2000. Assuming this has continued since then, it would be reasonable to project a further 10% increase on the Australian figures to August 2000. On this basis, even allowing for the projected growth, from Table 2.1 it appears that New Zealand firms of comparable size are ahead of their Australian counterparts in the use of email, with 65% for firms with less than 6 FTES and 83% for firms with 6 to 19 FTES, compared with 54% for Australian firms with 19 or fewer FTES.

Figures for firms of any size with their own domain name or Web sites are well below saturation level in both countries. Again, as shown in Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1, small and medium New Zealand firms appear to be ahead of their Australian counterparts with figures of 29% and 47% for New Zealand compared with 25% for Australia. There is a similarly large difference in use of domain names and the Web by larger firms in the two countries (68% for New Zealand, 56% for Australia).

Table 2.1: Business Use of Email and Domain Names (Australia and New Zealand)

* Australian data for firms with 19 or fewer FTES are combined

Figure 2.1: Business Use of Email and Domain Name Holders, All Firms (Australia and New Zealand)

In Table 2.2, comparisons of Internet use across business sectors in the two countries reveal similar trends. Note that for New Zealand, numbers of respondents included in some entries in Table 2.2 are too small for differences to be regarded as being significant statistically. They are indicative only. Nevertheless, in the case of small and medium firms (less than 20 FTES), New Zealand firms appear to be making consistently greater use of the Internet compared with their Australian counterparts.

Table 2.2: Businesses Connected to the Internet (by Sector, New Zealand and Australia)

* Not reported

In both countries, levels of usage with of the sectors are very similar. However, for smaller firms in both countries, "business services" firms stand out in their use of the Internet. New Zealand small "primary sector" firms appear to be well behind the others while "ICT" firms are at similar levels to "business services" firms (comparable Australian figures are not available for these sectors).

Table 2.3 shows the use of the Internet by location for New Zealand firms only. While there is a small bias in favour of smaller firms in provincial and rural areas, this is probably insufficient to explain the differences observed. It seems that firms outside the main centres are less likely to be making use of the Internet and this is especially the case with domain names or Web sites.

Table 2.3: Businesses Connected to the Internet (by Location, New Zealand Only)

²Small Business Index, June 2000. The National Office for the Information Economy, Canberra, Australia (http://www.pacificaccess.com.au/sbi/sbi_reports/sbimay99.pdf)