SEAMATE newsletter no4

Socio-Economic Analysis and Macro-modelling of Adapting to Information Technologies in Europe

Newsletter 4

BUSINESS IMPACTS

Trends of IST on business adoption in different sectors: Productivity, investment, value chains, employment and skills

www.seamate.net SEAMATE is a project within the fifth framework programm of the European Union IST Information Society Technologies

Business Impacts 4

Anja Koutsoutos Economist, BIBA PLT-Production Resources, Bremen

NEWSLETTER

THIS NEWSLETTER ...

The objective of SEAMATE is to analyse the impacts of Information Society Technology (IST) within the context of the European Union and national policies. Based on the state of the art knowledge in the fields of technology, economy and society, an estimation of IST impacts and possible strategies of adapting to IST has been elaborated. Expected trends in the development of fields related with IST development have been estimated and used as the basis for developing alternative macro-economic scenarios for the European economies.

The results of this research project have been considered alongside European policies and implications for future policies identified.

Finally, SEAMATE draws up suggestions for new statistical classifications and data to be collected in order to provide policy makers with relevant information on which to base their future decisions.

... focuses on the business impacts of IST, in particular on productivity, business models, investment activities, sectoral value chains, employment and skills. The idea behind this newsletter is to illustrate how the diverse economic sectors respond to these new challenges taking into consideration the highly complex structure of business related innovations.

The newsletter investigates, whether IST really help to facilitate business processes or to establish new partnerships and new ways of working. Details can be found in the complete Deliverables (see last page of this newsletter).

SEAMATE • NEWSLETTER 4

The results are meant to be taken up by policy makers in the field of economy to monitor and steer the process of emerging IST. Other target groups are policy makers in the areas of research and the specific individual sectors. They might find the information provided in this newsletter helpful to interpret trends they observe and to establish correlations between the development of society and its technologies. From the considerations presented in this newsletter, potential turning points should become clear and, hopefully, support in finding alternative solutions will be provided.

The overall objective of investigating business impacts of IST (WP 2) is the qualitative assessment of changes in business organisation and the structure of production. The work undertaken in SEAMATE includes the development of a theoretical framework for the analysis of knowledge production in the industry/economy domain, a desk study on impacts of IST on business economy, a survey of practical experiences of European enterprises with IST adoption in different economic sectors, and finally the presentation of conclusions for sectoral impacts of IST to discuss the problem of measuring the impacts of IST and derive impact indicators for the business economy and its related industries in terms of socio-economic aspects.

Results

OF COMPARATIVE SECTOR SURVEYS WITHIN SEAMATE

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SECTORS Our general findings indicate that although the sectors are very committed to meeting changing customer requirements, separating the specific effects of e-commerce from this general trend is actually very difficult.

Most of the cases examined show that e-commerce was implemented as a response to a problem, rather than as a strategic tool in its own right.

To an extent, this is understandable as most sectors are basically committed to responding to customer requirements (as for example the logistics, the travel or the financial sector).

The degree of the impact of IST on enterprises is also dependent on the product area in which the new technology is integrated. The printing sector, for instance, is a very good example for the possibility of full substitution of parts of the production process through the digitisation of the workflow. As a response, even small print companies are diversifying from traditional print products into cross media services, such as multimedia design and layout and can thereby extend their value chain.

This characteristic feature is seen also in the financial sector were more and more banking services are undertaken online. As a consequence, the entire business strategies with respect to banking or printing processes have to be changed. What is to be seen from the surveys in SEAMATE WP 2 is, that the aim of the different companies is to increase their efficiency and profits which entails that the employment side is also massively affected. Some enterprises stated that they have to shift employees within enterprises or dismiss a large number employees; this trend can be observed in the current market for the banking area, for instance.

The banking, travelling, publishing/ printing and also the logistics sector seem to be the most advanced today.

