The Role of Information-Communication Technologies in Enterprise Development and Industrial Change in Africa: Evidence from South Africa and Tanzania

新的信息和通信技术能否使非洲公司能够按照全球工业标准显著改善其业绩和提升其技术能力？不断变化的国际贸易结构为非洲公司提供了重大机遇，一些人认为，信通技术可以帮助中小型和微型企业显著提高生产率、创新性和竞争力，从而迅速加快非洲的全球市场一体化。虽然人们普遍同意信通技术的重要性，但关于信通技术能否以及如何显著改善中小型和中型企业的业绩，以及对这些方面的投资是否应优先于道路发展等其他优先事项，仍然存在实质性问题。克拉克大学的James Murphy博士和三一学院的Padraig R Carmody博士将通过深入研究移动电话、计算机和互联网的使用正在影响南非以及坦桑尼亚的旅游业和木制品行业的SMME发展，来回答有关ICT及其重要性的问题。研究人员将采用四种截然不同但相互关联的概念方法：基于资源的企业发展观点；关于技术对流动性和无障碍限制的贡献的时间-地理观点；从全球价值链文献中提出升级的概念；以及从科学和技术研究中提出社会-技术体制过渡的理论。这一四支柱方法将使研究小组能够从三个有利的角度详细说明信通技术的贡献：公司内部发展、特定行业和国家的工业转型及其对全球市场一体化的影响。调查员将采用调查和深入访谈相结合的方式，以获得下列数据：信通技术的使用范围、强度和成本；中小型企业自采用信通技术以来的业绩；信通技术对生产、营销和创新的具体贡献；自采用信通技术以来日常业务活动的时空特征变化；以及信通技术对中小企业技术能力变化的贡献。这项研究将产生对技术变革和工业发展理论做出重大贡献的发现。此外，该项目将具有重大的比较意义，因为调查人员分析了两个不同非洲国家(南非、坦桑尼亚)的两种不同行业(木制品和旅游业)。在更广泛的意义上，这项研究将帮助政策制定者更有效地确定信通技术投资的目标，并将其与公共卫生和教育等其他发展优先事项进行权衡，并将提高我们对信通技术对非洲人日常生活的意义的理解。这项研究还将展示非洲的实证研究如何对技术和工业发展的一般理论作出重大贡献。该项目还将产生重大的教育影响，因为在整个项目期间，爱尔兰、美国、南非和坦桑尼亚的研究助理和学生都得到了支持和培训。

Can new information and communication technologies (ICTs) enable African firms to significantly improve their performance and upgrade their technological capabilities in line with global industrial standards? The changing structure of international trade offers significant opportunities for African firms and some believe that ICTs can rapidly accelerate Africa's global market integration by helping small, medium, and micro-scale enterprises (SMMEs) become significantly more productive, innovative, and competitive. While there is general agreement about ICTs' importance, substantive questions remain regarding if and how they can dramatically improve SMME performance and whether investments in these should take precedence over other priorities such as the development of roads. Dr. James Murphy at Clark University and Dr. Padraig R Carmody at Trinity College will address questions about ICTs and their significance through an in-depth examination of 'if' and 'how' mobile phone, computer, and internet use are influencing SMME development in South Africa and in Tanzania's tourism and wood products industries. The investigators will apply four distinct yet interrelated conceptual approaches: resource-based views on enterprise development; time-geography perspectives on the contribution of technology to mobility and accessibility constraints; conceptualizations of upgrading from the global value chain literature; and theories on socio-technical regime transitions from science and technology studies. This four-pillared approach will enable the research team to detail the contributions of ICTs from three vantage points: intra-firm development, industrial transformation in particular industries and countries, and their implications for global market integration. The investigators will employ a mixture of surveys and in-depth interviews to obtain data on the extent, intensity, and cost of ICT use; SMME performance since ICT adoption; the specific contributions of ICTs to production, marketing, and innovation; changes in the time-space characteristics of everyday business activities since ICT adoption; and the contribution of ICTs to changes in the technological capabilities of SMMEs. The study will yield findings that contribute significantly to theories of technological change and industrial development. Moreover, the project will have significant comparative implications as the investigators analyze two different kinds of industry (wood products, tourism) in two different African countries (South Africa, Tanzania). In a broader sense, the study will help policy makers more effectively target and weigh ICT investments against other development priorities, such as public health and education, and will improve our understandings of what ICTs mean for the everyday lives of Africans. The study will also demonstrate how empirical research in Africa can contribute significantly to general theories on technology and industrial development. The project will also have significant educational impacts as research assistants and students in Ireland, the USA, South Africa, and Tanzania are supported and trained throughout its duration.