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KPMG has tailored its services - including assurance, tax, consulting and financial advisory services - to address the complex business challenges faced by global clients.
Legal services are provided by KLegal which is a parallel organisation of KPMG International, the global professional services organisation.
Through the firm's international network of industry professionals, the best people, products and technologies are combined to enhance services with industry insights and best practices.

In 1999, KPMG achieved record revenues of US$12.2 billion, a 17 percent increase driven by all of our major service lines.
More than 100,000 KPMG professionals in member firms worldwide collaborate across industry, service and national boundaries to deliver professional services in 159 countries.
This enviable network of firms is connected through three operating regions, bringing together our local and national resources with greater flexibility, responsiveness and and consistency of service delivery worldwide.

E-business creates new challenges
The greatest barriers to e-business lie within the corporation, according to the report. The need to redesign business processes, the lack of e-business skills and the lack of integration between front- and back-end systems are the three most formidable barriers to implementing e-business strategy.

A high level of involvement by senior management was also found to be crucial to the success of e-business strategy. While more than half reported a high involvement of senior managers, the remaining 42 percent of companies experience inadequate involvement of this group in strategy implementation.

Companies are evenly split on the question of whether to form a separate e-business unit. Fifty-two percent of those surveyed believe that for online and physical operations to truly support each other, e-business must be integrated into the lines of business. Others argue that to compete successfully e-business operations must be independent and flexible.

Relationships realigning with technology
More than a third (37 percent) of survey respondents say that a reluctance to cut out intermediaries is a major obstacle to their e-business plans. However, the Internet is improving both internal and external collaboration between business partners. Seventy-four percent considered this a highly important objective, and most expect improved knowledge management to play an important role in achieving this goal.

Nearly half of respondents believe that within 18 months online business-to-business exchanges will be very important to their own supply chains. Still, online exchanges must change to meet user demands. Online marketplaces will have to evolve from being mere auctions for commodities to full service markets that allow companies to buy customized goods.

Consumers benefit from greater choice
Online distribution companies surveyed are developing a "portfolio of options" by enabling consumers to buy through online marketplaces, corporate extranets and in-person channels - rather than driving customers to a single sales channel.

According to the study, the top e-business goal is to provide value-added products and services to meet the escalating demands of customers and to keep goods and services from becoming commodities.

Another top goal is reaching new customers, particularly overseas. For some companies, e-business is not just an opportunity to tap into a bigger pool of customers, but to target specific groups and meet their particular needs.

KPMG