Goldman Sees $1.5 Trillion E-Business Market [No CMDX reference but specifically mentions chemicals industry.]
Thursday September 16 4:19 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Investment banking firm Goldman, Sachs & Co. Thursday said it
expects a five-year $1.5 trillion boom in business-to-business e-commerce in industries ranging from
automobiles to medical equipment.
In a report on the sector, Goldman says that the retail sector, with sites like Yahoo! Inc and eBay Inc,
has gotten most of the attention, but the business-oriented side ``is poised for equally explosive growth.'
Goldman, which has been one of the most active bankers in bringing Internet companies public, said it sees the $1.5 trillion total
being reached by 2004, and it already estimates that businesses generated $39 billion from e-commerce applications last year
and $114 billion this year.
``Many companies have already been huge beneficiaries of online growth, mainly through using the Internet as a new medium
for product distribution and customer interaction,' said Goldman.
Within many companies, information technology managers, whose main concern in the past has been automating corporate
services, have increasingly become ``vocal proponents' of spending on corporate Web sites and online marketing. In the rush
to build this e-commerce infrastructure, the IT managers are looking to outside technology providers.
Small business will also be ``an important driver of the B2B market,' Goldman said, citing their growing need to operate in an
e-commerce environment.
Among companies mentioned in the report who may be poised to benefit from the growth of business to business e-commerce
are well known traditional high-tech firms like Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq:ORCL - news), SAP AG (NYSE:SAP - news) and
newcomers like VerticalNet Inc. (Nasdaq:VERT - news), Ariba Inc. (Nasdaq:ARBA - news) and Healtheon Corp.
(Nasdaq:HLTH - news).
The report, written by a team of analysts led by Rakesh Sood, says companies that build the e-commerce infrastructure will
benefit from the growth of e-commerce, as will companies that conduct business over the Web.
The prime industries targeted for the business-to-business growth are computer hardware and software; aerospace/defense;
electronics; chemicals; motor vehicles and parts and medical equipment and transport.
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