Ecommerce shunned by two-thirds of UK execs

NEWS Two-thirds of the UK's business leaders are not deploying an ecommerce strategy because they do not believe it will have a significant impact on the way their companies work. That's one of the findings of research conducted by the Cranfield School of Management and Microsoft called 'Business Barometer 2'. In addition, 69 per cent of those questioned said although they can't see the benefit of ecommerce to their own companies, they do expect to lose customers to Asian-Pacific and US competitors who do have an online presence. Steven Sonsino, lecturer in strategy at Cranfield School of Management, said he's confused by the results. He told silicon.com: "I think CEOs and senior directors see a clear need for ecommerce and ebusiness, but what concerns us is that they seem to see it only as an extra channel to market." Anna Green, spokesperson for Microsoft, said: "These people need to pull their heads out of the sand and look around. The time to take the plunge is now - otherwise not only will the UK lose out to the US but to the rest of Europe as well." But Tony Clifford-Winters, principal consultant at ecommerce advisors Sitdl, said: "It's fair to say the majority of UK firms are not doing enough, but to say they are doing nothing is very misleading." He added: "I suspect the figures are slanted towards companies who aren't doing much - hence their presence at Cranfield." Thirty per cent of respondents also said that customer involvement in ecommerce is not needed. Sonsino said: "They need to involve customers in shaping their ebusiness services and strategies. They don't appear to be doing that at the moment, neither do they be appearing to treat Web customers any different from non-Web customers - and that's got to change." The survey questioned 500 CEOs and IT executives in UK companies.