Electronic commerce for development / edited by Andrea Goldstein, David O'Connor

Papers delivered to a conf., Bologna, Italy, 4-5 May 2001

Includes bibliographical references.

In this collection of essays, authors from different disciplines draw on supply chain analysis and industry studies to elucidate how new information and communications technologies -- as epitomised by the mobile phone and the internet -- are affecting the livelihoods of low-income communities and the businesses of small entrepreneurs from Bangladesh to South Africa. Case studies look at these questions in the context of: the world coffee market, where online auctions have yielded price premiums for a handful of growers; the automobile industry where parts procurement is being rationalised and small suppliers squeezed, but a handful of suppliers have found in the internet a tool to link with hitherto inaccessible customers; the textile industry where IT-based procurement and faster product cycles threaten to shut out many developing country suppliers. The general conclusion reached by many of the authors is a sobering one. The internet is not a panacea for low productivity and profitability of developing country enterprises, which owe more to such problems as weak infrastructure, limited managerial know-how and poor quality control, and excessive market distortions. On the other hand, neither can an entrepreneur expect to have a fighting chance in the global marketplace without being wired. [from the OECD website]