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| being digital | economy | dot
com books | politics
| philanthropy
| connecting | copyright
| taxation | money
| e-capital | security
| censorship | who's
dot who | media | news
sources | design | accessibility
| publishing
| print | marketing
| metrics | consumers
| privacy | technologies
This guide looks at the 'new economy' -
the one that's spray-painted with dots and spattered with digits.
The guide has six parts:
This part - the Introduction -
highlight's what's new and offers some statistics
Part 1 - size
& shape - identifies major resources for understanding
the information economy and electronic commerce - what it is, how it will affect
you - and e-commerce associations, networks and accessibility questions
Part 2 - law
- looks at electronic commerce law and administration in Australia and offshore,
including questions of jurisdiction, evidence and signatures
Part 3 - globalisation
- considers globalisation
Part 4 - competition
- looks at playing fields, level or otherwise, and competition
watchdogs or policy-makers
Part 5 - voodoo
- offers perspectives on the dot com
gurus and the consulting industry
Part 6 - volatility
- looks at innovation and volatility
new and noteworthy
Hot on the heels of the EU-US 'Safe Harbor'
accord, the EU and Canada released a
Joint E-commerce Workplan
that identifies privacy as a key concern. The plan notes EU
approval for the new Canadian privacy legislation, highlights work on
mutual recognition of national seal regimes and foreshadows cooperation regarding online authentication and
security.
We've provided pointers to Safe Harbor in our privacy
guide; seals are discussed in our consumers
guide.
a new economy?
some competitors we don't believe hype about the 'old
economy' (offline, for losers, built around bricks, dead) versus the 'new economy'
(online, the future, built around clicks, vibrant).
Read our lips: it's the one economy.
The difference is between people working smarter, on the Web or
otherwise, and those who don't. We continue to shop - and live -
offline. We disagree with pundits who say that you should scrap
your business models (and blow up your existing operation, staff
included) in favour of one with a dot com label. Instead, we'll
work with you to make sense of the online world. And we'll partner
you in strategies to achieve your objectives in the only economy that
counts: the real one.
This page offers pointers - some
familiar, some new, some irreverent - to how technologies such as
electronic publishing and marketing are changing the shape of
business. It complements the guide on 'being digital' and more
specific coverage of issues such as privacy, copyright, censorship and
taxation.
some
figures
We've highlighted information sources
(and methodologies for identifying figures) in our Metrics and
Statistics guide.
The following points are based on recent NOIE statistics:
- more than six million adult
Australians were accessing the Internet at November 1999, a 100%
plus increase since February 1998. Many, of course, work in
government offices or other large organisations. The
frequency, duration and nature of that access is unclear, although
Telstra's White Pages is a major destination
- nearly 1.8 million households (25%
of all households) were connected to the Internet.
- Australia is among the global
leaders in terms of the percentage of homes connected to the
internet and total population online.
- unsurprisingly, Internet usage is
concentrated in urban areas (esp the more affluent parts):
"Australian adults and families with children that are
characterised by high incomes and reside in capital cities are
leading the way in adoption of the Internet"
- 800, 000 adult Australians had
purchased or ordered goods over the Internet in the 12 months to
November 1999, supposedly a 183% increase over the previous two
years. the impact on 'offline' retailers is unclear, as is the
extent to which consumers are 'test' shopping
- large Australian businesses have
nearly reached "saturation point in terms of Internet adoption
and are nearing saturation in home pages"
- small business shows much lower
levels of connections to the Internet, at 48%, than medium size
firms at 82%
- as of February 1999, 21% of SMEs
online "were engaged in Internet based sales, and 22% were
actively placing orders for goods and services". NOIE
doesn't reveal the significance of those sales, on an aggregate or
enterprise basis, or their profitability.
next part (Part 1: size & shape)
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