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Does Ebusiness Mean Good Business?

Does Ebusiness Mean Good Business?

European companies leading in the take-up of ebusiness are more likely to engage on social and environmental issues, according to a MORI survey. The research was commissioned by Forum for the Future for the European Commission-funded project Digital Europe. For the survey, Corporate Social Responsibility practitioners and IT practitioners in large UK and Northern European companies were interviewed. This was to evaluate their ebusiness practices and performance in sustainable development, and then used statistical techniques such as factor analysis and cluster analysis to identify a link between the two.

21 May 2003

Science

Ebusiness has also had an impact on companies' communication with their external and internal stakeholders. Almost three in five (57%) companies use the internet to report on their social and environmental performance and more than two-fifths (44%) say ebusiness is very or fairly important in the measurement of their social and environmental performance.

Topline Results

MORI interviewed a CSR practitioner and an ebusiness practitioner from each of 100 companies based in UK, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Ireland.
Companies were from the top 1,000 UK companies by turnover, or were of a comparable size.
Fieldwork was conducted by telephone between 8-24 July 2002.
Base (unless otherwise stated): all companies (100)
Percentages may not add up to 100% -- this is due to rounding, exclusion of not stated, or multiple response answers.
An asterisk represents percentages greater than 0 and less than 0.5

CSR Practitioner Section

Q1 Which of the following items does your company measure or monitor? You do not have to give me the actual figures, we are just interested in whether they are measured by the company.

	Yes	No	Don't Know
	%	%	%
Its material use	80	16	4
Its energy use	91	7	2
Its water use	79	19	2
Its greenhouse gas emissions	57	38	5
The amount of waste it creates	84	12	4
Its recycling and/or product reuse	83	14	3
The miles travelled by its employees for commuting	29	69	2
The miles travelled by its employees for business	75	22	3
The level of employee satisfaction	86	13	1
The number of commercial vehicles it has	74	20	6
The amount of office space it uses	80	16	4
The proportion of people with disabilities it employs	71	18	11
The proportion of people from ethnic minorities it employs	59	32	9
The proportion of women it employs	71	23	6
Its suppliers' environmental and/or social performance	63	34	3
The proportion of its workforce using flexible working (that is, working from locations remote from the office, such as at home)	60	32	8

And for each of these items, could you tell me whether levels have recently been increasing, decreasing or staying around the same in your company?

Base: All Who Measure / Monitor At Least Four Items At Q1

	Base size	Increased	Decreased	Stayed the same	Don't know	Refused
	n	%	%	%	%	%
The efficiency of its material use	(80)	74	1	13	11	1
Its energy efficiency	(91)	71	5	11	11	1
The efficiency of its water use	(79)	61	4	24	10	1
Its greenhouse gas emissions	(57)	7	60	19	12	2
The amount of waste it creates	(84)	20	51	17	11	1
The rate of recycling and / or product reuse	(83)	71	7	18	2	1
The average mileage travelled by its employees for commuting	(29)	14	38	28	21	0
The average mileage travelled by its employees for business	(75)	27	12	32	29	0
The level of employee satisfaction	(86)	49	7	29	14	1
The efficiency of use of its commercial vehicles	(74)	41	11	26	23	0
The efficiency of its use of office space	(80)	60	8	23	9	1
The proportion of people with disabilities it employs	(71)	11	3	45	39	1
The proportion of people from ethnic minorities it employs	(59)	25	2	31	41	2
The proportion of women it employs	(71)	42	0	28	28	1
The proportion of its suppliers addressing their environmental and/or social performance	(63)	78	0	14	8	0
The proportion of its workforce using flexible working (that is, working from locations remote from the office, such as at home)	(60)	70	5	17	8	0

I would now like to ask about ebusiness, that is the use of digital technologies in business activities, such as e-procurement, video-conferencing and company intranets.

Q3 In which ways, if any, do you think ebusiness has enabled your company to improve its social and environmental performance?

	%
Easier / faster communication	20
Reduces the amount of paper used	20
Reduces the need to travel	17
Increased our efficiency	13
Saves time	10
Use of video conferencing	9
Other	13
None / no answer	28
Don't know	11

Q4 You said earlier that in your company has increased / decreased in the last few years. To what extent, if at all, would you say that ebusiness has contributed to this change in your company? Would you say ... ?

