Chemical Week, 4-5, 1999
Liftoff 2001: the chemical industry's e-commerce boom - hype or hyper-growth?
The numbers axe enough to make anyone run for their chief information officer. The total amount of worldwide business done over the Internet will top $1 trillion by 2003, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). Forrester Research, one of the most widely quoted e-commerce soothsayers, is even more bullish. The group predicts that U.S. business-to-business (b2b) electronic commerce, hovering at a respectable $43 billion in 1998, will leave the earthlings behind to hit $1.3 trillion-9% of total U.S. business-by 2003. Pick a hype deduction from the air-say 30%-and you're still looking at a $910 billion market.