Study Lead by Europages Observatory Shows That the Internet Has a Direct Impact on...

Study Lead by Europages Observatory Shows That the Internet Has a Direct Impact on SMEs' International Development

PARIS--(Business Wire)--
In a recent online study commissioned by the Europages
Observatory, research company OpinionWay surveyed 3,438 SMEs from 4
different European countries that use the Internet as part of their
international development strategy. Results revealed that their
performance is significantly higher than the average SME that imports
or exports.

The Europages Observatory was established in 2002 to better define
the expectations, issues and behaviour of European SME decision-makers
by keeping them informed of the most efficient, international
practices and helping them to promote themselves in the media. As part
of this role, the Observatory set out to explore one of the industry's
burning questions: what is the role of the Internet in an SME's
international development and, more specifically, are companies that
use the Internet as part of their international development strategy
more successful than those that do not?

The response obtained from the decision-makers from each of the 4
European countries surveyed (Germany, France, Spain and Italy) has
yielded unexpected results. SMEs that use the Internet as part of
their approach to international development have a dynamic and
competitive profile. Surprisingly, there are very few differences
between the 4 countries taken into consideration. It is also important
to note that manufacturers are generally overrepresented (44% of the
total number).

The companies surveyed were found to be extremely active
internationally regardless of their size (small office, home office or
SME): 55% import and 65% export. On average, companies that import are
in contact with 3.6 countries and those that export are in contact
with 8.7 countries. To put this into perspective, 49% of French SMEs
export to one country and 63% export to just two countries. Findings
show that the first 15 EU member states, Asia and the Americas are the
most important trading zones for SMEs. China, Eastern and Central
Europe are among the top geographical zones for Germany, and Africa is
one of the main trading partners for France.

The study revealed that 75% of participants considered product
quality and expertise to be key to a company's success in the world
market. 58% of German decision-makers cited a company's specialisation
as an important factor to a company's international development, while
cost was mentioned by 44% of Spanish participants. The study also
reported that Internet advertising is the primary means of
international development for SMEs, ahead of events or tradeshows.

The study concludes that SMEs using the Internet as part of their
approach to international development have a higher level of activity
and success than those that do not. It is also important to highlight
that French SMEs are more or less on an equal footing with their
European counterparts, while German companies are a step ahead of the
other 3 countries questioned. For example, German SMEs export to 10.7
countries on average, while French companies export to 7.8 countries
and Spanish companies to just 6.8 countries. It's no coincidence that
69% of German companies use Internet advertising, compared with only
45% of French companies.

Two clear conclusions can be drawn from these results:

-- Successful companies learn how to adopt and exploit the
Internet in their international development strategy;

-- The Internet is a tool that increases the potential of
international development.

"This study really underlines the potential of European SMEs that
use the Internet as a tool for their international development,
indicating that they have a much higher performance and success rate
than the average SME," commented Paolo Giuri, CEO of Europages, about
the study. "In my opinion, it's important to find a balance between a
company's needs and the reality of today's market. And it is now, more
than ever, that SMEs should opt for solutions that are efficient,
inexpensive and straightforward," he concludes.

About EUROPAGES:

An international B2B search engine, Europages is a reference in
terms of professional search engines in Europe. It brings together 1
million companies, from all industry sectors and across 35 countries,
which have been selected for their dynamism in imports and exports.

www.europages.com is accessible in 26 languages: French, English,
German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Hungarian,
Polish, Portuguese, Slovenian, Turkish, Greek, Russian, Norwegian,
Romanian, Estonian, Czech, Lithuanian, Latvian, Bulgarian, traditional
and simplified Chinese and Arabic.

Among Europages' shareholders are three of the main European
Yellow Pages publishers: SEAT Pagine Gialle (Torino, Italy), Yell
Publicidad (Madrid, Spain) and DeTeMedien (Deutsche Telekom -
Francfurt, Germany).

EUROPAGES
Claudine Leprince
Communication Director
Phone: + 33 1 41 16 49 39
Email: press@europages.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008