	Base size	A great deal	A fair amount	Not very much	Not at all	Don't Know
	n	%	%	%	%	%
The efficiency of its material use	(60)	7	20	35	35	3
Its energy efficiency	(70)	9	16	39	30	7
The efficiency of its water use	(51)	6	8	24	57	6
Its greenhouse gas emissions	(38)	11	11	13	50	16
The amount of waste it creates	(60)	3	28	33	28	7
The rate of recycling and/or product reuse	(65)	8	23	31	35	3
The average mileage travelled by its employees for commuting	(15)	0	7	47	47	0
The average mileage travelled by its employees for business	(29)	3	31	34	31	0
The level of employee satisfaction	(48)	10	27	35	23	4
The efficiency of use of its commercial vehicles	(38)	3	18	42	29	8
The efficiency of its use of office space	(54)	9	30	33	22	6
The proportion of people with disabilities it employs	(10)	20	10	10	50	10
The proportion of people from ethnic minorities it employs	(16)	6	0	13	81	0
The proportion of women it employs	(30)	0	17	27	50	7
The proportion of its suppliers addressing their environmental and/or social performance	(49)	4	20	35	31	10
The proportion of its workforce using flexible working (that is, working from locations remote from the office, such as at home)	(45)	27	42	13	16	2

Q5 To what extent would you say ebusiness is used in your company's communication with the following stakeholder groups? For example, this might be through the use of the internet, extranets or online databases. Would you say a great deal, a fair amount, not very much or not at all?

	A great deal	A fair amount	Not a lot	Not at all	Don't Know	N/A
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Customers	31	46	15	4	2	2
Employees	52	31	9	6	1	1
Shareholders	17	20	20	19	14	10
Suppliers	28	42	21	5	3	1
Subsidiary companies, different sites or parts of your operations	40	28	14	6	4	8
Trade unions	6	16	21	27	13	17
Government	4	23	32	23	9	9
NGOs (Non-governmental organisations, e.g. not-for-profit bodies working for a cause)	8	26	27	22	10	7
The media	16	44	23	10	4	3
The local community in which your company operates (e.g. residents local to your sites)	8	12	33	20	9	18

Q6 And in general, would you say that the use of ebusiness has increased, decreased or had no effect on the quality of communication with your stakeholders? And is that significantly or slightly?

Base: All Saying A Great Deal/Fair Amount (70)

	%
Significantly increased	60
Slightly increased	26
No effect	7
Slightly decreased	0
Significantly decreased	0
Don't know	7

Q7 And how important would you say ebusiness is in how your company measures its social and environmental performance? Would you say ... ?

	%
Very important	12
Fairly important	32
Neither	24
Fairly unimportant	21
Very unimportant	7
Don't know	4

Q8 And how important would you say ebusiness is in collating the information on your company's social and environmental performance that is collected by different sites, divisions or parts of the business? Would you say ... ?

	%
Very important	19
Fairly important	32
Neither	25
Fairly unimportant	16
Very unimportant	6
Don't know	2

Q9 Does your company publish a report on its social and/or environmental performance, either as a separate document or as part of the Annual Report?

	%
Yes -- separate social / environmental report	24
Yes -- social and environmental report integrated with Annual Report	52
No -- do not currently produce social / environmental report	21
Don't know	3

Q10 Does your company publish this social/environmental report online?

Base: Yes (76)

	%
Yes -- online only	8
Yes -- both online and offline	67
No -- offline only	21
Don't know	4

Q11 Does your company publish any other additional information about its social or environmental performance on your website?

	%
Yes	46
No	46
Don't know	8

IT Practitioner Section

Q12 I would like to ask about ebusiness, that is the use of digital technologies in business activities, such as e-procurement, video-conferencing and company intranets.

	%
Ebusiness is not used at all	4
Ebusiness is not used very much	11
Ebusiness is used a fair amount	30
Ebusiness is used a great deal	40
Ebusiness is fully integrated	15
Don't know	0

Q13 To what extent does your company use each of the following ebusiness applications, if at all, in its relations with suppliers? Would you say a great deal, a fair amount, not very much or not at all?

	Not at all	Not very much	A fair amount	A great deal	Don't Know
	%	%	%	%	%
E-procurement	19	28	38	11	4
Exchanges / e-marketplaces	33	32	22	10	3
Ebusiness in order scheduling and tracking	17	30	36	12	5
Electronic payments	15	4	14	64	3
Ebusiness in inventory management	19	23	34	16	8
Use of shared online spaces for collaborative working	33	37	16	8	6

Q14 To what extent does your company use each of the following ebusiness applications, if at all, in its relations with customers? Would you say a great deal, a fair amount, not very much or not at all?

