The ministry said that a joint e-business survey with Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) on the top 10 companies in five industries- machinery, electronics, automobile, retail & wholesale and finance- in each country showed that the average e-business level of South Korean companies is ahead of their Japanese rivals.

The average e-business index of 50 Korean firms was 64.3, higher than the 61.4 of 50 Japanese firms, it said. MOCIE and MITI assessed five areas - environment, resources & infrastructure, process, people and value of e-business systems at local firms - in determining the e-business level of leading firms.

MOCIE said that separate in-depth research showed that the overall e-business competitiveness of local corporations and institutions improved slightly from last year.

Its survey, jointly conducted with the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), revealed that South Korea's average e-business index reached 51.6 this year, up 1.8 points from 2002.

"The majority of local firms and institutions have completed integrating the functions of their own business divisions using e-business technology and are now moving to use the tool to bring their business online, linking their businesses with other firms and to enhance customer services," MOCIE director Lee Chang-han said.

The financial sector showed the most advanced e-business level with an index of 68.5, trailed by electronics (56.3), automobiles (55), chemicals (53.7), food & beverage (52.2), telecom services (52.1), retail & wholesale (51.7), construction (49.4) and transportation (48.6).

Metals (47.1), machinery (45.9), textiles (41.1) and pulp (38.1) had a relatively poorer e-business level.

"The e-business index of 10 sectors, electronics, automobile and textile sectors in particular, showed improvements from last year, while petrochemicals, telecom services and transportation industries went the other way," Lee said.

The e-business level gap between domestic conglomerates with annual sales of over 1 trillion won and smaller business groups broadened to 27.7 points this year, up from 23.8 points in 2002.

The average e-business level of local universities and local governments were found to be superior to that of local companies with indices coming in at 68.9 and 61.5, respectively, while hospitals (52.8) were found to have a similar e-business level with local firms. The three sections were newly included in the survey this year.