NATIONAL POLICIES AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE ON THE WAY TO INFORMATION SO

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NATIONAL POLICIES AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE ON THE WAY TO
INFORMATION SOCIETY
UNCTAD-UNECE High-Level Regional Conference for
Transition Economies ICT E-Commerce
Strategies for Development Palais des Nations,
Geneva, 20-21 Oct. 2003

• Prof. Marius GURAN - Romania

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• The South Eastern Europe (SEE) area represents a
  high potential for growth in information and
  communication technologies (ICT). Discrepancies
  in the progress on the way to information society
  (IS) can turn into advantages through right
  national policies and international cooperation,
  by coordinating the different initiatives,
  programs, and projects, promoted by EU, UN, SP,
  NGOs etc. In the Bucharest Declaration (Nov.
  2002), the Pan European Regional Ministerial
  Conference, in preparation of the WSIS, have been
  expressed the vision on an IS beneficial for all
  (E-Inclusion), under the seven principles and
  four priority themes.

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• The principles of IS for all
• Securing access to information and knowledge
• Promoting universal access at affordable cost
• Developing human capacity through education and
  training
• Setting up an enabling environment, including
  legal, regulatory and policy frameworks
• Building confidence and security in the use of
  ICTs
• Addressing global issues
• Priority themes for e-strategies
• E-Government more efficient and accountable
• E-Business more competitiveness and better jobs
• E-Society broader local content and applications
• E-Learning and E-Education empowering people

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E-COMMERCE PARADIGM SHIFT

• ICTs as technological drivers for
• A new thinking and new organizational forms
• New economic perspectives and growth of new jobs
• New socio-cultural settings (new values,
  knowledge workers, empowered customers etc.)

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NEW ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES

• Past Present
• Complex organization and simple jobs
• Tangible assets
• Efficient organization as a vision
• Simple products and processes on the mass market

• Future
• Complex jobs and simple organization
• Tangible Intangible assets
• Learning organization as a vision
• Value-added product and processes, customer
  focused on highly dynamic and global market

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E-COMMERCE ORGANIZATIONS

• The intra-organizational view
• Change from the hierarchical structures to
  networked structures
• chain of command ? knowledge networking
• authority of position ? authority of competence
• sequential processes ? concurrent processes
• vertical communication ? horizontal communication

• The inter-organizational view
• Open universe of organizations
• Clusters of internet worked organizations
• e-business communities
• economic webs
• value networks
• Virtual organizations
• core activities
• outsourcing
• subcontractors

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E-COMMERCE IN SEE

• E-commerce as a driver in SEE
• Building a competitive local infrastructure
• Building transactional systems, not only
  informational sites
• ICT and e-Commerce as a driver in policy
  development, institutional reform, socio-economic
  development
• Needed initiatives in e-Business and e-Commerce
• Telecommunication and IT markets liberalization
• Interoperability common projects, open-access
  concept and global standards adopted
• RDT as basis for innovation and competition
• International industrial cooperation, in the
  complex projects (hardware and software), based
  on national initiatives and projects

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DIGITAL DIVIDE FOR SEE

• Per capita ICT expense range in 2000 between 567
  USD ? 25 USD in SEE and ? 1215 USD for EU
  countries
• SEE has 2.4 times less PCs, 2.9 less Internet
  users, and 5 times less domain names, compared to
  Europes average
• SEE has problems with connectivity, information
  security, e-business climate, laws and
  regulations
• Digital Divide exists because ICT readiness is
  correlated with general level of the economic
  development (expressed by GDP/capita)
• A cost of PC in equivalent cost of labors hours
  (? 64 in EU and ? 950 or ? 1140 in SEE)
• Internet access cost is still high, reaching up
  to 60 of a monthly wage
• Digital illiteracy or other priorities.

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GENERAL DIGITAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR SEE

• SEE is an area able to participate to the
  New/Digital Economy, offering several favorable
  conditions
• Human resources are abundant and education system
  enough performant
• Performance/cost capability may be turned in a
  competitive advantage
• Software and ICT services outsourcing
  capabilities are in a better position on the
  global ICT markets
• Chance to leapfrog in implementing e-business and
  e-commerce under the presence of multinationals
  or strategic partners, by promoting domestic
  policies aimed to encourage ICT development
• Possibility to promote larger regional projects
  for ICT infrastructures, education, and
  applications, within Stability Pact or other
  international organizations.

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NEED TO DISSEMINATE GOOD PRACTICES AND GOOD
POLICIES THROUGH SEE

• The good experience accumulated in every country
  of SEE area must be disseminated as good
  practices and good policies, promoting a
  regional project for this purpose, in the next
  fields
• Legislative and regulatory framework for
  development of the IS services (e-commerce,
  e-signature, e-payment for taxes, e-procurement
  etc.)
• Education and training (e-learning, new skills
  for IS, LLL etc.)
• E-Government (G2C, G2B, G2E, G2G) and Public
  Administration
• Statistical indicators to measure and monitor the
  progress of IS
• The support for SMEs in using new ICT
• The project can be promoted under the joint
  effort of different international organizations
  and every country of SEE area