e-Commerce adoption and business impact: a progress report

A substantial body of work has already been completed, under the Evidence Based Policy Fund programme, to examine business performance at firm level. This uses microdata collected as part of normal statistical surveys to examine the effects of specific inputs on firm performance. Early in 2002 ONS started to assess how survey data on e-commerce activity could be used in this type of analysis. There is strong policy interest in identifying the economic impact of ‘new economy’ inputs, and evidence on whether – and how – the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) affects firm behaviour and performance.