An important motor of IST adoption is the competition between actors in one sector on the market. For example: The reason why the automotive sector is more advanced than others lies in the very strong competition in the automobile market and in the mergers and acquisition strategies of the automobile industry. The entire automobile sector faces a very high price pressure as opposed, for example, to the chemical industry.

Despite this situation and efforts to extend the profit

SEAMATE • NEWSLETTER 4

IST PROGRESS MATRIX OF DIFFERENT ECONOMIC SECTORS

* Suitability of products for e-commerce/ e-business activities

Sources: Qualitative estimations derived from WP 2 sector research

margin, automotive players pay more attention to the optimisation of logistical processes within the supply chain. SCM (supply chain management) is, besides CRM (customer relationship management), the most advanced application area for IST solutions.

By the way of concluding, it can be summarised that the strongest impact of e-business is on internal work processes; its impact on organisational structures and functional processes is only considered important in larger companies - there is no great need to restructure processes in companies with one or two employees.

The fact that smaller companies are not yet or generally not in the position to adopt and integrate IST solutions in the way larger companies do, is not astonishing. The greatest obstacles are financing issues, the uncertainty of the new technology developments on the market, the uncertainty as to when a return on investment can be expected etc. Therefore, many SMEs decide to use the internet mainly for marketing purposes and stay in the waiting position for all other IST developments. This is not possible, however, if suppliers have to adopt a certain technology in order to assure compatibility with the system of the OEM (original equipment manufacturer, e.g. BMW, FORD etc.), for instance, or if they have to cooperate with their main customers, e.g. in the automobile sector. In this case SMEs know that this IT investment guarantees a favourable order situation.

SEAMATE • NEWSLETTER 4

IST IMPACTS ON PRODUCTIVITY AND INVESTMENT For a long time, it was difficult to find evidence for the productivity-improving effects of investments in IST at the macro level. On the micro or company level, there is ample evidence for such effects. Furthermore, several studies on company level have proved that investments in IST will only result in an increase in productivity after a certain time, as it takes time to introduce and implement these investments in a business environment.

Simultaneous investments in organisational reforms are thus required to fully (and timely) reap the benefits of IST investments. Besides the time lag, investments in intangibles and (in combination with) IST hardware are assumed to generate spillover effects.

RESULTS

In our interviews, many companies pointed out that organisational changes, especially in combination with investments in IT, seems to lead to a considerable increase in productivity and output in many cases. We expect that this is even more probable in the case of investments in internet technologies in order to improve efficiency (supply-chain management, e-commerce etc.) since this technology can also be seen as a general purpose technology.

■ One important outcome is that the companies face difficulties in estimating or assessing the exact impact of IST on their performance and rentability. They do not use sufficient controlling or development indicators (or better: they do not know how to measure the effects), to make these effects of implementation more sizable, concrete and transparent.

■ One important key factor why companies introduce IST solutions is the expected reduction in production costs. Enterprises in most sectors have difficulties in measuring changes in the quality of service provision inherent with many of these activities.

■ In the field of management of information systems, most companies argued that investment in IST is not the sole solution to obtain efficiency gains or productivity growth. Two different, though interrelated, arguments are: it takes time before investment in IST can have a positive effect and organisations should be reorganised in order to make investments in IST profitable.

It has been argued that the newer generation of e-commerce applications has not had as big an impact as initially envisaged, and this was evident across all sectors.

IMPACT ON EMPLOYMENT Human beings are simultaneously the most important players in the entire game and pose the greatest challenge. If the people affected by B2B do not learn how to rise to the potential offered by B2B and its accompanying processes, very little of the potential savings will be realised.

Due to technological developments and the implementation of new processes most of the surveyed European industries required their staff to undergo extra training. In many cases, the quality of staff training was seen as a major element in their ability to remain competitive.

