and to ensure that this priority is reflected in the strategies of all
concerned ministries.
To play such a role, the export strategy-maker must be familiar with the
full cross-section of issues which confront colleagues in other ministries; issues as
diverse as competition policy, privatization of public services (i.e. telecomm); foreign
direct investment; revenue and taxation; and school curricula.
Common constraints
It was emphasized that while each developing or transition economy may
have its own specific shortcomings in creating an optimal national environment for the
development of e-commerce capability, most confront a set of common constraints.
While technology and money are the two most obvious common constraints
to achieving the optimal environment for the growth of e-commerce capacity, it was agreed
that, in the final analysis, these represent two sides of the same coin. In the first
instance, the need is for innovative solutions, whether public- or private-sector led. The
creation of a basic telecommunications infrastructure and Internet services is certainly
the first step. However, there can be a tendency among strategy-makers to postpone
decisions due to the constantly evolving technology.
Technology leap-frogging
Technology leap-frogging is certainly desirable but
strategy-makers should not wait until the next generation of technology emerges before
they act.
On the issue of establishing the required infrastructure on the national level, several
participants argued that given the costs involved a more targeted regional approach is
best in the vast majority of developing countries. Infrastructure should be established
first in commercial/production centres, they suggested. An extension of this view was that
infrastructure should target those geographic regions where export-businesses are
"clustered".
Once the infrastructure is in place, an optimal environment would
require the availability of inexpensive computer hardware and software, wide and
unrestricted access to Internet at inexpensive rates, reliable electric power, and a
banking system supportive of entrepreneurship, several brainstormers added. Others noted
that creating the means to participate in e-commerce is one thing, but establishing the
"culture" within the business community to actually take advantage of such an
environment is quite another matter. This is the constraint facing all countries --
developed and developing.
While government-supported programmes in developed countries can
effectively address the issue of general awareness and companies can afford to retain
private consultancy firms to advise them on organizing themselves on an
"e-business" basis, developing countries generally confront a more pronounced
"awareness and cultural constraint" and have significantly fewer funds to deal
with it. It was suggested that in the majority of developing countries, the public sector
strategy-maker must take the lead initially and maintain the effort over the long term. It
is a question not only of promoting general awareness through formal education (the
long-term solution), but of proactive promotion of "organizational and cultural
change" within the business sector and of civil society at large (the short- and
medium-term solution). Within civil society, informal approaches to education and
familiarity often work best: one proven example being that of installing a computer in the
grounds of a temple and encouraging the children "play" with it. Partnerships
with entrepreneurial non-governmental organizations have been successful in this area.
The consensus was that while there are several common constraints, there
are no standard solutions. The only rules of thumb were to address the fundamentals first.
Establish adequate technology in the immediate term, and ensure that all the other
elements of an optimal environment are addressed in a manner consistent with the
circumstances of the country.
