Digital Reach

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VEN IN COUNTRIES

where the information and communi-

cation technology (ICT) infrastructure is well developed,

the use of e-systems by enterprises shows great disparity.

This is the reason for the shift of emphasis from digital divide to

use-divide. We have come to the conclusion that the use-divide

is not due to the weaknesses of e-solutions but to managerial

weaknesses. These weaknesses are either related to the inability

of managers to decide where and when to use e-solutions and for

what purpose, or to their inability to assess the impact of e-solu-

tions on other areas of business management. In both cases,

suggestions on e-solutions must go hand in hand with manage-

rial solutions or must be made after making sure that the

management competence is there.

There are many definitions of e-business, the most frequent one

being the conduct of business on the Internet. Let us take a broader

view and define e-business as the application of ICT in macro-,

meso- and micro-level business management processes. E-busi-

ness, or e-trade, captured the attention of policy-makers and

strategists as early as the 1980s. While developed industrialized

countries expanded their telecommunication infrastructures and

incorporated ICT solutions in business management, developing

countries, lacking the infrastructure, fell further behind. At that

point the debate on the digital divide started.

A lot has been written about the ‘digital divide’.

Its adverse

effects on poverty alleviation and economic development have

been the subject of hundreds of articles and books. The World

Summit on the Information Society, the first phase of which was

held in Geneva in December 2003, further fed the debate.

There

is, in fact, some debate as to what the digital divide actually refers

to – a gap in infrastructure, in access, in ICT know-how – and

whether it is widening or diminishing.

Numerous initiatives for

bridging the digital divide have been suggested; some were tried,

many have failed. A common theme of these initiatives was the

infrastructure, or more correctly the inadequacy of the infra-

structure in developing countries.

As well as the building of

state-of-the-art telecommunication infrastructure being beyond

the means of developing countries, market mechanisms to ensure

the efficient distribution and use of scarce resources were also

lacking. Thus, the digital divide seems to have widened at the

expense of many developing countries.

While some developing countries continued to suffer as they

did not have adequate telecommunication infrastructure and

developed ICT sectors, others were able to improve theirs. This

is, for instance, the case with Senegal and the Philippines.

Quite

a few developing countries have had the opportunity to build

telecommunication infrastructures matching western standards,

at least in major centres. Even then, due to various reasons that

have been well documented, many individuals and institutions

still did not have access. Hence, the phrase ‘access divide’.

Distorted market mechanisms leading to high costs, unavailable

and/or unreliable communication systems, poor ICT standards,

etc, were listed as the culprits for the access divide.

In many

places the attention shifted therefore from digital divide to access

divide. As infrastructure improved, albeit not enough, in many

developing countries, the divide between the haves and the have-

nots was no longer an issue between countries but within

countries as well. Thus both the digital divide and the access

divide concepts broadened their relevance to inter- and intra-

country use of ICT.

A rather curious phenomenon is now attracting attention. Even

in countries where the telecommunication infrastructure is devel-

oped and the ICT sector seems to have the sophistication needed,

the use of ICT by those who are expected to apply it is lagging

behind. A very common observation both in developed and devel-

oping countries indicates that especially at the small and

medium-size enterprise (SME) level, the use of ICT by SMEs is far

from what is expected. In countries where there is little or no

digital or access divide, there is therefore the ‘use-divide’.

The use-divide

The use-divide is quite simple to describe. Although there is both

adequate telecommunication infrastructure and sufficient access,

ICT use, by SME managers in particular, seems to be lacking. The

extent of this trend is such that SME managers fall behind most

private users in the utilization of the Internet in their countries.

In the same countries some enterprises, especially bigger ones, use

the ICT availability almost to its full extent.

Hence the use-divide.

Interestingly enough, it happens that most enterprises utilizing

ICT are in the supply chains of bigger foreign buyers.

This is not

a coincidence. The buyers, especially the big buyers of developed

countries, insist that their suppliers build up their capability to

transact on the Internet. In other words, most ICT customers are

customers because their buyers want them to be.

Regarding those enterprises that are not in the supply chain of

big buyers, either because they cannot or because they have delib-

erately chosen to pursue niche markets, the utilization of ICT is

low. The case of SMEs is particularly marked. Except those that

are forced by their buyers to adopt ICT, most seem to have little

or no interest in this modern day wonder called e-business.

In business management, the use of ICT tends to come down

to the use of the Internet. The fact is that the use of ICT in busi-

ness management has not been clearly defined in generic terms.

Discussions on the topic have always been in terms of cases and

examples. Although there is no question that buying and selling

on the Internet are examples of ICT use in business, they certainly

are not the only examples.

A programme executed by the International Trade Centre (ITC)

that is designed to address the use-divide, uses a model that

provides a generic definition called the e-Trade Bridge Paradigm

(ETBP).

Based on the Business Management System (BMS)

From digital divide to use-divide

International Trade Centre