The Changing Marketplace: Putting “E” to Work
By Natalie Domeisen
If communities in developing countries are to benefit from technology, we need to ‘put “e” to work’. Technology is one thing. Applying the benefits of technology to boost exports, jobs and income, is another. This issue of Trade Forum is part of ITC’s contribution to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), taking place in Geneva in December 2003 and Tunis in November 2005. ITC’s contribution aims to help small firms improve their competitive position by using information and communications technologies.
From agriculture to industrial products, consumer goods and business services, technology matters. Whether companies manage traditional exports in new ways or exploit opportunities in new export sectors, they are ‘putting “e” to work’ to sharpen their compet
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What After Cancún?
By J. Denis Bélisle, ITC
For multilateral trade negotiations to be relevant to developing and transition economies, there must be a greater focus on supply-side issues. To help countries become more competitive in global markets, there is a greater need than ever for practical, trade-related technical assistance. We also need to encourage South-South trade, currently the most promising area for trade growth among developing countries.
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Putting “E” to Work
By R. Badrinath, ITC
Whether it is in processes, products or markets, exporters who do not keep up with technological innovations in their field may fall behind. A solid investment strategy in “e”, however, can help SMEs enter new markets and overcome or sidestep many traditional obstacles they face while competing internationally.
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National E-trade Strategies: Beyond Access
By John Gilles, ITC
To increase exports and improve national competitiveness, developing countries need specific e-trade strategies that go beyond the issue of access.
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The Changing Marketplace
By Natalie Domeisen and Prema de Sousa, ITC
Small exporters in developing countries can sharpen their competitive edge using information and communications technologies (ICT).
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“E” @ ITC
By ITC staff
ITC helps developing countries put “e” to work for small exporting firms.
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Checklist for National E-readiness
By Madanmohan Rao
Small firms in developing countries can be more competitive using ICTs — by participating in new export sectors, streamlining business activities and linking with trade development partners more effectively. This article provides recommendations to firms and governments on integrating ICTs for trade.
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Governments Can Advance Innovation
Interview with Vinod K. Aggarwal, University of California at Berkeley
To create conditions for innovation, governments should promote
e-literacy and capital markets as well as set the right legal and
technological infrastructure in place.
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Brazil’s Chamber of E-commerce Promotes
E-business
By Cid Torquato, Camara-e.net
Chambers of commerce can play active roles in promoting the use of information and communications technologies, as the example of the Brazilian Chamber of E-commerce — Camara-e.net — shows.
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What Small Businesses Need from an
E-marketplace
By Daniel Salcedo, PEOPLink, James Henry, CatGen and Adrian Rubio, CatGen
Keeping technology applications simple and focused; working collectively through business networks; and tapping into a network of global contacts for technical adaptations has helped this business support organization offer online solutions to small exporters.
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A Grassroots View: Helping Small Firms Put the “E” in Trade
By Teresa Peters, Bridges.org
National strategies need to concentrate on real e-issues facing small firms, so that they can benefit from information and communications technologies.
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“Big Business” Helps Small Businesses Work with Technology
By Luke Williams, Enablis and Armen Ovanessoff, Accenture
Today, multinationals are partnering with governments and local groups to provide seed money and skills, and to improve the policy environment for small firms to take off with technology.
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Gourmet Coffee Makes Premium Prices Online
Using Internet auctions to sell premium coffee generates high prices for gourmet coffee growers in developing countries. An ITC project has enduring success.
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Small Firms Make the Case for E-trade
Across the developing world, pioneering small firms are taking advantage of new information and communications technologies to improve their business processes and expand their export markets for traditional products and services. They are also supplying high-tech goods and services themselves.
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Using Technology: What Exporters Say
By Natalie Domeisen
When developing e-trade strategies, governments should be in touch with their exporters’ needs. Surveys are a good place to start. Here we look at results from interviews with European and North American exporters.
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In Southeast Asia, E-marketplaces Grow
By Len Cordiner, Mekong Private Sector Development Facility
Small firms in Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam are sharing online costs to widen visibility to foreign buyers and increase exports.
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ITC Brings a Trade Dimension to the World Summit on the Information Society
By Andrée Pinard Clark
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), taking place in Geneva, in December 2003, and in Tunis, in November 2005, gathers leaders from government, the private sector, intergovernmental organizations, civil society and the media to address the challenges posed by the global digital divide.
