[PDF] Information Technology for Development of Small and Medium

1350_3S2005033_en.pdf

Information Technology for Development

of Small and Medium-sized Exporters in Latin America and East Asia

Mikio Kuwayama

Yasushi Ueki

Masatsugu Tsuji

EDITORSProject documents

Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) 2

ECLAC - Project documentsAcknowledgements

The views expressed in this document, which has been reproduced without formal editing, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Organizations.

United Nations Publication

LC/W.27

Copyright © United Nations, October 2005. All rights reserved

Printed in United Nations, Santiago of Chile

Applications for the right to reproduce this work are welcomed and should be sent to the Secretary of the Publications Board, United Nations Headquarters, New York, N.Y. 10017, U.S.A. Member States and their governmental institutions may reproduce this work without prior authorization, but are requested to mention the source and inform the United Nations of such reproduction.

ECLAC - Project documents Information Technology for Development of Small and Medium-sized Exporters in Latin America and East Asia

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Acknowledgements

This report is an output of the project entitled "Comparative Study on the East Asian and Latin American IT Industry", which was executed by the Division of International Trade and Integration of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in collaboration with the Institute of Developing Economies of the Japan External Trade Organization (IDE/JETRO). The project was financed by the Thematic Trust Fund: Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Development of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The report provides an overview of the present status of information technology (IT) and its use to promote international trade. It focuses on experiences in IT usage by small- and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Asia-Pacific and Latin American and Caribbean regions. Special emphasis is placed on SME exporters in the 13 countries covered by the study, which were selected from among the member countries of the Forum for East Asia - Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC). The primary objectives of the study were: (i) to enhance intra- and interregional business ties in IT-based supply chains in each FEALAC member country; (ii) to develop SMEs through IT

usage; (iii) to promote interregional cooperation between SMEs in the two regions; and (iv) to reduce

poverty through SME development. SMEs play essential roles, especially in developing countries, as job creators and social

stabilizers, as well as sources of innovation. In so doing, they contribute both to poverty alleviation

and to the overall economic development process. The majority of SMEs are still confronted with formidable obstacles when seeking to start or expand their businesses (especially those related to international trade), but the IT revolution is providing SMEs with effective tools which they can use, in conjunction with appropriate government policy measures, to overcome many of the hurdles they face. These studies of 13 FEALAC member countries -six from Asia (Japan, People's Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam) and seven from Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico and Peru)- have addressed the following issues: the contribution made by SMEs to the economy; IT usage by SMEs; and IT-related policies

designed to promote SME participation in international trade. In addition, for each country examined,

several case studies were conducted in order to identify successful IT business practices used by SMEs. The present volume provides a synthesis and summaries of the 13 individual country studies. The complete version of each country study will be made available shortly on the ECLAC International Trade and Integration Division's website: www.eclac.cl/comercio. The findings of these country studies indicate that an increasing number of SMEs are gaining access to ITs, even in developing countries, although a wide digital divide remains, especially between microenterprises/small firms, on the one hand, and medium-sized firms, on the other. The case studies conducted at the sector and firm levels demonstrate that, by utilizing ITs effectively, some SMEs have succeeded in improving their management capacities, adding more value to their products and services, and/or accessing foreign markets. 4

ECLAC - Project documentsAcknowledgements

In order to share the findings of these studies and promote debate on these issues, ECLAC and IDE/JETRO held the International Seminar on Information Technology for the Development of Small and Medium-sized Exporters in East Asia and Latin America on 23-24 November 2004 at ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, Chile. The seminar, which was attended by a large number of experts from both regions, was opened with inaugural addresses by Ms. Alicia Bárcena, Deputy Executive Secretary of ECLAC; Ms. Irene Philippi, Resident Representative in Chile of UNDP; and Ambassador Mitsuhiro Kagami, Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of Nicaragua and former Executive Vice President of JETRO. We are very grateful to all participants for their stimulating comments and contributions to the event. Following the international seminar, project findings have been presented at the FEALAC Economy and Society Working Group meeting (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 25 November 2004), which was organized by the Governments of Argentina and Japan as the co-chairs of the Working Group, and at the Symposium on the Promotion and Application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises" Competitiveness (Lima, Peru,