Digitisation considerably changes the workflow and value chain within companies. Certain activities become obsolete or are taken over by other actors. Take, for example, the editing of audio and video material in journalistic production in the publishing/printing sector: formerly the journalist would deliver analogue raw material to be edited into broadcast form by specialists, today they can produce the final piece directly on their laptop and send it to the newsroom just in time for broadcasting. Such workflow changes reduce the need for employees with specific knowledge in some cases (e.g. editors in the newsroom), but require training in the new tasks and the supporting technologies for other employees (e.g. the journalists themselves).

The high level of IT usage in sectors like publishing or banking also poses high demands on the IT skills of employees. In many cases, employees do not only need a basic knowledge in using e-mail and the WWW, but also the ability to use sector specific applications, e.g. for processing print jobs or for editing audio and video material. Especially for the latter, employees have to acquire new basic technical knowledge going far beyond the knowledge they acquired in their traditional education. The survey has shown that self-learning is more important than formal training.

SEAMATE • NEWSLETTER 4

Trends & Conclusions

IST IMPACTS IN ECONOMIC SECTORS

IST and e-business experts point out that the next stage and challenge in the e-business (r)evolution which many companies will have to manage is to integrate the "e" into their general business processes, instead of conducting e-commerce as a separate business, as it is still the reality in many companies.

External relations between the company, its customers (be it other businesses or consumers), suppliers and co-operating partners as well as internal processes within the enterprise will be closely tied to each other with the support of information technology and communication networks. Supply chain management, marketing and sales, logistics and delivery, after sales services, as well as other more horizontal business functions (e.g. knowledge management, finance) will all be integrated as parts of an overall (electronic) business strategy.

As our investigations show, each economic sector will move forward at its own pace with the implementation of e-commerce. Companies will therefore experience its impact differently, according to the sector they work in. It is, in fact, possible that the impact of e-commerce technologies and practices on businesses will be of the same magnitude in the current decade as the impact of management techniques, such as just-intime or total quality management in the 1990’s.

MAIN CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM WP 2 WORK ■ Simple e-commerce solutions As e-business front-runners, a large part of the companies have established e-commerce solutions during the last couple of years. E-commerce is prevalent in the tourism, transport and retail sectors, and to some extent in the biotechnology and new media sectors.

It is evident from the analysis that most e-commerce solutions are not integrated into production and administrative systems (e.g. Enterprise Ressource planning (ERP) systems), thus limiting the functionality and rationalisation effects considerably. Moreover, the introduction of e-commerce often fails to be followed by a reor-

SEAMATE • NEWSLETTER 4

The most important means for staying competitive within the next years are seen from most enterprises in the enhancement of customer care. The usage of CRM software is here the most integrated system. ganisation of existing procedures (business process reengineering (BPR) process), which also inhibits the utilisation of e-commerce.

■ Access to the Internet, for example, is severely restricted to specific departments or employees.

■ Advanced e-business solutions require a high level of managerial skills and are always cost intensive.

Therefore, sophisticated solutions are mostly used by larger enterprises, and here also only by specific sectors.

■ According to the opinion of most of the companies surveyed, the most important factor for staying competitive within the next few years is tthe enhancement of customer care. IN this respect, the usage of CRM software is here the most integrated system.

■ SME front-runners throughout the EU are currently adopting e-commerce systems, and many companies appear to prioritise the establishment of simple solutions rather than none at all. The implementation of more advanced solutions, providing on-line interaction with customers, is developing very slowly.

■ We can resume that the type of company in relation to its size also directly affects the uptake and use of IST applications, and will also partially determine the type of applications required.

■ The banking, travelling, publishing/printing and also the logistics sector seem to be the most advanced sectors so far. But also here, we have to note that even the upper part of the value chain (e.g. linking supplier with manufacturer) may still be several years from complete “e-coordination”.

■ In other more fragmented sectors, like chemical or other manufacturing sectors (textiles, metal products etc.), complete coordination is more hypothetical and it is more likely that “pockets” or “islands” of e-coordination will emerge instead.

