The State of the Nation report 2006/2007
Executive Summary

This is the fourth report to be produced by the eCommerce Innovation Centre (eCIC) at Cardiff University within its role as Centre of Excellence for the Opportunity Wales programme. It presents the results of a survey of 2553 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Wales in late 2006 and early 2007 and focuses on the adoption, use and progress in implementing eBusiness. Additionally this year we provide results for businesses which have received support through the Opportunity Wales programme.

In order to bring the report into line with accepted practice among comparable surveys, the results are reported separately for businesses with one or more employees and for those businesses with no employees. Where appropriate, results for businesses with employees are broken down further into size bands of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

Key findings by size

• 58.6% of SMEs with employees in Wales are connected to the Internet which translates to 53.9% of micro, 77.7% of small and 90.9% of medium-sized businesses.
• 78.3% of connected SMEs with employees use broadband to connect to the Internet.
• 71.5% of SMEs with employees have a Web site, with the highest proportion (85.4%) within medium-sized businesses.
• 17.7% of connected businesses with employees sell on-line.
• 69.5% of connected businesses with employees purchase goods or services on-line.

Key findings by industry sector

• The Finance, Property and Business Services sector reported the highest proportion of businesses connected to the Internet at 75.5%, with the Hotels and Restaurants sector reporting the smallest proportion at 41%.
• Broadband is most widely used in the Manufacturing sector, with 81.4% of businesses reporting use of the technology to connect to the Internet.
• The Finance, Property and Business Service and Manufacturing sectors reported the greatest proportion of businesses with a Web site at 81% and 81.4% respectively. The lowest figure was reported for the Construction sector at 37.5%.
• The Other Services sector reported the highest percentage of businesses receiving on-line payments at 66.7%.
• The Agriculture sector reported the highest percentage of businesses purchasing goods and services on-line at 78.1%.

Key findings by region

Results are reported for Objective 1 and non-Objective 1 areas, and for seven geographic regions of Wales.

• In the Objective 1 area of Wales 57% of businesses are connected to the Internet, compared to 61.2% of businesses in non-Objective 1 areas.
• 71.4% of businesses in the Objective 1 area have a Web site, compared to 71.3% in the non-Objective 1 areas.
• 38.5% of businesses based in the Objective 1 area have received on-line payments, compared to 59.7% of non-Objective 1 based businesses.
• The highest level of Internet access is found in Region 3 (Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan) at 62.3%.
• Region 5 (Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen) reported the highest proportion of businesses with a Web site.
• Region 7 (Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire) has the highest proportion of businesses who have received on-line payments.

Opportunity Wales clients

• 74.2% of Opportunity Wales clients with employees are using broadband to access the Internet.
• 82.2% of clients with employees have a business Web site compared 69.9% of non-clients.
• 35.7% of clients with employees sell goods or services on-line, compared to 19.9% of non-clients.
• 19.2% of clients with employees have a documented eBusiness strategy compared to 10.2% of non-clients.
• 13.7% of clients cited high set-up costs as the main barrier to eBusiness adoption compared to 10.9% of non-clients. This is the most commonly identified barrier among all businesses.

Full report

The full report is now available and can be found here.