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Big businesses are arrogant e-laggards

So tell us something we don't know

Corporate arrogance is holding back the e-revolution according to a report published by a European business school.

Swots at Ashbridge reckon that nearly two thirds of organisations are unready to meet the opportunities and challenges of the e-revolution - with a third of senior execs describing their company as a 'laggard'.

Despite this pessimism, 74 per cent of those quizzed still believe that their company will eventually be an 'e-winner'.

Helen Wildsmith, author of the e-Research report, said: "A clue to the optimism felt by today's organisations is given in one respondents perception that his organisation is 'large enough to be dominant regardless of the prevailing technology'.

"Triumph thought it was large enough to dominate the motorbike market - it wasn't once Honda appeared," she said.

And another exec questioned said: "I think 'e' can be over-rated - it's a new channel not a revolution."

Some might agree with this position but Wildsmith points out that if this is true why did only 1 per cent of execs say that the Internet is not important to the organisation they work for?

So, is it arrogance, complacency or ignorance that's responsible for this apparent mismatch?

"It is probably a combination of all three, but to be truly competitive in the information age, organisations will have to acknowledge and face the challenges," said Wildsmith. ®

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