TRENDS & CONCLUSIONS TRENDS TRENDS & & CONCLUSIONS CONCLUSIONS

E-commerce response toto aa ■■ e-commerce e-commerce was was implemented implemented as as aa response problem,rather ratherthan thanas asaastrategic strategictool toolininits itsown ownright, right, problem, mostsectors sectorsare are basically focusing on of responding to most sectors are basically basically ininthe thebusiness business ofresponding responding requirements (as(as forfor example the logistics or tocustomer tocustomer customer requirements requirements (as for example example the the logistics logistics the travel oror the financial sector). or orthe the travel travel orthe the financial financial sector). sector). probablydesirable desirablethat thatthe themotivation motivationfor forchanchan■■ ItItisisprobably gecomes comesfrom fromthe theusers usersofoflogistics, logistics,financial financialor orother other ge kindofofservices servicesas asthis thiswill willtend tendtotokeep keepthe theservice serviceproprokind vidersinintouch touchwith withthe theneeds needsinof clientmarmarviders inrespective respectiveclient kets. kets.

The strongest strongest impact impact ofof e-business e-business isis on on internal internal ■■ The workprocesses processes; in this respect, the on impact on the orgawork processeswhereby whereby the theimpact impact onthe theorganisatioorganisationisational structure and functional processes are consinal nalstructure structure and andfunctional functional processes processes are areconsidered considered dered more important in enterprises large enterprises is so no more more important important inin large large enterprises (There (There(there isis not not so great to restructure in companies with onlyoror one or much much need toto restructure restructure inin companies companies with with one one two two two employees). employees). employees).

Thechallenge challengeseen seenfrom fromthe theview viewofofmost mostcompanies companiesisis The not toto implement implement technology-based technology-based internet internet solutions solutions not buttotoestablish establishthe theassociated associatedorganisational organisationaland andcultucultubut ral change (primarily customer-centred service proviral change (firstly (firstly customer-centred customer-centred service service provision) provision) sion) within companies thatallow would allow information within withincompanies companies that thatwould would allow information information technotechnotechnology solutions to contribute to productivity and logy logysolutions solutions totocontribute contribute totoproductivity productivity and andprofitaprofitaprofitability. bility. bility.

Manycompanies companiespursue pursueaarather ratherdefensive defensivestrategy strategyinin Many IST implementation, implementation because because they have learned from from IST implementation, because they they have have learned theirprevious previouse-business e-businesshype. hype.Therefore Therefore technological their Thereforenot notthe thetechtechfeasibility no longerstands standslonger in the in foreground of investnological nologicalfeasibility feasibility stands longer inthe theforeground foreground ofof ment decisions but rather the the sensibility of economic investment investment decisions decisions but butrather rather thereasonable reasonable econoeconodecisions. mic micdecision. decision.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS QUESTIONS WHICH WHICH RESEARCH NEED FURTHER FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS INVESTIGATIONS NEED Depending on on the the data data that that are are available available inin different different Depending countries,work workon onIST ISTand andbusiness businessperformance performancemight might countries, addressaawide widerange rangeofofrelevant relevantquestions. questions.Key Keyquesquesaddress tions which which have have been been identified identified inin WP WP 22 and and which which tions shouldbe befurther furtheraddressed addressedwithin withinSEAMATE SEAMATEand andsubsubshould sequentresearch researchactivities activitiesinclude: include: sequent Whichparameters parameterspush motivate businesses in different ■■ Which parameters push enterprises enterprises inindifferent different secsecsectors to adopt geographical reasons, comtors torstotoadopt adopt ISTs ISTsISTs (e.g. (e.g.(e.g. geographical geographical reasons, reasons, competicompetipetition) what is the main reason choosing a certion) tion) and andand what what isis the the decision decision base basefor when when choosing choosing aa tain technology technology technology ?? ?

Howdoes does IST com■■ How doesIST ISTaffect affectproductivity productivityand and andgrowth growth growthatatat the the pany level ?What What other factors (e.g. skills, organisatiofirm firmlevel level ??What other other factors factors (e.g. (e.g. skills, skills, organisational organisational nal change) enable IST to improve business performanchange) change) enable enable IST ISTto toimprove improve business business performance performance ??

ce ?

