Chetan Sharma points out that technology by itself may not generate
jobs. But entrepreneurship certainly does--and the examples of Germany
and Finland he points to may reflect lack of an entrepreneurial culture
more than anything about technology. And technology can play a role in
helping create
Dear GKD Members,
Historical evidence suggests that technological developments of all
kinds can make improvements in the process, time management, convenience
for the consumer. However, to the best of my knowledge, no technological
innovation has demonstrated enhanced employability of the people.
I agree fully that benefits must reach the very poor, whose greatest
need is often livelihoods. And you are right that globalization--on the
export platfrom model--has so far contributed little to such people. But
I do believe that when companies target poor communities as customers,
something
Dear Colleagues,
It would be good if we could agree on a few details.
1. The poor seem to cover a range of peoples. Some are so desperately
poor that any kind of direct ownership, or even use, of ICT is
impossible.
2. Simply because ownership or direct use of ICT is not relevant for a
certain
Having worked for government, as a Development Economist, and as a
Management Consultant for an IT MNC, and currently as a board member of
an international NGO I feel that I can see both sides to this
discussion and below are some of my thoughts. In short:
* There is a clear business case for a
Fola Odufawa's post on 10/28/04 reminded me of a paper titled The
Bangalore Boom: From Brain Drain to Brain Circulation? by AnnaLee
Saxenian of the University of California at Berkeley. The URL for this
is: http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~anno/papers/bangalore_boom.html
The Indian experience has
Dear GKD Members,
A very interesting analysis has been raised. The two last e-mails from
Allen Hammond and Cornelio Hopmann were very interesting and with a
great amount of experience and knowledge.
Taking into account both points of view, for me it seems that as this
type of business and
Dear Colleagues,
I am intrigued by this statement by Vickram Crishna:
I mention these two examples only to show that the realities of social
change are very very complex and shouldn't be simplified into
'corporate' vs 'other model' - such divides do not serve the purpose
that are sought by
In relation to Al Hammond's posting on 10/27/04, I think there is a need
to be more upfront about where ICT has a chance of working to alleviate
poverty and where it does not.
Citing examples from India (from where many of the ICT for Development
examples seem to come) and South Africa begs the
Dear Colleagues,
Roland Alden's recent contribution made very interesting reading. Some
portion of his comments, especially those relating to the
distance-annulling benefits of technology, aligns perfectly with a recent
article I wrote for some newspapers on a related aspect of the theme
which I
Al,
I just got onto this forum and may have missed a lot, but as a small
organic rancher I feel you are ignoring a lot of pertinent facts when
talking about farming, especially in so called developing countries. I
live in the middle of British Columbia, Canada, considered the
wealthiest country
Dear GKD List Members,
By business approach do we mean an approach that relies on market
mechanisms? Have we failed to see that the poor represent an important
market?
For example, it's generally accepted that the private sector will only
go so far in deploying IT infrastructure because some
Cornelio Hopmann raises some important points. I agree that IT may often
be used by service providers rather than by the poor directly. But I
don't agree that there is no connection between what companies can sell
to the poor and the needs of poor households. In conjuction with
Professor CK
Dear Colleagues,
I think we should separate (and not mix) the question of what marketing
and packaging strategies are needed to sell ICT-services to the poor in
a profitable way from what ICT-services the poor might need (and how to
provide them in sustainable, maybe even profitable way). The
Dear GKD Members,
I fully agree with Roland.
Technology for technology's sake is no good for anyone, except those who
promote them for narrow ends.
In most developing countries, (I can speak for India, Asia and Latin
America where I have lived), computers are more for display and being a
box
Poverty is not inevitable...Change for the better is within our grasp.
John Browne, chief executive of the energy giant BP
During the past few years, corporate investment in developing countries
has increased markedly, both from multinational corporations (MNCs) and
from large
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