ICT Usage by Businesses: Electronic Commerce & E-Business
Although Chile is recognized for its quality ICT infrastructure, more advanced uses of ICT by businesses are limited. While slightly fewer than 100% of large to medium size firms in addition to 40% of SMEs were connected to the Internet, businesses within Chile have yet to fully exploit the advantages that e-commerce and e-business offer. This is evidenced by the fact that only 15% of companies utilize the Internet to as a medium for communication with suppliers or clients [3].
Currently, Chile 's digital economy generated US $6.5 billion [6]. While there is still a way to go for it to catch up with other nations, the evolution of e-commerce in this nation clearly demonstrates increased value. The data also show that business-to-business electronic commerce has a stronger presence than business-to-consumer e-commerce. The disparity is derived from the fact that 79% of firms have an Internet connection, while only 25% of individuals have the same in their households. Additionally, Chileans have a much smaller propensity to use the Internet for commercial purposes. Only 6.2% of Chileans make purchases on the Internet in comparison with countries like the United States in which 40% of the population buys online [6].
Evolution of E-Commerce in Chile |
|||
|
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
B2C (US$ million) |
20 |
31 |
40 |
B2B (US$ million) |
321 |
1,415 |
2,288 |
Total Sales (US$ million) |
341 |
1,445 |
2,329 |
B2C Growth |
|
49% |
33% |
B2B Growth |
|
113% |
86% |
Source: www.buyusa.gov/chile
Because there is room for improvement in this area, the government has made this an integral part of its Digital Agenda initiative and will focus on raising awareness of how technology can be leveraged to increase business productivity and add value, particularly among SMEs as this group represents the most reluctant adopters. It has set up milestones for reaching an ultimate level of adoption by 2010, which broadly includes achieving:
• broadband access for all large and medium size businesses,
• all SMEs connected to the Internet,
• all companies using electronic accounting and using the Internet to carry out a majority of transactions.
Specifically, the government is putting into motion several initiatives that aim to encourage the use of ICT by businesses. This includes expanding the infrastructure necessary to support a digital economy, working on creating a legal and regulatory framework that will facilitate the use of technology for business purposes, and providing cost saving incentives that will allow businesses to acquire the necessary technology. For instance no taxes are levied on hardware products.