Which Which are are the the requirements requirements of of enterprises enterprises for for the the integration integration of of IST IST technologies technologies and and challenged challenged faced faced in in the the future future of of IST IST and and enterprise enterprise development? development?

■■ How Howdoes doesIST ISTaffect affectcompetition competitionand andmarket marketbehabehaviour viourand andare arethere theredifferences differencesininI/C I/Ctechnologies technologieswhich which moreimportant importanttoto enhance firm performance are enhance firm performance ?? aremore for improving company performan■ What What characterisesfirms firmsthat thatbenefit benefitfrom fromIST? IST?Are Are ■ce characterises ? new firmsare more likelyfeatures benefit dependent onthe the new firms more likely totobenefit isisititdependent ■ What typical oforor companies that on benefit business activity (sector)? business activity (sector)? from IST? Are new businesses more likely to benefit or ■ Does Does theimpact impact ISTthe vary acrossindustries? industries?

How ■does the ofofIST vary across How success depend on business activity (sector)? important firm size? important isisfirm size?

■ Does the impact of IST vary across industries? How ■ How Howmany many use themproductively, productively, whichapplicaapplica■important use them ininwhich is the company size? tionHow stage (early, enlarged,use advanced forexample)? example)? tion stage (early, enlarged, advanced for ■ many companies IST productively, in which ■ How Howdoes doesstage theinvestment investment ISTextended affectthe theservices, different ■application the ininIST affect different (early stage, employee groups groups (manual (manual workers, university university degree degree employee workers, advanced services, for example)? workers) inenterprises enterprises workers) ??

■ How in does the investment in IST affect the different ■ Which Whichof areemployees the requirements requirements enterprises for the the ■groups are the ofofworkers, enterprises for (manual university integration ISTin technologies andchallenged challengedfaced facedinin integration ofofIST technologies degree workers) companies?and thefuture futureofof IST and enterprisedevelopment? development? the IST and enterprise ■ Which are the requirements of companies for the ■ What Whatare arethe impact indicatorsand which should bemeamea■integration impact indicators which be ofthe IST technologies of should the future chalsuredininwith order make IST impact onfirm firm levelmore more sured order totomake IST impact on level lenges respect to IST and company development? transparent transparent ■ What are??the impact indicators which should be measured in order to make IST impact on company level more transparent ?

Furthermore,there thereisisaaneed needtotodevelop developaarigorous rigorousand and Furthermore, pervasive system system toto monitor monitor the the flows flows ofof electronic electronic pervasive commerce activity, all the way down the individual commerce activity, way toto the individual There is also a needall tothe develop adown rigorous and pervasiandsystem firmlevel level analysis.

Systems formeasuring measuring onand firm ofofanalysis.

Systems for onve to monitor the flows of electronic commerce andoffline offline purchasing activity, that notonly only measures and activity, not measures activity, all purchasing the way down to thethat individual and to combuyerlevel location, but also also seller location, location, are essential. essential. buyer location, but seller are pany of analysis.

Systems for measuring on- and Theseare are importantfirst firststeps, steps, especially sincethe thedata data These important especially offline purchasing activity, which not since only measure canthen then easilybe beaggregated aggregated thecommunity community level, can easily the level, buyer location but also sellertoto location, are essential. state,and and regionallevel. level. would thenbe be possible state, regional ItItwould then possible toto These are important first steps, especially since the data estimate net gains and andthen losses economic activity estimate net gains losses inin economic activity inin from such projects can easily be aggregated to the communities, andstate, linkand these outcomes othersocisocicommunities, and totolink these outcomes community level, regional level.toto Itother would then aland and economic indicators. albe economic indicators. possible to estimate net gains and losses in econoAllofofactivity theseresearch research questions will provide data help All these questions will data totohelp mic in communities, and toprovide link these outcomes us better bettersocial understand the economic economic and quality quality ofof life life us understand the and to other and economic indicators. impacts electronic commercewill onprovide localcommunities. communities. impacts ofofelectronic on local All of these research commerce questions data to help Inaddition, addition, theywill willprovide provide vitalinformation information that canbe be Inus they vital that can better understand the economic impacts of electronic usedby bylocal local businesses guide investment decisions used businesses totoguide decisions commerce and its impacts on theinvestment quality of local comregardingphysical physical and/or web presence inaacommunity. community. regarding and/or web munities.