8-9 July 2005), which was organized by .the Government of Peru in coordination with the Centre

for the Promotion of Small and Micro-enterprise (PROMPYME). It is our sincere hope that the project studies and the involvement of project participants in these events will contribute to the creation of a cooperative framework for SME development within FEALAC. The experts who participated in this project and international seminar shared the opinion that governments, international organizations and other bodies concerned with ITs, international trade and development issues should set up coordination mechanisms to help them translate broad government policy frameworks into concrete actions and streamline the currently vast and inefficient array of IT promotion policies. The views expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the project"s executing agencies. We would like to thank UNDP, especially Mr. Raul Zambrano, Development Policy Adviser, and Atsushi Yamanaka, ICTD Specialist, of the UNDP Bureau for Development Policy, and Ms. Josefa Errázuriz Guilisasti, Operations Coordinator with the Office of the Resident Representative in Chile of UNDP, for their coordination efforts. We are particularly grateful to Ambassador Akio Hosono, the Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of El Salvador, who developed the concept for this research project in collaboration with Ambassador Kagami and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Special thanks are also due to Mr. Mikio Kuwayama, Officer-in-Charge of the ECLAC International Trade Unit, who effectively coordinated the entire project, and to Professor Masatsugu Tsuji, with the University of Hyogo, and Mr. Rodrigo Cárcamo Olmos, Project Consultant, for their contribution to this project"s implementation. Mr. Yasushi Ueki, Expert on Mission from IDE/JETRO to ECLAC, not only

contributed to several chapters of the report but also coordinated the technical aspects of the project

with consultants and IDE/JETRO. We would like to express our appreciation to the many ECLAC staff members who worked on this project. We are also grateful to the staff of IDE/JETRO, especially Ms. Tamayo Ito for her research assistance and Ms. Masako Hasegawa, Mr. Shuji Uchikawa, Ms. Tomoko Kubota and Mr. Toshihiro Kudo for their administrative assistance.

September 2005

Akifumi Kuchiki

Executive Vice President

Japan External Trade Organization

José Luis Machinea

Executive Secretary

Economic Commission for Latin America

and the Caribbean

ECLAC - Project documents Information Technology for Development of Small and Medium-sized Exporters in Latin America and East Asia

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List of Authors

LATIN AMERICA

Argentina

Ernesto Mario Rodríguez Rodríguez

Brazil

Antonio José Junqueira Botelho

Paulo Bastos Tigre

Chile

Rodrigo Cárcamo Olmos

Yasushi Ueki

Colombia

André Kublik Walther

El Salvador

Merlín Alejandrina Barrera López

Mexico

Juan Antonio Ramírez Bustos

Peru

Carlos Daniel Durand Chahud

ASIA China

Xingmin Yin

Japan

Masatsugu Tsuji

Republic of Korea

Yoo Soo Hong

Singapore

Wong Poh Kam

Annette Singh

Thailand

Chanin Mephokee

Kaipichit Ruengsrichaiya

Viet Nam

Ngyuyen Thanh HaMultilateral Advisory Services S.A., Universidad de Buenos Aires, and

Universidad de San Andrés

Departamento de Engenharia Industrial and NEP Genesis, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, and Innovastrat Consulting Instituto de Economia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, and

Innovastrat Consulting

PROCHILE, Gobierno de Chile

Institute of Developing Economies (IDE/JETRO), and International Trade and Integration Division, ECLAC

Devnet Internacional, and Estudio Net Ltda.

Corporación de Exportadores de El Salvador,

(Independent Consultant)

AFCOT S.A. De C.V.

Instituto Competitividad y Tecnología and Cámara de Comercio de Lima China Centre for Economic Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai Graduate School of Applied Informatics, University of Hyogo and Professor

Emeritus, Osaka University

Korea Institute for International Economic Policy

NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, National University of Singapore NUS Entrepreneurship Centre, National University of Singapore

Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University

Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University

VIETBID (Law Firm and Investment and Technology Consultancy Center) 6

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Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

List of Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

PART I: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Summary Report for the Research Project

RESULTS OF THE PROJECT

1. BACKGROUNDS AND METHODOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

2. AN OVERVIEW OF THE FEALAC ECONOMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

3. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE GLOBALIZED ECONOMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

(1) IT Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

(2) Human Resources and Literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

(3) Research and Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

(4) Other Trade and Business Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

4. IT USAGE AND DEVELOPMENT OF SMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

(1) IT and Business Conditions in the Selected Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

(2) Informatization at the Firm Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

(a) Current State of Informatization by Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

(b) Current State of Informatization in the Studied Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Republic of Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Singapore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Viet Nam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Chile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Colombia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

El Salvador . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..65

Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Peru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

5. INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT OF SMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

(1) Business Environment of SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

(a) Contribution of SMEs to National Economies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

(b) Internationalization of SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

(c) Obstacles for SMEs to Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

(2) SME Development Through IT: Key Findings from the Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

(a) Motives to introduce IT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

(b) Patterns of International Trade by SMEs and IT applications to promote SME

development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Contents

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ECLAC - Project documentsContents

