Message-ID: <9605098343.AA834357100@smtplink.lse.ac.uk> Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 13:51:26 GMT From: mailto:Z.Lengyel@LSE.AC.UK> Subject: Re: INTERNET technology availability outside of the USA To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Dear Mr. Katz,I am very much interested in the INTERNET and its effects on SMEs both from an academic and from a practitioner point of view.As unfortunately my time is very limited now I just briefly give some points which I feel relevant. At the end of my letter I attach a little document which I prepared last October for the Donor Conference for Small BUsiness .It was later discussed with Mr. David L. Wright at the Overseas Development Agency UK, he informed me that the Donor Conference could support such a project up to 5000 USD. Since then I have been involved in so many other things that nothing has happened.I would be more than happy to work on such a project linking `virtually` every practitioners and theorist worldwide .
My experience mainly cover Central and Eastern Europe and its higher education and research community. My knowledge of business users/non-users is limited.I have also some experience in the UK, but I suppose you have already had a lot about this part of the world.
Here are my very personal feelings about the Internet:
INTERNET ACCESS Most of the universities have access to the Internet, but lines are very slow and unreliable. The technical barriers are smaller than the cultural ones. The system in not used up to its potential and very few senior researchers use the Internet.
TYPE OF USE; The Internet is esentially used for E-mail (poor universities which hardly pay the telephone bills are happy about this alternative way of communication ). Gopher and ftp access is more common than www although non-licensed softwares are very quickly spread on the network.
SERVERS; Due to lack of proper mainframe computers there are very few data sources located in CEE. Organizations (public-private) are more concerned in getting information than providing information with others. The business suppliers (Compuserve and others) are quickly gaining ground and joint ventures have just started to provide full INTERNET access with businesses.
THE FUTURE: Bright - because of its cheapness and the existence of the satisfactory telecommunication technology the INTERNET will conquer the CEE countries. Although the acceptance of this ` invisible` technology won`t be easy and wont happen without culture-clash.
I am sorry for not giving you more of my ideas now, If you have any particular questins concerning CEE countries do not hesitate to contact me even before you go to Stockholm. I would be happy to participate in the ICBS` program to promote SME development by the means of IT.
Yours sincerely,
Zsolt Lengyel
Resarch Scholar/Academic Visitor London School of Economics Dept. of Geography London WC2 Houghton Street
Tel:44-171-955-7496 ext 2614 Fax:44-171-955-7412 E-mail:mailto:Z.Lengyel@lse.ac.uk
Research fellow Small and medium-size Enterprise Research Group Department of Applied Economics Budapest University of Economic Sciences Budapest 1093 Fovam ter 8 Hungary
Tel:36-1-218-6855 ext 6287 Fax:36-1-217-4031 E-mail: mailto:alk_lengyel@pegasus.bke.hu
`Summary:
Linking several higher education institutions` SME related departments into a CEE/FSU network in order to provide information and match-making for SME supporting institutions.Differently regulated ways can be used for information exchange with the exessive use of the practically free of charge Internet.
Details and arguments:
On national levels every institution is very keen on taking ideas, but rather reluctant to give them due to difficulties and costs of producing usable final reports and the lack of previous succesful cooperative projetcs and a general lack of confidence. These institutions compete for the same resources within their own country. For international cooperation there are the same barriers, but there are much larger achievable benefits.On international levels the existing governmental relations are far too burocratic and slow to catch up with entrepreneurial needs.The big government supported agencies themselves represent the same burocratic characteristics, although there are many promising joint projects between regional agencies. I think that the bottom-up self-development process is the most cost effective.It can be stimulated by filling the `information gaps` and matching partners through carefully managed information networks. There is still one relatively well informed and unbiased institutional group which may be able to help this process.These are the SME related University and College departments (american named SBDCs and other entities)who usually have many contacts with both SME support institutions and businesses.As academic institutions they should have an interest in monitoring and evaluating SME support activities.Although these groups have collected substantial knowledge, they have yet to produce it in manner suitable for practical use. In addition to the help what these institutions can provide to the SME sector, such projects would also have a very good effect on higher education .One of the key problems in CEE/FSU countries is that the higher education systems lack interest in economic oriented fields and especially lack the responsiveness to the training needs of the economy. Such a solution would strenghten the links between education and the economy. One of the biggest obstacles of such a project is the high price of collecting information and especially of distributing it to several countries. Universities have the chance to overcome this problem by using the Internet to which almost the all academic community is connected........
........Here is the list of SME related university institutions in CEE/FSU countries. I am sorry for not beeing able to provide you with a longer list of potential participants. I am trying to identify the other institutions . In addition, I wasn`t able to focus more the goals of the `SME support agency network`.I could easily list the nice roles, but it is more difficult to find the most necessary ones
Czeh Republic: Charles University,Prague Hungary: SME Research Group, Budapest University of Economic Sciences,Budapest SBDC Kossuth Lajos University, Debrecen SBDC Jannus Pannonius University, Pecs Slovakia: University of Economics, Bratislava Slovenia: University of Ljubljana,Ljubljana Rumania: Center for Business Excellence,Polytechnic University of Bucharest SME Developement Center, Academy of Economic Studies,Bucharest SME Development Center,University of Craiova Russia: Krasnoyarsk State University, Small Business Support Center,Krasnoyarsk Ukraine: Research Center for Small Business Promotion,Kiev`