ICT and SMEs (Part One) Over time, the research process has led me to read various literature sources. I begin this post with two important definitions and ICT SMEs. As
a general definition, we can consider an SME as "a type of company with a limited number of workers and a relatively moderate level of turnover [1]. I have found that this definition varies by country. For the Guatemala case, according to Deputy Minister of the MSME (Ministry of Economy) is considered an SME as a company where the number of workers, with participation by the owner, is more than twenty-five and less than sixty. I have no exact figure, but in Guatemala, there are a considerable number of SMEs many of these are in the capital.
As noted, SMEs play a very important role in each country mainly due to the generation of employment and economic activity for the state produced results such as tax collection. In a globalized world, the challenge for all SMEs is to be more productive and competitive with fewer resources to large enterprises. One way to accomplish this is through technology adoption.
In a report to the Constitutional Congress of Costa Rica, José María Castro Madriz stressed the importance of ICT adoption: "... countries that do not use science and technology as guides in their companies, will remain neglected and shall be subject to the development of others, because in societies today, those who use more knowledge and wisdom, will be those who achieve advantages over other ..."[ 2]. The definition of ICT that will use from now on, when referring to ICT is: "technological systems through to receive, manipulate and process information, and facilitate communication between two or more partners. "
Okay, so far the first part of ICT and SMEs. In the next section will try to end it. Then we will move to theme e-commerce. I leave you with a video that I found interesting.
References
1. Melt. Environment Indicators for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in countries founded. Panama: Fundes, 2002.
2. Mora, Alexander. The new technologies of information and communication technologies (ICT) in enterprises. Guatemala: Seminar on "Business Opportunities for SMEs through e-commerce", 2005.