In addition, they willpresence provide in vital information that can be used by local businesses to guide them in investment decisions regarding physical and/or web presence in a community.

SEAMATE • • NEWSLETTER NEWSLETTER 4 4 SEAMATE

www.seamate.at www.seamate.net www.seamate.net LESSONS LESSONSFROM FROMTHE THE MODELLING MODELLINGEXERCISE EXERCISE

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE REPORTS FROM THE SEAMATE WEBSITE!

This This modelling modelling exercise exercise quantified quantified thethe macroeconomic macroeconomic ■andsectoral BUSINESS IMPACTS OFimplications IST (D 2.1) and sectoral economic economic implications of of aa broad broad selecselecThe of for the analysis presented in thisinvestreport is tion tion ofobjective of IST IST effects effects for western western Europe.

Europe.

Stronger Stronger investto investigate the actual and estimated impact of the ement ment in in IST, IST, particularly particularly in in poorer poorer economies, economies, will will help help on European enterprises with special focus toeconomy to raise raise growth growth and and contribute contribute towards towards a closing aa closing of of thethe on socio-economic issues.

This isanalysis is mainly GDP GDP per per capita capita gap, gap, but but itsits impact impact is quite quite modest. modest.

IST ISTa desk study and includes an overall assessment and surtechnology technology is is not not thethe only only component component and and thethe modelmodelvey ofexercise IST impacts on company level.

This initial investiling ling exercise has has shown shown that that other other types types of of investment investment gation is followed up with a survey of the practical expeand and thethe availability availability of of thethe right right skills skills areare also also important important riences of companies in different economic sectors, the in in stimulating stimulating growth. growth.

In In addition, addition, byby reducing reducing thethe price price findings from which are reported in Deliverable 2.2. of of certain certain products, products, e-business e-business has has anan impact impact onon conconsumer sumer prices. prices.

The The scale scale of of this this depends depends onon thethe range range of of products products likely likely toto bebe distributed distributed through through e-commere-commer■cerather SURVEY OF ICT ENTERPRISESmeans, EXPERIENCES ce ratherthan than conventional conventional means,and andononour our OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC (D 2.2) assumptions assumptions thethe impact impact isCHANGES is identifiable identifiable in in thethe macroemacroeThis Deliverable has but the aim tolarge. uncover practical expeconomic conomic price pricelevel, level, butnot notlarge.

Consequently Consequently thethe riences of European enterprises in several economic impact impact onon GDP GDP per per capita capita is is not not large. large. sectors in ISTdiscussed adoption. survey was supposed to The Thescenarios scenarios discussedThis above above measured measured thethescale scale find out whether the theoretical results identified in the and and significance significance of of specific specific IST IST effects, effects, putting putting them them in in previous Deliverable 2.1 are similar to the ongoing practhe the context context of of thethe general general path path of of economic economic developdeveloptical experiences, andresults toresults fill the theoretical gap of the ment ment in in Europe.

Europe.

These These provide provide a way a way to to evaluevaludesk study.

This was fulfilled by means of interviews of ateate thethe contribution contribution that that wider wider adoption adoption of of IST IST makes makes experts and representatives of leading businesses and totospecific specificpolicy policygoals. goals.The Theresults resultsof ofthethemodelling modelling additional secondary study of interviews among compaexercise exercise areare contingent contingent onon specific specific data data quality quality issues issues nies which were more or less successful in implementhat thatarearediscussed discussedin inthetheproject projectreport. report.In Inparticular, particular, ting IST solutions. data data on on investment investment in in IST IST assets assets and and onon thethe availabiliavailability ty of of IST IST skills skills need need toto bebe built built upup over over time time toto improve improve thethe database database available available forfor these these kinds kinds of of estimates. estimates.

