Economic Slowdown To Have Little Impact On Corporate Learning Initiatives.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

NAPERVILLE, Ill.--(BUSINESSS WIRE)--May 9, 2001

More Than Half Of Corporate Training Executives Surveyed

Say Sluggish Economy Will Have No Impact

on e-Learning Program Budgets

NETg, powering intelligent decisions

through learning, today announced the results of a survey on e-learning finding that 54 percent of corporate training managers and executives feel the sluggish economy will have no affect on e-learning program budgets. Eight percent of those 54 percent also said they expect their e-learning budgets to expand in the face of an economic slowdown.

"As companies try to get by with less staff, handling more responsibility, learning becomes even more important for companies to remain competitive and grow their markets," said Gary Lopez, president and chief executive officer of NETg. "These survey results demonstrate that most corporations understand learning programs aligned with organizational objectives and goals can help them grow and succeed, even in a tough economy."

"With a 30-year history in the learning market, NETg has a unique perspective of how corporations respond to economic slow-downs," said Tom Brown, vice president, Americas Sales for NETg. "Historically, learning programs have been prime targets for corporate budget cutbacks. The fact that learning programs are not being cut, and are in many cases expanding, is a step forward for the learning industry as we continue to demonstrate value for the bottom line."

Other survey findings include:

- One-third of those surveyed said a comprehensive learning program has helped
their organization to improve the bottom line, create organizational
efficiencies and go faster to market with new products.

- Nearly 50 percent said their corporate learning program will have an
increased impact on their organization's ability to serve customers within
the next 3 years.

- More than 40 percent think an enterprise-wide learning program has been an
important factor in recruiting and retaining quality employees and 58 percent
believe learning will have a stronger impact on their organization's
recruitment and retention efforts in the next 3 years.

- 84 percent said senior-level management has become more committed to
e-Learning programs in the last 12 months.

NETg interviewed 223 corporate training, human resources and business executives for this survey during NETglobal 2001 in Las Vegas in April. NETglobal is a three-day industry event that offers corporate learning professionals access to the latest and most relevant information on corporate learning from the industry's thought leaders like Elliot Masie, Brandon Hall and Peter Senge, as well as best practices from training professionals from some of the world's most successful corporate blended learning programs, including EDS, IBM and DaimlerChrysler.

NETg, a subsidiary of Boston-based Harcourt General, Inc. (NYSE: H), is defining the future of learning. The company has a portfolio of over 1,000 courses in several languages, covering professional IT, desktop and personal development skills and serves over 4,000 customers worldwide. NETg's proven learning techniques are based on an innovative course architecture developed by NETg in the early 1990's - The NETg Learning Object (NLO). The company leads the industry with a full range of e-Learning solutions incorporating Internet services and interactivity with over 75,000 learning objects for leading companies such as DaimlerChrysler, Honeywell, Procter & Gamble and Dow Chemical. NETg's worldwide headquarters are located in Naperville, Illinois, USA. For more information visit NETg at www.netg.com.