Statistics Canada has issued a new report suggesting that small businesses have caught up with larger businesses vis-a-vis using email and accessing the Internet.
However, there is still a wide gap when it comes to having websites. In 2002 only 27% of small businesses had websites, compared to 77% of large businesses.
One of the reasons for such a large gap, according to the study, is that larger businesses have more resources and funds to devote to websites, intranets, extranets and eCommerce efforts.
The study is available online here. It has lots of good data and is worthwhile for anyone interested in IT adoption in Canada’s small and midsize market.
One additional point of interest is how Statistics Canada has defined small, medium and large business. Small is up to 19 employees, medium is up to 99 employees (499 for manufacturing), and large has 100+ employees (500+ for manufacturing). This is significantly smaller than most U.S. size categories.
