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E-readiness of developing countries Throughout history, mankind has passed through several development stages that were described by Alvin Toffler in "Future Shock", his famous 1970 book. In the Agricultural Age, man obtained greater returns on his labor from farming than those realized earlier through hunting and gathering wild products. The economy was based on two productive factors, Land and Work. The second stage was associated with the Industrial Revolution, in which workers become workers in factories, achieving greater levels of comfort. Capital became the third production factor, which, along with the other two factors, Land and Work, allowed accelerated economic growth throughout the world. The third stage, in which we find ourselves today, is the Information Age, characterized by the addition of yet another factor to the industrial scheme above.
This new factor is information, produced by sustained accelerated technological innovations during the second half of the twentieth century, mostly in the areas of computers and communications. The information society is a result of technological revolutions that allow greater closeness between people by facilitating transmission of information (text, images, videos, music, etc. ), producing a revolutionary transformation in economic, organizational, scientific, technological, cultural, social, and political areas. In the Information Age, the gap between rich and poor threatens to widen, not only with countries, but between developed and developing countries. Countries with greater powers of acquisition have easier access to new technologies and take greater advantage of them. Given this situation, it is imperative that developing countries redouble their efforts to prepare themselves to successfully meet the challenge and maximize the opportunities that the Information-Based Economy offers. There are many dimensions and factors associated with what it means to achieve a level of preparedness in the modern interconnected or digital world.
Countries must first have a solid grounding in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) that are underlie telecommunications and computers, such as the Internets World Wide Web one of the most important innovations since the invention of telephone or television. One can hardly imagine our society without this letter e, whether we are talking about mail, commerce, bank, society, learning etc. Many people, organizations, countries aim to have all the necessary facilities in order to use at least any of these es. Unfortunately not all of these are ready for this. According to the numerous definitions e-readiness is the degree to which a community is prepared to participate in the networked world. It is gauged by assessing a community's advancement in the areas that are most critical to the adoption of ICTs.
A readiness assessment can be used to help identify strategic priorities. During las years a number of e Readiness assessment tools have been developed. On the surface, each tool gauges how ready a society or economy is to benefit from IT and electronic commerce. On closer examination, the range of tools use widely varying definitions for e Readiness and different methods for measurement. For example, Harvard University's model looks at how ICTs are currently used in a society, while Apec's method focuses on government policies for e-commerce. There is no sense to discuss the so-called upper group of countries which are e-ready and already enjoy all the advantages of the e-world.
But one should draw attention to the countries which are only on their way, not only to the e-world but to the better world itself. There is a number of different organizations which conduct e-readiness assessments in developing countries using a variety of tools. There are at least five initiatives currently underway to conduct further e-readiness assessments, including those driven by UNDP, the ITU, The World Bank, The World Economic Forum, and national donor agencies (including USAID, the UKs DFID and Sida). The goal of such assessments is usually to provide a resource to policy-makers and others who want to use e-readiness assessment results to plan for the integration of technologies in society, and to organizations that are considering new assessments. The mission of such organizations is to promote the effective use of information and communications technology (ICT) in developing countries to improve people's lives.
There are significant benefits for everyone if the people of developing and emerging nations are able to take full advantage of the Internet and other information technologies for improving their lives. Many countries lack sufficient technology infrastructure. But now there are many initiatives to bring networks and access to people in developing and emerging countries. Even though the technology is increasingly available, people do not use it because they do not understand it, they are uncomfortable using it, they cannot afford it, or they cannot see its utility. For them the digital divide means a lost opportunity: no chance to use information tools to bring medical applications to rural villages, to offer better educational tools and courseware to schoolchildren, to give local businesses access to global markets, or to make governments more effective and transparent. A countrys e-readiness must be evaluated in order for it to define policies that will allow it to insert itself more effectively into the Knowledge Based Economy.
It must be noted that national economies vary in their degree to which they can currently take advantage of ICTs, and that developing nations are almost by definition less prepared in this sense than more developed countries, and that national policies will accordingly have to vary take advantage of these different circumstances. For some countries it will be relatively easy to advance to a successful insertion into the Networked World while others will have greater difficulty achieving this goal. Knowing a countrys situation is fundamental to designing and executing programs which seek to develop those areas in which the country finds itself relatively weak and improving or at least sustaining the conditions in which the country is strong. Co-ordination, particularly formal programmes between government organisations and the IT industry, is key to success. Here is where Europe and especially Scandinaviaexcels. Simply putting information online and evincing a benign attitude towards Internet development is no longer sufficient.
