Tempe, Ariz and Cambridge, Mass.—The National Assn. of Purchasing Management and Forrester Research recently released their fourth joint Report On e-Business . The report "tracks online activity for both manufacturing and non-manufacturing organizations," according to NAPM.

Of 418 respondents, 225 were manufacturers and 193 were non-manufacturers.

The key finding in the latest report showed the number of buying organizations that used the Internet to collaborate with suppliers grew from 43.6 percent in the second quarter of 2001, to 49.5 percent in the third quarter. The most significant increase came from large-volume buyers, whose collaboration efforts on the Web increased from 46.4 percent to 63.5 percent, the report said.

"We are now seeing the start of the next wave — collaboration — in which buyers use the [Internet] to redefine how they interact with suppliers," said Bruce Temkin, research group director at Forrester.

However, the report noted that most respondents are in the "early stages of adopting Internet-based buying." Less than 18 percent of large buyers believe their organizations have completed over 20-percent of their online purchasing plans.

"Given the current economic conditions and the post-Web frenzy, there's clearly a bit of a lull in most areas of IT spending. We expect that this will turn around in the second half of 2002," Temkin said.

Importantly, buying organizations noted that their Internet activity was held back by three main problems: "the impact of the slowing business environment, integration issues with internal systems, and the lack of capabilities of suppliers."

In other results from the report, respondents said they participated less in online marketplaces (down 2.4 percent) and slowed their use of online auctions (down three percent). And, manufacturers participated in marketplaces less often than non-manufacturers. Only 21.4 percent reported marketplace-buying activity, while 24.4 percent of non-manufacturers reported activity.