FROM IDEOLOGY TO TECHNOLOGY:
THE NEXT (INTERNET) REVOLUTION IN TRANSITION ECONOMIES
Val Samonis
The Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI), Bonn; and SEMI Online (www.samonis.com)
Email: val@samonis.com
ABSTRACT. The global digital economy offers unprecedented opportunities to produce and sell on a mass scale, reduce costs, and customize to the needs of consumers -- all at the same time. Whether you live in a large country such as China, mid-sized country such as Poland or a smaller country such as Lithuania, your potential market is of the same global size. And you can source (netsource) inexpensively wherever you wish. Added to that are immensely increased opportunities to access new knowledge and technologies, driving productivity and living standards even further up. Postcommunist countries are well advised to jump to these new opportunities as they represent the best chance yet to realize the "latecomer's advantage" by leapfrogging to the technologies and ways of doing business which are new for Western countries as well. The paper analyzes and outlines some of the ways in which contemporary and future business models are deeply transformed by the internet. Policy measures to jumpstart e-business and digital economy are also suggested so that global integration benefits are realized, not just regional ones.
THE NEXT (INTERNET) REVOLUTION IN TRANSITION ECONOMIES
Val Samonis
The Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI), Bonn; and SEMI Online (www.samonis.com)
Email: val@samonis.com
ABSTRACT. The global digital economy offers unprecedented opportunities to produce and sell on a mass scale, reduce costs, and customize to the needs of consumers -- all at the same time. Whether you live in a large country such as China, mid-sized country such as Poland or a smaller country such as Lithuania, your potential market is of the same global size. And you can source (netsource) inexpensively wherever you wish. Added to that are immensely increased opportunities to access new knowledge and technologies, driving productivity and living standards even further up. Postcommunist countries are well advised to jump to these new opportunities as they represent the best chance yet to realize the "latecomer's advantage" by leapfrogging to the technologies and ways of doing business which are new for Western countries as well. The paper analyzes and outlines some of the ways in which contemporary and future business models are deeply transformed by the internet. Policy measures to jumpstart e-business and digital economy are also suggested so that global integration benefits are realized, not just regional ones.
