Seven focus group sessions were held between
December 2002 and February 2003. Each of the following sessions
aimed to analyze e-commerce adoption trends in one specific
industry sector:
- Manufacturing
- Trading and Wholesale
- Travel and Tourism
- Professional Services
- Transportation and Logistics
- Financial Services
- IT Solutions Providers
The mix of participating companies for the first six groups
was selected from a combination of high, medium and low e-Commerce
adopters to address the problems and concerns of SMEs with
different stages of e-Commerce adoption. Besides SMEs, IT
solutions providers and consultants, as well as representatives
from the Campaign Organising Committee were also invited to
participate as observers and share their knowledge in the
discussion sessions.
Based on the comments and suggestions collected in the
six focus groups, a preliminary set of findings was summarized
and presented in the 7th focus group for IT vendors to brainstorm
desirable e-Commerce solutions.
During the focus group sessions, sector representatives
discussed business behavior, industrial development and
concerns about e-commerce adoption. The discussions highlighted
the weaknesses of Hong Kong SMEs, the threats to their survival
and the opportunities for improvements, and yielded very
satisfactory results in that all participants were willing
to exchange views.
Based on the findings of focus group sessions, a Symposium
will be organised aiming at educating Hong Kong SMEs on
how to plan, build and deploy an effective B2B capability
and to address the issues highlighted in the findings. A
theme will also be identified from the findings for Road
Shows that will encourage Hong Kong consumers to transact
with local businesses, and to attract more public attention.
