Back | Programme Area: Technology and Society (2000 - 2009)
The Impact of Internet on the Operations of Medium and Large Industrial Enterprises (Draft)
New information and communication technologies could theoretically provide business firms in Senegal with opportunities for growth and integration into international markets, and these firms should see the Internet as a lever for developing internal and external trade. These technologies have the potential to increase flexibility in the conception of production equipment, the manufacturing process and decision-making within firms, while the requirements of the world market are multiplying, radicalizing and generalizing in terms of rapidity, flexibility, relaunching and quality.
This study is based on a survey of 50 medium and large industrial enterprises in Senegal. It found that although use of computers and email was widespread, the businesses researched were not exploiting the potential of new information and communication technologies to transform either their own operations or their relations with global supply chains. A number of concrete cultural, technical and financial barriers to such use are identified and explained by the authors.
This is the draft English translation of Barry and Diop's contribution to the volume Le Sénégal à l'heure de l'information: Technologies et société (edited by Momar-Coumba Diop, Editions Karthala, Paris and UNRISD, Geneva, 2002).
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