Service Providers of the Information Society – High Level of Attractiveness on International Markets

Information Economy

Business relations with foreign countries are of great importance to service providers of the information society. In the second quarter of 2006, about two thirds of the companies in this economic sector stated that they received services from abroad. Approximately three quarters of the enterprises sell their services in other countries.

The telecommunications branch with nearly all its companies using foreign countries to sell and receive services is particularly active. Also, nine out of ten companies in the research and development sector benefit from foreign sales markets and more than 80 per cent of the companies in this branch receive services from abroad. Management consultancies as well as computer service providers and lessees use foreign sales markets the least frequently. Regarding the receipt of services from other countries, Architects (41 per cent) and business consultants (52 per cent) rank last.

These are the findings of a business survey among service providers of the information society conducted by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, in collaboration with Creditreform, Neuss, in June 2006. About 800 companies participated in the survey. The sector of the IT-related service providers comprises the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) service providers (firms in the branches of computer service and leasing, ICT-specialised trade as well as telecommunication services) and knowledge intensive service providers (firms in the branches of tax consultancy and accounting, management consultancy, architecture, technical consultancy and planning, research and development as well as advertising).

There are great disparities between East and West German companies regarding business relations with foreign countries. Whereas 75 per cent of the regarded service providers in western Germany sell their services on foreign markets, only half of the companies in eastern Germany use this opportunity. A similar picture emerges for the receipt of services. About two thirds of West German companies, but only approximately 40 per cent of East German enterprises receive services from abroad.

The participating IT-related companies were also asked to assess the role of modern information technology (IT) in the support of international activities. Among the service providers of the information society, computer-based marketing and sales systems are considered the most important IT solution to further activities abroad. 46 per cent of the companies have confirmed that they were highly important. IT systems facilitating the cooperation with external partners rank second. Even though IT-supported accounting and controlling systems are most frequently used, just about 30 per cent consider them to be of great importance for international activity.

Comment on the projection

To ensure the representativity of the analyses, the ZEW projects the answers of the participants of the survey on the number of all companies with regard to the economic branch considered.

Contact

Dr. Jenny Meyer, E-mail: meyer@zew.de