The Economist Group Launches Ebusinessforum.com; The First Portal Designed for Senior Executives Striving to Reinvent Their Companies as Successful Global Ebusinesses.

Business/Technology Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2000

The Economist Group, through its business-to-business division the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), today launched www.ebusinessforum.com, a free portal for executives at multinational firms seeking to transform their bricks-and-mortar organisations into clicks-and-mortar companies capable of thriving in the new digital economy.

The EIU ebusiness forum provides executives with a complete intelligence service for doing ebusiness globally. The website presents the latest thinking on critical ebusiness issues, case studies of innovative digital strategies, access to timely analysis and research on worldwide market trends, and an open forum for global ebusiness leaders. In short, ebusinessforum.com offers new thinking for the "new economy", with insight into how the Internet will transform international firms and the global marketplace.

"The Internet opens vast opportunities and presents huge challenges, and we believe that companies need to adapt at high speed or risk losing their business," said Helen Alexander, CEO of The Economist Group. "But we also sympathise with executives who worry they are being forced into costly decisions without sufficient knowledge. In a field swarming with false prophets, we aim to separate fact from fiction, insight from bluster and best practices from e-quackery."

A new approach for The Economist Group

Ebusinessforum.com maintains the editorial independence associated with The Economist Group. The site is supported by a distinguished group of sponsors. They represent a who's who of the digital economy: Bain & Company; Baker & McKenzie; Cambridge Technology Partners; Cap Gemini; Cisco Systems; Concert; Dell Computer; Deutsche Bank; DHL; Intel; Korn/Ferry International; KPMG; Oracle; and Text 100.

In keeping with the idiom of the web, ebusinessforum.com is free and is open to contributors with something important to say. In this way, it combines The Economist Group's expertise on global business and country analysis with the know-how of ebusiness consultants, practitioners, academics and research firms around the world. By presenting views to the forum, or engaging in interactive events and surveys, top executives and market experts can share their thoughts and strategies on ebusiness with their peers. "All those who have something to share about doing ebusiness successfully are welcome to submit their opinions to our editors," said Lou Celi, publisher of the ebusinessforum.com.

"Executives are looking for a real-world perspective on how to implement an Internet business strategy on a global scale," said Sue Bostrom, senior vice-president of Cisco. "Cisco and many of its customers have successfully transformed their businesses to capitalise on the Internet economy. Through ebusinessforum.com, executives will have access to hard-edged, practical information that can be used to build their own Internet quotient for competitive advantage."

The first website to analyse ebusiness developments around the world

Information on ebusiness can be found on other websites, but ebusinessforum.com is the first to examine the implications of conducting ebusiness across national borders. Drawing on the EIU's 54 years of experience in country analysis and forecasting, the EIU ebusiness forum provides assessments and updates on ebusiness conditions in up to 195 countries, with details on how companies are coping.

"Merely having a website that can be accessed by customers overseas does not make you a global ebusiness, " said Lou Celi. "To manage a global ebusiness, you need a deep understanding of market trends, operating conditions and regulations around the world. Through ebusinessforum.com, the EIU's worldwide network of analysts now provides the intelligence that companies need to do ebusiness in multiple markets--whether it be a review of cyber-regulations in China or the estimated size of the market for e-commerce in Brazil."

"The site's treatment of the issue of transformation from bricks and mortar to clicks and mortar is excellent but what really makes the service unique is its global perspective," said Chris Zook, director at Bain & Company, the global management consulting firm. "The EIU ebusiness forum is the first service to take a truly global view on the ebusiness revolution, making it an invaluable tool for senior executives who are creating and running multinational businesses."

"Although traditional trade laws pertain to doing ebusiness around the world, questions abound as to how they apply," said Christine Lagarde, chairman, Baker & McKenzie. "There is also a new crop of regulations dealing with cybercrime, domain names, digital signatures, electronic transactions, privacy, copyright and e-taxes. Ebusinessforum.com will help executives stay on top of the changing labyrinth of rules."

"Any global strategy needs to take into account the degree of connectivity available in local markets," said David Dorman, CEO, Concert. "The EIU ebusiness forum offers participants world class connections of their own--to the best in ebusiness research and analysis."

A unique portal to global ebusiness intelligence

On every visit to ebusinessforum.com, an executive can tap into five linked channels, covering every aspect of ebusiness. All channels are updated regularly.

--Thought leadership: insight into critical strategic issues for ebusiness executives offering commentary from The Economist Group and leading ebusiness experts and practitioners.

--Best practice: dozens of case studies of successful ebusiness strategies across a wide range of industries, including financial services, consumer goods, capital equipment, energy, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

--Latest developments: timely analysis of ebusiness trends and changes in 195 countries. Covers regulations, taxes, new business deals, government policy, consumer patterns and corporate practices.

--Research and resources: the latest research and surveys from The Economist Group on ebusiness, plus research from other organisations. Includes links to a broad array of valuable ebusiness websites.

--"Doing ebusiness in ...": assessments of the ebusiness climate in the world's major markets, including Internet connectivity, infrastructure, the business environment, watchlists, regulations and taxation, and background economic data. The area also features the EIU's unique ebusiness readiness ratings, which compare 60 countries on a wide range of ebusiness indicators and ranks them according to their potential.

The launch of ebusinessforum.com reflects The Economist Group's own transformation into a digital-age information company. "Ebusinessforum.com offers opinions on strategic issues The Economist Group faces every day," added Helen Alexander. "Today's announcement from The Economist Group is just the latest in a series of Internet initiatives aimed to meet the changing needs of our customers."

About the EIU

The Economist Intelligence Unit, the business-to-business arm of The Economist Group, is one of the world's leading providers of global business intelligence. Its mission is to help companies do better business by delivering timely and reliable intelligence on market conditions around the world. Through its extensive global network of business analysts, the EIU continuously assesses and forecasts political, economic and business conditions in 195 countries. The EIU is at the forefront of the Internet revolution and now provides its full range of analysis to executives through a portfolio of digital services, including the daily EIU ViewsWire, eiu.com and CountryData.

About The Economist Group

The Economist Group is the owner of The Economist, the CFO group of magazines, Roll Call - the newspaper of Capitol Hill, European Voice, The Journal of Commerce and a variety of other regional and special interest magazines, database services and the worldwide publishing and conference businesses of the Economist Intelligence Unit.