(c) Processes to expand access to markets abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

(d) Barriers to diffuse e-commerce, SCM and other e-transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Box 1 Computerized Systems for International Trade and Customs Integration in El Salvador and

Guatemala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Box 2

Sweet's, a Better Practice of a Salvadorian SME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

6. POLICY ISSUES CONCERNING IT UTILIZATION IT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SMES

AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

(1) Promotion of IT utilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

(a) Obstacles to IT usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

(b) Key Policy issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

(2) Policy Elements for Development of Smaller Exporters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

(3) International Cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

7. CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

(1) Policy areas to be focused on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

(a) Improvement of access to information on international trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

(b) Capacity Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

(c) Formation of Virtual Clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

(d) Trade Facilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

(e) Improvement of Infrastructure for e-business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

(2) Policy Suggestions to and Future Policy Issues for the FEALAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

(a) Policy suggestions: Establishment of a portal site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

(b) Future policy agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Annex 1

Practical Examples of IT Usage by SMEs

China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Republic of Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Singapore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Viet Nam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Chile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Colombia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

El Salvador . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Peru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Annex 2

Major Policy Issues related to Direct Exports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Annex 3

Invitation Program for Young Leaders of the FEALAC Member Countries, SMEs Promotion and IT (from February 20 to March 2, 2005) -10 SUGGESTIONS FROM YOUNG LEADERS- . .103

Annex 4

Policy Framework for Development of SME and IT in the Researched Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Republic of Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Singapore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Viet Nam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

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Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Chile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Colombia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

El Salvador . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Peru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

PART II: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Latin America

Asia

ARGENTINA

I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

II. Present status of the IT market and of IT usage by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

A. Market Estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

B. Penetration of IT and E-commerce by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

III. SMEs' development in the IT revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

A. Overview of the relative importance of SMEs in the overall economy . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 B. Case studies on use of e-commerce and supply chain management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

1. Córdoba technology cluster (Polo Tecnológico de Córdoba) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

2. Dupont Apex programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

3. Profiling export-oriented industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

4. Belgrano Department (Province of Santa Fe) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

C. Problems faced by SMEs in participating in the trade-oriented value chain . . . . . . . . 142

1) Problems that SMEs encounter in participating in IT networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

2) Barriers that inhibit SMEs from participating effectively in supply chains and

trade networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

IV. Government Policies Designed for SMEs, IT, and International Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

A. IT policies in the country's overall strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

B. Policies to support SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

1. Export promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

2. Trade facilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

3. FDI promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

4. Business promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

C. Special measures to rectify the "digital divide" between firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

1. Human resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

2. Technical aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

3. Financial aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

4. Infocentres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

D. E-government targeting SMEs and trade promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

1. Overall strategy/structure of E-government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

2. Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

a. E-procurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

b. Customs and other trade-related procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

c. E-finance, and/or e-payment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

d. Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

E. Institutional issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

1. Standardization, such as EDI and cryptographic codes, and Public

Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

2. Intellectual property rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

V. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

BRAZIL

I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

II. Current situation of the IT market and IT use by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

A. Market estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

B. Penetration of IT and e-commerce among small and medium-sized

enterprises (SMEs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

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ECLAC - Project documentsContents

III. SME development in the IT revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

A. Overview of the relative importance of SMEs in the economy at large . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 B. Case studies on the use of e-commerce and supply chain management (SCM) in

selected industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

1. The ornamental stones cluster in the state of Espírito Santo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

2. Aeronautics industry suppliers in São José dos Campos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

C. Problems for SMEs to participate in the trade-oriented value chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

IV. Government policies designed for SMES, IT, and international trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

A. IT policies in the country's overall development strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

B. Policies to support SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

1. Export promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

2. Trade facilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

3. FDI promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

4. Business promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

C. Special measures to correct the 'digital divide' among companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

1. Human resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

2. Technical aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

3. Financial aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

4. Infocenters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

5. Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

D. E-government aimed at SMEs and trade promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

1. Overall strategy/structure of e-government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

2. Some e-government applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

E. Institutional issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

1. Standardization and public key infrastructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

2. Intellectual Property rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

V. Regional networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

A. Existing regional networks or websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

B. New networks or websites in the planning stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

C. Possibility of inter-regional links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

VI. Conclusion and recommendation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

1. Lessons learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

2. Assessment of experiences in export promotion and IT policies for SMEs . . . . . 184

3. Assessment of the present situation of regional networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

CHILE

I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

II. The current situation in the IT market and IT use by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

A. Market Estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

1. Overview of the digital economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

2. Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

3. E-commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

B. Penetration of IT and e-commerce by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

1. IT use by Chilean firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

2. IT use by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

III. SME development in the IT revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

A. Overview of the relative importance of SMEs in the economy at large . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

