Beyond access: national e-trade strategies: to increase exports and improve national competitiveness, developing countries need specific e-trade strategies that go beyond the issue of access.

• Author: Gillies, John

Companies trade, not countries. Unless national trade strategies can be expressed in company-level impacts such as new business startups; the number of companies online; e-transacted export sales; and total new jobs, then they are not worth developing. The question for senior government officials responsible for trade is, "Will the growth in computer networks change the way trade is conducted?" If the answer is yes, then e-trade matters.

From access to application

The e-readiness debate has focused on information content, connectivity and access on the one hand, and the application of "e" to the health, education, and business sectors on the other. Among these applications, very few studies have focused on applying "e" to the practice of international trade. What are the goals of e-trade and how do we know if we are achieving them?

At ITC, we define e-trade as the application of information and communications technologies OCT) to improve export competitiveness of companies. Firms can take advantage of these technologies to transform business processes so that they can compete more profitably, as well as to conduct trade electronically across national borders.

Export assets, e-trade choices

ICTs are transforming the way companies do business, but they are an engine of trade in their own right. The worldwide trade in ICT products and services by developing countries in the past decade has outperformed trade in general by a ratio of 2:1. At present, this trade is highly concentrated in only a few countries. Meanwhile, the bulk of developing countries' export earnings continue to come from commodity sectors, including agriculture, minerals, wood and fisheries.

Clearly, developing countries have strategic choices to make. They can introduce the benefits of ICT to traditional export sectors or shift resources to "new economy" sectors, where ICT is either the product or is integral to the product/service value. These choices will determine the distinctive nature of e-trade in terms of export sales, employment and the alleviation of poverty.

Measuring e-trade performance

Assume for a moment that a functioning e-commerce legal framework and telecommunications infrastructure exists in your country. What would you expect from a dynamic, burgeoning e-trade economy? It would include:

* growing trade in ICT hardware and software products and services;

* growing trade in e-friendly or information-rich sectors (for example, media, publishing, finance and...