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National teams exchanged ideas at the Executive Forum.
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Executive Forum on National Export Strategies Held in Cancún
By Brian Barclay
In keeping with the preoccupations of the Doha Development Agenda, ITC focused its annual Executive Forum debate on the theme “Business for Development: Implications for Export Strategy-makers”, and moved the event from its traditional home of Montreux, Switzerland to Cancún, Mexico.
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ICT Training for Cameroon’s Businesswomen
By Lilia Naas, ITC
ITC launched a new project to help women entrepreneurs in Cameroon expand their business regionally and internationally, using information and communication technologies (ICTs) and networks.
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Forum Web Site Offers More to Readers
By Miklos Gaspar, Pressflex and Prema de Sousa, ITC
Since 2001, print readers of Forum have been able to turn to the online version of the magazine for trade development news and issues. After two-and-a-half years of steady development, Trade Forum’s trilingual web site has a lot more to offer, with web-only features providing greater interaction and user-friendliness.
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Left to right: Eduardo Pizarro, ITC Senior Trade Promotion Officer, Sandra Morales de Duje, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of El Salvador, J. Denis Bélisle, ITC Executive Director, Maria Brizuela de Ávila, Minister of Foreign Relations of El Salvador and Mario Castro Grande, Chargé d’Affaires, Permanent Mission of El Salvador. |
El Salvador presents gift to ITC
Maria Brizuela de Ávila, the Minister of Foreign Relations of El Salvador, presented ITC with a sample of cloth dyed with traditional, organic blue indigo, on 1 July 2003. She was accompanied by members of the Permanent Mission of El Salvador to the Office of the United Nations and Specialized Agencies in Geneva.
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East African services associations ‘Build Bridges Across Borders’
ITC, with the Kenyan Export Promotion Council, held its first regional
networking event for service sector industry associations (Nairobi,
July 2003), to help build relationships at the association level.
Service exporters in linked sectors often find it easier to enter new
markets by bundling their offerings. For example, foreign investors in
a new country require business services such as corporate real estate,
accounting, legal and information technology. Clustering services such
as planning, design, architecture, engineering and construction often
allows small exporters to bid collectively on large-scale projects.
“Small and micro enterprises that cannot be globally competitive on
their own can access networks which will backstop them as they take on
the challenge of harnessing globalization,” commented George
Walusimbi-Mpanga, Executive Secretary of the Uganda Services Exporters
Association.
More than 40 associations from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda attended the
two-day Bridges Across Borders event.
The event included a skills development workshop and one-on-one
meetings among participants representing sectors such as
pharmaceutical, medical, marketing, out-sourcing, legal, architecture,
accounting, insurance, surveying, engineering, transportation and
banking.
The next Bridges Across Borders meeting will take place in Botswana
(December, 2003) with the participation of service associations from
Namibia and Zambia. Another meeting will also take place in Tunisia
with associations from Cameroon and Morocco.
For more information, contact Doreen Conrad (conrad@intracen.org), Chief, ITC Trade in Services Unit.
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New trade training network for Central America and Caribbean
Public and private sector trade trainers from eight Central American and Caribbean states formed a new trade training association for the region. This is the result of an ITC trade training project funded by the Governments of Norway and Sweden.
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New ITC CD-ROM
The Changing Marketplace: Putting "E" to Work
Are you looking for more information on applying information and
communications technologies to improve export growth in developing
countries?
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ITC Publications on “E”
Books
- Coffee: An Exporters Guide (2002)
- Executive Forum 2000: Export Development in the Digital Economy (2001)
- Successful Services Exporting: A Handbook for Firms, Associations and Governments (2001)
- Business Guide to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (rev. 2001)
- Secrets of Electronic Commerce: A Guide for Small and Medium-sized Exporters (2000)
- The SME and Information Technology: A Practical Study of SMEs at the IT Frontier (2000)
- Offshore Back Office Operations: Supplying Support Services to Global Markets (2000)
- Trade in Information Technology Products and the WTO Agreements (1999)
- Information Technology Services: A Handbook for Exporters from Developing Countries (1998)
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