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The Internet is providing firms with new ways to conduct business and exchange and communicate information and ideas. In doing so, it is enabling firms to improve their efficiency and develop new ways to co-ordinate their activities. Internal firm organisation and relations with employees and shareholders are being affected, as are the external relationships that firms have with their suppliers, customers, competitors and other interested groups. The changes that are occurring were explored in a recent report to OECD Ministers on The New Economy: Beyond the Hype. The report concludes that the Internet and related advances in information and communication technology (ICT) have played an important role in boosting growth and multi-factor productivity in a number of OECD countries.
In furtherance of this work, the OECD's Committee on Industry and Business Environment, in co-operation with the Belgian Government and the Hainaut Province, organised a Business and Industry Policy Forum on The Internet and Business Performance. The meeting -- which was held on 25 September 2001, in Mons, Belgium -- explored the extent to which the Internet is currently affecting business and industry performance in key sectors, and the potential benefits that could be realised through further development of Internet-based strategies. Specific attention was paid to the policy changes that are required at the national and international levels to maximise the contributions that the Internet can make to improved business performance.
Participants in the meeting included senior government officials and executives from companies that are leaders in their respective sectors in exploiting the Internet. The OECD's Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) and Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) also participated in the meeting. The results of the Forum represent an important input into the major work that the OECD has undertaken on Internet development and use.
Click here for a copy of the final report.
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