Related Research Items
| Promoting ICT Access and Use by SMEs |
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| Written by Victor van Reijswoud | |
| Thursday, 15 February 2007 | |
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The Asian-Pacific Development Program (APDIP) has released a new e-Note examining the role of government and public policy in promoting ICT access and use by SMEs. The note provides an analytical overview and pointers for additional reading. The potential benefits of information and communication technologies (ICT) to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are well known. ICT enhances SME efficiency, reduce costs, and broaden market reach, both locally and globally. Since the SME sector plays a major role in national economies, these factors to individual SMEs collectively translate into positive results in the form of job creation, revenue generation and overall country competitiveness. Governments, therefore, have an interest in the promotion of access to, and use of, ICT by SMEs. Unfortunately, a number of factors hinder of discourage SMEs from fully realising the benefits of ICT, including, among others, lack of knowledge, resources and trust. Governments, using public policy as a tool, can play a critical role in addressing these concerns. This APDIP e-note provides an overview of the policy considerations that are needed to promote ICT usage among SMEs. It discusses critical components for a comprehensive policy and legislative strategy that would address the various policy, legal, market, technical and social considerations needed in order to create conditions conductive for encouraging ICT-enabled SMEs. The policy considerations should focus on issues related to a healthy business environment, network infrastructure and broadband deployment, access to information, good e-governance, and public-private-civil society partnerships.
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