Net Impact Canada IV: Strategies for Increasing SME Engagement in the E-Economy [Industry Canada]

With the business media's attention being placed on the transformation of large, well-known firms into exemplars of the new e-economy, is the plight of the over 99% of Canadian firms that are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) being over-looked?1 SMEs created 36% of net new jobs in the Canadian economy between 2002 and 2003.2 Unfortunately, they also lagged large firms in the adoption of Internet Business Solutions (IBS).3 A lukewarm SME response to IBS adoption may weaken any national strategy to bolster Canada's international competitiveness. The challenge for industry leaders and policy makers is to bring lagging SMEs online and deepen the capabilities of those already online. The cost of inaction is to have this vital sector of the economy stall at current levels of engagement while other nations catch up or increase their lead. The focus of this report is to summarize what has been learned over the last two years about the adoption and use of IBS by Canadian SMEs.