The Government is trying to make Britain the centre of European e-commerce.
I can't get my head round this concept, because the internet makes a nonsense of geography. When you look at a web site, do you know where it is based?
Do you even think about it? And what do you mean by 'based'? Is it where the host computer is? Is it where the company that runs it is? What about mirror sites? If we try to measure the value or size of the UK e-commerce industry, what are we counting?
Do we mean the number of internet specialists and the like? There are indeed areas with more activity than others. The roof of London's Smithfield Market is packed to the rafters (literally) with busy e-bees. But one roof does not make a town (I love meaningless aphorisms). Most e-bees are found within 'ordinary' companies, but how do we count these? If a company has really got the hang of e-commerce, every employee will live and breathe interactivity.
Another problem. Say a manufacturer in Birmingham gets its web site built by a Dutch consultancy that uses American graphic designers and Indian programmers. How do you divvy up the benefits? (Parenthetical ramble: the Government is encouraging people with much-needed skills to come to the UK. Now is it more ethical - as in foreign policy - to encourage an Indian programmer to come to the UK, or to do the same job at home and keep the economic benefits there?)
Having been unhelpfully negative, I'd like to suggest a way in which national competitiveness can be both measured and improved. Economic success in the next few years will largely be related to how rapidly and completely top managers in a country 'get' e-business - understand its potential, and make darned sure it is exploited. This could be measured with a simple survey, resulting in the Top Executive Get-itness Index (TEGI).
And top executives (the Great and the Good) are one group the Government really can influence. They could get low TEGI scorers into a room, put a glass of champagne in their hand, and shout at them.
Or shoot them. Doesn't matter which.
David Bowen is editor-in-chief of Net Profit, an e-business publishing and research company.
Tel: 020 7403 1140; www.netprofit.co.uk.
Comment - Journey to the centre of the internet.
The Government is trying to make Britain the centre of European e-commerce.
I can't get my head round this concept, because the internet makes a nonsense of geography. When you look at a web site, do you know where it is based?
Do you even think about it? And what do you mean by 'based'? Is it where the host computer is? Is it where the company that runs it is? What about mirror sites? If we try to measure the value or size of the UK e-commerce industry, what are we counting?
Do we mean the number of internet specialists and the like? There are indeed areas with more activity than others. The roof of London's Smithfield Market is packed to the rafters (literally) with busy e-bees. But one roof does not make a town (I love meaningless aphorisms). Most e-bees are found within 'ordinary' companies, but how do we count these? If a company has really got the hang of e-commerce, every employee will live and breathe interactivity.
Another problem. Say a manufacturer in Birmingham gets its web site built by a Dutch consultancy that uses American graphic designers and Indian programmers. How do you divvy up the benefits? (Parenthetical ramble: the Government is encouraging people with much-needed skills to come to the UK. Now is it more ethical - as in foreign policy - to encourage an Indian programmer to come to the UK, or to do the same job at home and keep the economic benefits there?)
Having been unhelpfully negative, I'd like to suggest a way in which national competitiveness can be both measured and improved. Economic success in the next few years will largely be related to how rapidly and completely top managers in a country 'get' e-business - understand its potential, and make darned sure it is exploited. This could be measured with a simple survey, resulting in the Top Executive Get-itness Index (TEGI).
And top executives (the Great and the Good) are one group the Government really can influence. They could get low TEGI scorers into a room, put a glass of champagne in their hand, and shout at them.
Or shoot them. Doesn't matter which.
David Bowen is editor-in-chief of Net Profit, an e-business publishing and research company.
Tel: 020 7403 1140; www.netprofit.co.uk.
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