	Not at all	Not very much	A fair amount	A great deal	Don't Know
	%	%	%	%	%
Market segmentation using customer databases, etc.	11	14	41	29	5
e-CRM (customer relationship management)	26	42	17	13	2
Ebusiness in the processing of orders	20	32	26	16	6
Ebusiness in the tracking of orders	28	27	22	18	5
Ebusiness in billing / invoicing	28	25	23	17	7
Electronic payments	15	3	18	59	5
Exchanges / e-marketplaces	15	31	31	18	5
Online product information	7	9	19	62	3
Videoconferencing	22	22	29	23	4
Ebusiness in customer services	29	40	17	11	3
Ebusiness in project management	29	33	22	8	8
Ebusiness in a fully-integrated customer contact system	30	42	14	8	6

Q15 To what extent does your company use each of the following ebusiness applications, if at all, in its relations with employees? Would you say a great deal, a fair amount, not very much or not at all?

	Not at all	Not very much	A fair amount	A great deal	Don't Know
	%	%	%	%	%
e-learning	19	38	32	9	2
Ebusiness in recruitment	14	14	37	32	3
Ebusiness in payroll and remuneration support	49	25	12	7	7
Ebusiness in expenses processing	62	20	5	9	4
Remote working (through remote access to company servers)	7	24	36	32	1
Ebusiness in car sharing arrangements	90	5	1	2	2
Intranet	4	4	30	62	0

Q16 To what extent does your company use ebusiness applications, if at all, in the following areas? Would you say a great deal, a fair amount, not very much or not at all?

	Not at all	Not very much	A fair amount	A great deal	Don't Know
	%	%	%	%	%
Production management	44	29	15	8	4
Energy management	26	44	14	4	12

Q17 Approximately, what percentage of employees would you say are set up for remote working, that is have remote access to office computer systems?

	%
0%	2
1-5%	20
6-10%	14
11-15%	7
16-20%	12
21-30%	14
31-40%	10
41-50%	11
51-75%	1
76-100%	5
Don't know	4

Q18 Approximately, what percentage of employees would you say are involved in e-learning?

	%
0%	21
1-5%	17
6-10%	9
11-20%	6
21-30%	7
31-40%	4
41-50%	6
51-75%	3
76-100%	18
Don't know	9

Q19 Approximately, what percentage of the total value of your sales would you say are made on-line?

	%
0%	27
1-5%	13
6-10%	3
11-20%	5
21-50%	5
76-100%	3
Don't know	44

Q20 Approximately, what percentage of the total number of purchases would you say are made on-line?

	%
0%	23
1-5%	10
6-10%	4
11-20%	4
21-30%	3
31-50%	5
76-100%	1
Don't know	50

Q21 Has your company decentralised the geographical location of any of its activities in the last 10 years?

	%
Yes	31
No	61
Don't know	8

Q22 Which activities were decentralised? Was it ... ?

Base: Yes (31)

	%
Back-office activities	77
Production activities	32
Assembling activities	19
Management activities	68
Sales	10
Other	19
Don't know	0

Q23 How much has ebusiness contributed to the decentralisation process for each of the following activities? Would you say a great deal, a fair amount, not very much or not at all?

Base: Each Mentioning Activity

	Base size	Not at all	Not very much	A fair amount	A great deal	Don't Know
	n	%	%	%	%	%
Back-office activities	(24)	4	46	33	13	4
Production activities	(10)	50	30	10	0	10
Assembling activities	(6)	17	50	17	0	17
Management activities	(21)	10	48	38	0	5
Other	(6)	67	17	0	17	0

Q24 Principle activity:

	%
Utilities	6
Mining / minerals / natural resources	8
Technology / media / telecoms	8
dot-com / internet	0
Construction	3
Manufacturing	24
Transport / distribution	8
Services / retailing	15
Financial / Banking	14
Other	14

Q25 Number of employees in this country (including subsidiary companies):

	%
1-99	6
100-499	16
500-999	26
1000-1,999	11
2,000 -- 4,999	26
5,000 -- 14,999	14
15,000 -- 24,999	0
25,000 -- 49,999	1
50,000+	0

Q26 International operations:

	%
Yes -- European	27
Yes -- worldwide	50
No	23

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