Only 1 per cent of chief executive officers view e-business as a critical success factor, while only 5 per cent consider it critical in the next three years, according to a new survey by management consulting firm, AT Kearney.

The survey of 251 chief executive officers from 26 countries showed that, even though 57 per cent of those surveyed said that the Internet had changed the way they did business, only 4 per cent believe e-business is the main challenge facing them.

However, 78 per cent of respondents said their company's investment in information technology would increase over the next three years by an average of 53 per cent. A third of the chief executives said it would increase by more than 100 per cent.

Despite the increase in the number of business-to-business marketplaces, less than half (44 per cent) of executives said they were serious about participating in such ventures.

Mr Doug Aldrich, vice-president at AT Kearney, said the data clearly underscored the confusion that reigned in boardrooms today about e-business and its relevance to business strategy, products and services.

Executives view the biggest obstacles to e-business as internal ones, with the survey showing that organisational structure/existing business processes and a lack of properly trained personnel were the main impediments to implementing e-business initiatives.

More than half of North American executives cited the impact of technology and e-business as their main challenge over the next three years, compared with 25 of Europeans and 20 per cent of Asians.

Seventy-nine per cent of European executives viewed e-business as having a significant impact on future product offerings, compared to 67 per cent in Asia and 59 per cent in North America.