And yet, the same challenges remain. Taiwanese financial companies need to focus more clearly on what they want to achieve through e-commerce, Gibb said. Though Taiwan has some impressive numbers -- recent surveys indicate that demand is pent-up for new banking services, that Taiwanese consumers have little fear of transacting on-line, that PC penetration rates are sixth-highest in the world, and that on-line consumers are increasingly from a young, affluent group -- finance companies need to forget about being "all things to all people" and instead concentrate on creating new value for their business through e-commerce.
Semiconductor companies, on the other hand, have to consider the business-to-business (B-to-B) impact on their traditional models more carefully, according to James Hexter, another senior manager at McKinsey's Taipei office. E-commerce forces are steadily putting pressure on companies across the hardware industry, and they need to adapt by using the Internet to improve their procurement systems.
The key, said Hexter, is to focus on creating new value-added services for end-users of products. Instead of just delivering hardware in a one-off sale, companies need to aim to own the "cus-tomer's life-cycle" through the provision of enhanced services.
This does not mean, however, that companies should run helter-skelter onto the Internet, Hexter said. "If your house is in a mess, you don't want to open the front door to visitors," he said, adding that time taken to get internal operations in line with e-commerce planning is worth it. "Make sure your operations are ready, because you don't want to trash the loyalty of customers."
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