To have a strong impact on the day-to-day activities of consumers and businesses, governments must embrace their role as early adopter and promote education programmes and legislation that make a difference. Smart government initiatives are contributing to the steady rise of the Northern European countries, Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea, and the relative stagnation of such e-enabled but unit-ordinated markets as the US and Australia. When the e-readiness rankings were introduced in 2000, the US was the indisputable leader. In each year since, its position has eroded as other developed countries, particularly in Northern Europe, have advanced. When assessing the e-readiness organization use a variety of variables which actually build the basis for the assessment itself. These variables differ from organization to organization but there are certain factors which cannot be forgotten: Age Dependency Ratio - the ratio of people of working age to the total population in a country.
In other words, it shows how many mouths each wage-earner has to feed. Corruption Perception Index it is measuring levels of trustworthiness as they are perceived by outsiders. If the country has a high score, then this is something to be proud of and to feature in any promotional materials designed to attract new investment. If it is low, then this is something that will have to be addressed locally as part of a regional development strategy.
Female graduates in all subjects it tells a number of things about the local labour market and local society more generally. If it is high in relation to the total population, then this is a reasonable indicator that this is a society in which education is taken seriously. GDP growth - this is a standard variable that gives a general indicator of the growth in gross domestic product. In other words, it is a general indicator of growth in the economy. High rates of GDP growth indicate rapid development and a dynamic local economy.
Graduates in all subjects - it is a good general indicator of education levels in a society. Many e Work businesses require graduate-level qualifications for all recruits and a large supply of graduates entering the labour market is an extremely positive selling point for any region. Gross Domestic Product (purchasing power parity) - it shows the absolute level of GDP rather than its rate of growth. It gives an indication of the size of an economy.
Internet hosts - it gives an indication of the extent to which it is actively part of an information society. Whilst it does not directly tell how many people are online, a high number in relation to the total population suggests that there is an awareness of the Internet, and that many people are likely to be familiar with information and communications technologies and have some knowledge in using them. Labour Force - this indicator tells how many people there are in a country who are available for work. Whilst the term workforce refers only to those people actually in work, the labour force also includes unemployed people.
Main line telephones this number is often taken as an indicator of general prosperity and economic development. When this figure is combined with the number of people in the whole population, the resulting ratio is called teledensity, normally the number of fixed phone lines for every 1, 000 people in the total population. Maths and computer science graduates - they form the main source of talent for the software and other IT industries. Minutes of incoming and outgoing international phone calls - it gives an indication of the extent to which the economy is already integrated into global trading and employment networks.
Personal computers - it is an indication of how many people in the population have IT skills. Population density - it shows how many people live on each hectare of land. For some kinds of large-scale labour-intensive work, such as call centres, employers seek out areas of high density, with a large number of potential workers to choose from. Population - it is usually most useful when combined with some other variable to give a per capita (ie per head of the population) figure. Tertiary school enrolment - it tells us how many pupils there are in full-time education at the post-secondary level. Some of these pupils will in future years be entering the labour market with educational qualifications at the school-leaver level; others may enter university to develop higher qualifications.
There now exists a unique opportunity for many of developing communities to join global information networks to propel them to greater wealth and prosperity. Without a concerted effort by the developing world to get ready for the global networked economy, however, the gaps in living standards between developed and developing countries will only grow wider, and the productive use of these technologies will remain a phenomenon that is largely confined to the richest parts of the world. The value of a network increases as its number of users grows. By participating in the global information network, developing nations not only add value to the rest of the world, but also benefit from the ability to use the network to communicate and trade with all other users. For this reason it becomes ever more important for the developing world to get ready for the Networked World. Getting ready for the Networked World creates new opportunities for firms and individuals in the developing world, eliminates barriers that have traditionally stifled flows of information and goods to and from developing nations, and promotes efficiency in a host of activities.
Students can learn more about the world and about themselves through use of the network. Businesspeople can find new market opportunities and more efficient ways to run their firms. Governments can more effectively provide public services. Individuals can communicate with friends and family and become more informed about virtually anything that is on the network. Participation in the Networked World can provide new ways for developing countries to improve their economic, social and political well-being. These opportunities for positive change are increasingly relevant and achievable as information and communication technologies become more powerful and less expensive.
Bibliography: Assessing e Readiness. Retrieved from the Web September 3, 2004, web What is bridges? Retrieved from the Web September 3, 2004, web Reasons Behind the E-Readiness Program in Costa Rica. Retrieved from the Web September 3, 2004, web The 2004 e-readiness rankings.
Retrieved from the Web September 3, 2004, web Readiness for the networked world. A guide for developing countries. Retrieved from the Web September 3, 2004, web Country variables. Retrieved from the Web September 3, 2004, web
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Research essay sample on E Readiness Of Developing Countries
