CYBERPRENEURSHIP OR ENTREPRENEURSHIP ON THE INTERNET

by Dr. Russell M. Knight Richard Ivey School of Business University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7 Phone: 519-661-3299 Fax: 519-661-3959 Email: RKNIGHT@Novell.Business.Uwo.Ca

Keywords

WWW, Cyberprenuership, Entreneurpreneurship, Internet, Sales, Usage, Mythology

We have been led to believe that business is conducted on the Internet by millions of firms around the world and total sales have reached into the billions of dollars!!! This is mostlt hype!!!

This is total hype preached by those firms which have a stake in getting us to believe that myth!!! (such as Internet system providers.)

No one has yet successfully surveyed those firms which sell their products and services over the Internet to verify how successful they are at selling electronically!!!

We have surveyed users or surferers or browsers of the Internet and they do not use the net to buy products and services!!!

Sources: Georgia Tech - GVU WWW Survey Team at the Graphics, Visualization and Usabilty Centre of the College of Computing.

University of Michigan hermes Project

Vanderbilt university Project 2000

Only survey of business on the Internet by Activ Media. Study reults sold and limited public information.

Over half of all the Web sales are by th 2% of firms with over $100,00.00 during 1995!!!

Our survey of Internet users - 100 firms in London, Ontario which have Home Pages, mixture of Web providers and general business. 75 frims replied thus far for a 75% response rate.

Consulting:

		Provision of Internet Services	33   - 44%
		Service				20   - 27%
		Professional services		15   - 20%
		Retail				29   - 26%
		Manufacturing			11   - 15%
		Education			5    -  7%
		Health services			4    -  6%
		Financial services		5    -  7%
		Wholesale			9    - 12%
		Real estate			6    -  9%

Primary Reasons for having an Internet presence were:

    Hoped to jump ahead of the competition                41   -   55%

    Hoped to keep up with the competition                 36   -   48%

    Heard about it and thought it would be
    good for business                                     26   -   35%

    Thought it would be good value for the cost           24   -   33%

    Increased sales                                       31   -   41%

    Hoped to keep up with the industry			  26   -   25%

    It would force me to learn about the Internet         16   -   21%

    Customers requested it for easier
    access/communication                                   6   -    8%

Staff training obtained from:

              Trial and error                  39   -   52%
              Internet books and manuals       31   -   42%
              Vendor supplied training         16   -   21%
              Computer consultants             14   -   19%
              Schools and colleges             11   -   15%
              Internet                          9   -   12%
              Self taught                       9   -   12%

Applications of the Internet:

                                           Current             Future
Advertising specific products
or services (home page)                   75  - 100%          75  - 100%

Sending and receiving electronic mail     75  - 100%          75  - 100% 

Accessing information from other
Internet sites                            71  - 94%           66  -  88%

Informing customers about location, 
products, services, etc                   63  - 84%           61  -  80%

Accepting customer orders                 36  - 45%           62  -  82%

Ordering inventory and contacting
suppliers                                 34  - 41%           56  -  74%

Other (sales promotion and 
provision of information,                 14  - 20%           34  -  41%
including technical details)

Advantages of Internet connection:

More in touch with industry contacts/colleagues            57   -  76%
Better informed about customer needs                       51   -  67%
Increased sales                                            52   -  70%
More competitive	                                   46   -  61%
Better informed about industry trends                      46   -  61%
Improved staff morale                                      27   -  38%
Improved work quality                                      21   -  28%
Made staff work more enjoyable                             22   -  31%

Copyright

Richard Knight ©, 1996. The authors assigns to Southern Cross University an other educational and non-profit institutions a non-exclusive licence to use th personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The authors also grants a non-exclusive licence to Southern Cross University to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web and on CD-ROM and in printed form with the conferenc for the document to be published on mirrors on the World Wide Web. Any other usage is prohibited without the express permission of the author.

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