1. The recent condition of SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

2. SME exports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

2.1. Current situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

2.2. The weakness of Chilean SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

B. Case studies on the use of e-commerce and supply chain management (SCM) in

selected industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

1. Background to the policy issue in Chile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

2. Case 1: Development of food safety systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

2.1. The need for food safety management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

2.2. Food-safety management and traceability system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

2.3. The concept of traceability and international movements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

ECLAC - Project documents Information Technology for Development of Small and Medium-sized Exporters in Latin America and East Asia

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2.4.The framework for developing food safety management systems in Chile . .198

2.5. Development of a traceability system for the fresh fruit sector in Chile . . . 199

2.6. Development of a platform for food traceability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

3. Case 2: Development of the software and IT service sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

3.1. Recent conditions of the software and IT service sectors in Chile . . . . . . . 201

3.2. Comparative advantages and disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

3.3.National vision and strategy for developing the software sector . . . . . . . . . . . 203

3.4. Development of the software cluster in Valparaíso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

IV. Government policies designed for SMEs, IT, and international trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

A. IT policies in the country's overall development strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

B. Policies to support SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

1. Export promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

2. Trade facilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

3. FDI promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

4. Business promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

4.1. Basic framework for the business promotion policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

4.2. Incubation business policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

C. Special measures to correct the digital divide between firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

1. Human resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

2. Technical aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

3. Infocentres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

D. E-government targeting SMEs and trade promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

1. Overall strategy/structure of e-government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

2. E-government applications for corporate service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

V. Conclusion and recommendation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

(1) Measures against barriers to foreign market participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

(2) Trade facilitation measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

(3) IT policy and measures for promoting e-commerce and other IT applications . . 216

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

COLOMBIA

I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

II. Current ICT market situation and ICT use by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

A. Market Estimates of ICT investment levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

1. Telephony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

2. Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

3. Hardware and software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

4. E-commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

B. ICT and E-commerce Penetration by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

III. SMEs in the ICT Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

A. SMEs within the economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

B. Case studies for e-commerce and supply chain management in SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

1. Zebra Electrónica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

2. Itansuca Ltda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

3. Artesanías de Colombia and SIART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

IV. Government policies for SMEs, ICTs, and international trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

A. E-government, SMEs and trade promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

1. Connectivity agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

2. Rationalization and Automatization Proceedings Programme (PRAT) . . . . . . . . 234

B. Promoting ICT use in SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

C. Policies to support SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

1. Export promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

2. Facilitating trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

3. Foreign investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

D. Special measures to bridge the digital divide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

1. COMPARTEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

2. Telecentros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

V. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

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ECLAC - Project documentsContents

EL SALVADOR

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

II. PRESENT STATUS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE SALVADORAN

MARKET, AND ITS USE BY SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

A. MARKET ASSESSMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

B. Penetration of IT and E-Commerce Among SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

III. DEVELOPMENT OF SMEs WITHIN THE IT REVOLUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 A. Overview of the relative importance of SMEs in the overall economy . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 B. Case studies on the use of e-Commerce and supply chain management (SCM) in

selected industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

1. CASE STUDY: HealthCo Products Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

2. CASE STUDY: Software Alliance Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

C. Problems SMEs face in participating in the trade-oriented value chain . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

IV. GOVERNMENT POLICIES DESIGNED FOR SMEs, IT, AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE .252

A. IT policies in the country's overall development strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

B. Policies to support SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

1. Export promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

2. Trade facilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

3. FDI promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

4. Business promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

C. Special measures to correct the "digital divide" between companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

1. Human resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

2. Technical aspect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

3. Financial aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

4. Infocentres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

5. Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

D. E-Government targeted to SMEs and trade promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

1. Overall strategy/structure of e-government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

2. Some applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

E. Institutional Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

1. Legal and institutional framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

2. E - government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

3. Industry and commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

4. Development of human resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

5. ICT infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

V. REGIONAL NETWORKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

VI. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

A. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

B. Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

MEXICO

I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

II. The current IT market and IT use by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

A. Market Estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

B. IT penetration and E-commerce among SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

III. SME development in the IT revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

A. Overview of the importance of SMEs for the overall economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

B. Case studies on E-commerce and SCM in selected industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

1. Infocentre of the Quintana Roo Hotel Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

2. CEMEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

3. FreightMinds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

C. Problems encountered by SMEs in participating in export-oriented value chains . . . . 275

IV. Government policies to promote SMEs, IT, and foreign trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

A. IT policies in the country's development strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

B. Policies to support SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

1. Export promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

2. Trade facilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

3. FDI promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

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4. Business promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

