Oracle Corp has blasted the UK for a myopic attitude towards electronic commerce, just a day after the British Chancellor promised budget incentives to put the country on the e-commerce map. The comments from Oracle’s Senior VP in the UK, Phil Crawford, were made on the back of a survey of American and European firms’ attitudes towards internet trading. The survey, which was undertaken by the Bathwick Group, found that UK businesses were lagging when it came to IT, did not understand how the internet could work for business and seemed impervious to the threat of foreign competition using the internet to take market share.
Crawford said of the report, UK businesses continue to show an island mentality to globalized trade…businesses still don’t seem to have grasped the full role of the internet in transforming business models.
Tim Melville-Ross, from the UK’s Institute of Directors, believes that the country has several advantages in the area e-trade, pointing out that English is the internet language, the UK possesses some of the most skilled IT workers in the world and the nation boasts a strong economy. He had to agree, however, that the report shows that the UK is resting on its laurels. Michael Willis, from the Department of Trade and Industry said that the report was, a welcome contribution to the debate on e- commerce and UK competitiveness.