MODEL-BASED MODEL-BASEDSCENARIOS SCENARIOSOFOFTHE THEMACROECONOMIC MACROECONOMIC AND ANDSTRUCTURAL STRUCTURALIMPACTS IMPACTSOFOFISTISTUSING USINGE3ME E3ME(D(D5.2) 5.2) This This report report presents presents thethe result result of of modelling modelling work work and and associated associated scenario scenario work work that that has has been been implemented implemented toto quantify quantify thethe scale scale and and significance significance of of thethe macroecomacroeconomic nomic and and sectoral sectoral economic economic implications implications of of IST IST adopadoption tionin inwestern westernEurope.

Europe.The Thework workin inthis thisdeliverable deliverable ■ IST IMPACTS ON ECONOMIC CHAINS – puts puts these these technological technological changes changes in in thethe context context of of thethe CONCLUSIONS FROM SECTOR ANALYSIS (D 2.3) general general path path of of economic economic development development and and thethe policy policy This report provides a systematic overview of the comgoals goals toto which which it it is is hoped hoped that that wider wider adoption adoption of of IST IST plex dynamics of the digital economy. A conceptual frawill willcontribute. contribute.This Thisdeliverable deliverableimplements implementsspecific specific mework has been built by literature review, data collecscenarios scenariosdrawing drawingononthematic thematicwork workundertaken undertakenin in tion and analysis, expert assessment of data and trends, other otherWorkpackages Workpackagesin inthetheSEAMATE SEAMATEproject projectin ina a scenario building and qualitative substantive debate. A major major modelling modelling exercise. exercise. specific aim is to identify and analyse feedback loops that link the performance of EU economies and the dynamic of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and related knowledge-based activities.

DOWNLOAD DOWNLOADTHE THECOMPLETE COMPLETEREPORT REPORT FROM FROMTHE THESEAMATE SEAMATEWEBSITE! WEBSITE!

PROJECT PROJECTCOORDINATOR: COORDINATOR: Anthony AnthonyBarker, Barker, Cambridge CambridgeEconometrics, Econometrics, CECECambridge CambridgeEconometrics EconometricsCovent CoventGarden GardenCB1 CB12HS 2HS Cambridge, Cambridge, Tel.: Tel: Tel.: +44 +44 +44 (0)1223/460760, (0)1223 (0)1223/460760, 460760,Fax: Fax:+44 Fax: +44 +44 (0)1223/464378, (0)1223 (0)1223/464378, 464378,E-Mail: Email:ab@camecon.com E-Mail: ab@camecon.com ab@camecon.com PROJECT PROJECTPARTNERS: PARTNERS: ISIS ISISIstituto Istitutodi diStudi StudiperperI’integrazione I’integrazionedeideiSistemi, Sistemi, Institute InstituteforforSystems SystemsIntegration IntegrationStudies Studies(I),(I), BIBA BIBAPLT-Production PLT-ProductionResources, Resources, Logistics Logisticsand and Telematics Telematics(D), (D), econcept econcept AGAG(CH), (CH), SINTEF SINTEF(N), (N), RAND RANDEurope Europe(NL), (NL), FGM-AMOR FGM-AMOR(A), (A), Swiss SwissFederal FederalStatistical StatisticalOffice Office(CH) (CH) DESIGN LAYOUT: DESIGN && LAYOUT: LAYOUT: FGM-AMOR FGM-AMOR(Photos: (Photos: FGM-AMOR, FGM-AMOR, picture picture library) library)

©© © 2004 2002 2004 by by by thethe the SEAMATE SEAMATE SEAMATE Consortium Consortium Consortium