Information and Communications Technologies and Electronic Commerce in Canadian Industry - ARCHIVED

Articles and reports: 88F0006X2000004

Description:

Businesses have embraced the use of information and communications technologies such as e-mail, and the Internet and the personal computer or PC are widely used in most businesses. Use of computers among enterprises was high at 81.9%. The Internet, originally designed as a communications medium for researchers, is now being adopted by many other groups. The Internet was used by 52.8% of enterprises and these enterprises accounted for three-quarters of economic activity.

The proportion of enterprises with Web sites was 21.7% and these enterprises account for 44.8% of economic activity for the private sector. Among other uses, the Internet was used to purchase goods and services by 13.8% of enterprises and by 10.1% to sell goods and services. Significant variation exists in the levels of information and communications technologies use across industries.

The public sector is a model user of information and communications technologies. The proportion of institutions in public health, education, and federal and provincial governments using the Internet and e-mail, and having Internet Web sites is significantly higher than it is for the private sector. Over 95 % of institutions in the public sector use the Internet, 96.6% use e-mail and 69.2% have an Internet Web site.

The volume of Internet-based sales reported was $4.4 billion, of which $4.2 billion was for the private sector and $200 million for the public sector. Total private sector Internet based sales accounted for 0.2% of economic activity in terms of total operating revenue.

For non-Internet users the most important reason for not using the Internet to purchase or sell goods or services was the belief that their goods or services do not lend themselves to concluding transactions over the Internet. Among Internet users, the most popular reason given for not using the Internet to purchase or sell was that they prefer to maintain their current business model.

Issue Number: 2000004
Author(s): Baker, Cathy
FormatRelease dateMore information
PDFNovember 10, 2000