Introduction
"There has been much public debate in recent months about New Zealand's readiness to capitalise upon the benefits promised by the emerging phenomenon of electronic commerce. Although the measures by which this can be reliably assessed are only just being developed, analysis of existing statistics has posed a contradictory picture. While New Zealand has figured prominently in international comparisons in measures of preparedness, such as the number of Internet hosts per 1000 people, measures of actual commercial uptake of Internet-based commercial activity, such as secure servers per 1 million people, have indicated that New Zealand lags some countries, such as Australia, over which it has an apparent preparedness advantage. This has led some to conclude that, while New Zealand is strong in its uptake of infrastructure and in its use of technology4, a range of local factors - such as an internationally low research and development investment, difficulty in accessing venture capital, culture and level of educational attainment - are hampering development and utilisation of the business opportunities offered by new technologies5. There is also a perception that small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) are the most disadvantaged by this environment, and thus are the least likely to be either participating, or planning to participate, in electronic commerce6.
Conflicting and confusing assessments of New Zealand's state have arisen in part because of a lack of clarity of what "electronic commerce" actually is, and what statistics and benchmarks should be used to measure both relative and absolute performance. The picture has been further clouded by the speed of growth and evolution of the new technologies which facilitate electronic exchange, and the difficulties of separating out and independently measuring the key, and often intangible, features which electronic exchange is enabling: convenience, variety, improved quality, timeliness and ease of access to information.
However, with the release of the New Zealand Government's Electronic Commerce strategy7, and growing concerns about the ability of New Zealanders and New Zealand firms to compete in an electronically-enabled global market, it is timely to take a "snapshot" of New Zealand's current position, both to identify strengths and weaknesses, and to inform policy development."
These words set the opening scene in ISCR's document The State of e-New Zealand, written in September 2000. While this document provides a "snapshot" of New Zealand's "connectivity" in relation to electronic commerce infrastructures, the conclusion to this report strongly recommends that:
"ongoing research is required to identify and validate other current and emerging influences upon both electronic commerce generally, and an information-based economy specifically".
This scoping study forms part of the wider objectives of research into the impacts of the information-based economy on New Zealand's economy.
The purpose of this study, commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Development, is to undertake a scoping exercise to determine the issues underpinning New Zealand's ability as a nation to assess its performance in the field of Electronic Commerce. The intention is that the study will lead to the commissioning of a project to undertake regular and routine measurement of New Zealand's performance:
- over time, to measure iterative improvement
- comparative to both New Zealand and overseas benchmarks
in order to facilitate understanding of the development of the nation's economy and to inform the policy-making process.
In addition, the report also provides recommendations for additional research that will further enhance understanding of the how electronic commerce in particular, and information technologies in general, are drivers of wider economic and social performance in New Zealand. This research is intended to inform the government policy-making process, to facilitate better decision-making with respect to the development of the information and technology environment in New Zealand.
The brief for this scoping exercise is contained in Appendix 1.
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