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T W E N T Y
E I G H T
T
he abundance of the raw material, and low
cost manpower are no longer sufficient for competing in global markets.
Information, flexibility, product quality and fast responses are the key factors that
are determining the fate of companies overseas, and Information Technology (IT)
plays a critical role in these areas. This is possibly why policy makers in
industrialized countries and an increasing number of developing countries view
information technology as a critical infrastructure for competing in an information
intensive global economy.
They also see the potential gains from using IT-based processes to enhance their
access to global knowledge, markets and capital. And they view IT as a fast growing
strategic industry that is likely to be the world’s largest, before the end of the
1990
s. These views resonate with India’s aspirations to modernize its infrastructure,
transform its industry and join the global economy.
The Indian software industry has been building its strategy along the same
lines. Productivity and quality are now the key words for the Indian
software industry. Lately, the high growth rates in this sector have been due to
this very change in strategy, wherein low wages are not considered an exceptional
competitive advantage.
IT is transforming the way people do things
—
all things, computing and communications
technologies have, by increasing the amount and timeliness of information available to
economic agents,dramatically increased the information intensity of processes,occupations
and institutions, as well as that of products and economies. In industrial countries, IT
is enhancing the workings of markets and reducing transaction and coordination costs
within and across enterprises and in institutions. It is also modernizing such traditional
“
low tech” industries as textile and footwear, and revitalizing and transforming such basic
industries as automotive and capital goods.
The Observer June 1, 1994
Cost Of Inaction