5. Mexican immigrant nostalgia market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

C. Special measures to narrow the digital divide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

D. E-government initiatives to promote SMEs and trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

E. Institutional Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

V. Regional networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

VI. Conclusions and recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

PERU

I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

II. The current situation in the IT Market and IT use by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

A. Market Estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

B. ICT USE BY PERUVIAN ENTERPRISES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

III. SME development in the IT revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

A. Overview of the relative importance of SMEs in the overall economy . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

B. Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

1. Gamarra Textile Cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

2. EXPORTIMO S.A.C. (Wood Sector) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

3. Case of Export Promotion: www.perumarketplaces.com at PROMPEX . . . . . . . 299

C. Problems for SMEs participating in the trade-oriented value-chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

IV. Government policies designed for SMEs, IT and international trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

A. IT policies in the country's overall development strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

B. Policies to support SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

C. Policies and strategies for the development of human skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

D. E-government aimed at SMEs and trade promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

V. Conclusion and recommendation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

1. Lessons learned on IT and information usage by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

2. Policy and measures for SMEs and trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

3. Policy for promoting e-commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

CHINA

I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

II. The current IT market and IT use by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

A. Market data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

B. IT use by firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .319

III. SME development in the IT revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

A. An overview of the role of SMEs in Chinese industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

B. Case studies on use of e-commerce and SCM in various industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

1. Xinmin Textile Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

2. Software export cluster in Hangzhou . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

3. The case of Cixi electronics firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

4. The case of the Ningbo electronics cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

5. The case of Suzhou IT firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

6. The case of Shanghai Guochi Import & Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

IV. Government policies vis-à-vis SMEs, IT and international trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

A. IT POLICIES IN CHINA'S DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

B. Policies to support SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

1. Export promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

2. Trade facilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

3. FDI promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

4. Growth of small high-tech firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

C. Special measures to bridge the digital divide among companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

1. Growth in the supply of human resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

2. Technical assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

3. Financial-support packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

4. SMEs development centres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

D. E-Government for SMEs and trade promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

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E. Spread of public key infrastructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

F. Policy recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

V. Conclusions and recommendation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

1. Maintaining a balance between hardware purchases and software development 342

2. Additional government efforts to encourage the transition to an information society 342

3. Effect of SME-export-promotion policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

4. Elimination of institutional barriers in e-commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

5. Raising the skills of SME human resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

JAPAN

I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

II. The current IT market and IT use by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

1. Current use of IT by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

2. E-commerce and SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

3. Supply chain management as practised by SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

III. SME Development in the IT Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

A. The role of SMEs in the Japanese economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

B. Case studies on IT use in two SME clusters: Higashi-Osaka and Ohta Ward . . . . . . . 348

1. Description of the selected SME clusters: "Horizontal" and "Vertical" . . . . . . . 348

2. IT usage in the two clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

3. Comparison of IT usage in the two clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

4. Policy recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

C. Empirical analysis of factors that encourage IT use, based on survey data . . . . . . . . . 353

1. Factors that affect IT use and development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

2. Indices of IT development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

3. Estimation models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

4. Summary of the estimations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

5. Problems of IT use identified based on empirical research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

5.1. Classification of SMEs by development of IT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

5.2. Obstacles, and the degree of IT development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

5.3. Policies advantageous to IT use as suggested by empirical research . . . . . 358

D. Case study: Dan, an SME supply chain that promotes exports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

1. Profile of the firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

2. Supply chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

3. Overseas shops and international supply chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

IV. Government IT policies vis-à-vis SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

A. IT policies within Japan"s overall development strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

B. Policies to support SMEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

1. Export promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

2. Trade Facilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

3. FDI promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

4. Business promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

C. Special measures to narrow the digital divide between companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

1. Human resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

2. Technical issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

3. Financial aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

4. Infocentres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

D. E-Government initiatives vis-à-vis SMEs and trade promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

1. Overall strategy and structure of e-government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

2. Some applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

E. Institutional issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

1. Standardization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

2. Public key-enabled security services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

3. Intellectual property rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

V. Regional networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

A. Existing regional networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

1. Nationwide networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

2. Regional networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

B. Networks under development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

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1. Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

2. Local governments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

3. Cooperation among industry, government and academia . . . . . . . .

Politique de confidentialité -Privacy policy