Business process outsourcing can be a win-win deal, even for small firms in developing countries.

Business and professional services form more than a third of global service exports — and their share continues to grow.

According to the International Monetary Fund, business and professional services have been the fastest-growing sector of world trade from an export earnings perspective since the General Agreement on Trade in Services was launched in 1995, with an average annual growth rate of 7.6%. This compares with growth of 4.9% for goods exports and 3.8% for tourism. Since 1999, the average annual growth rate has risen to 8.9%.

The coffee market is oversupplied, with the price of coffee at its lowest in a century. Over the years, ITC has supported several projects and initiatives to help coffee producers. One of the most innovative projects was the world’s first Internet coffee auction, the origin of what is today the Cup of Excellence® programme.

“Worldsourcing” — global outsourcing — is benefiting a number of developing and transition economies. It is also fundamentally changing the structure of firms.

Using Internet auctions to sell premium coffee generates high prices for gourmet coffee growers in developing countries. An ITC project has enduring success.

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.

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

Small exporters in developing countries can sharpen their competitive edge using information and communications technologies (ICT).

Small firms in Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam are sharing online costs to widen visibility to foreign buyers and increase exports.

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.

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.

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.

The global market for business services is estimated at US$ 3 trillion for 2001, or approximately 10% of global gross domestic product. Exports of business services for 2001 are projected (based on International Monetary Fund (IMF) balance of payments data) to be US$ 734 billion, or 24% of total global production.

Over the past four years, ITC’s World Tr@de Net programme (previously the Uruguay Round Follow-up programme) has delivered nearly 200 seminars in 70 developing and transition economies to brief business and government leaders about the world trading system. Below is a sample of questions posed most frequently by seminar participants.

The questions reflect real concerns of seminar participants and, as such, represent perspectives of the business community in developing countries. For answers to your frequently asked questions, see the World Tr@de Net web site http://www.intracen.org/worldtradenet

Barbados was one of the first sugar-based agrarian economies to diversify into the provision of back office operations. The Government’s strategy to develop Barbados as an offshore financial centre started after research had been completed to establish the best way that Barbados could leverage its highly educated workforce of English mother tongue, its proximity to the United States and Canada, and its traditional links with the United Kingdom.

Consider back office operations in your national export development strategy. Developing countries can harness the current trend of outsourcing business operations to address key challenges in managing their economic development.

This article is the second of two about the growing opportunities for developing and transition economies to provide back office services to international firms, public-sector agencies and non-profit organizations (see also Forum, issue 3-2000).

A real revolution is happening in nearly every market in which you export that will change the way that trade support institutions (TSIs) operate.
The seat of this revolution is business-to-business (B2B) marketplaces. They bring together in one place all of the participants and associated services for international trade: suppliers, buyers, shippers, logistics, finance, inspection services, marketing news and software applications that facilitate digital catalogue production, purchasing and sales.

This article is the first in a two-part series about the growing opportunities to provide back office services to international firms, public-sector agencies and non-profit organizations. Adapted from ITC’s new publication, Offshore Back Office Operations: Supplying Support Services to Global Markets, these articles are designed to raise awareness about the market opportunities for developing countries and share successful strategies and best practices.

Behind every success is hard work, substantial risks, sleepless nights and — not least — the bit of luck that can make the whole difference. This article looks at elements that made the world’s first Internet coffee auction (December 1999) a success. Lessons are described here for others to learn — but also to avoid false expectations among the coffee growers who have started to say: “Getting my coffee on the Internet would change everything — for the better.”

Understanding e-finance trends helps both firms and trade development professionals to be more internationally competitive.

Views from Arnaud Dufour, author of a French best-seller about the Internet, Que Sais-Je, which has been translated in five languages.

Should small firms in developing countries take the plunge and invest in setting up an Internet site now? What lessons can they learn from Internet pioneers?

There are lessons in a recent Internet study of small and medium-sized exporters in the United States. The conclusion of participating firms: they plan to keep using the Internet for marketing and customer support, although they did not sell as much as they had expected.

Are you looking for timely business information at a relatively low cost? Many companies and trade support institutions (trade promotion organizations, professional associations, consultants) are adopting the Internet to improve their access to information sources, expand their scope of data collection and to bridge information gaps for specific international markets.

The Internet can help service firms in developing and transitional economies exactly where they need it most. It helps them overcome two of the biggest barriers they face: gaining credibility in international markets; and travel costs and restrictions that impede export market development.

ITC interviews Joel Maloff, an international Internet consultant who writes frequently on executive issues.