Corporations' Use of the Internet in Developing Countries

Uses a survey technique to explore corporate Internet use in developing countries. A major conclusion is that such use is extensive, considering deficiencies in telephone networks in many countries and the relative newness of the technology. Most companies surveyed have Internet connections, although the number of individuals within the firms who have access is typically quite small.

As in developed countries, E-mail is a primary benefit of the Internet to these companies, and it is used both internally and to communicate with outsiders. More sophisticated uses of E-mail (transmitting documents or data, for example) are not as widespread in developing countries, possibly because the number of Internet connections is still small relative to those found in Europe or the United States. Still, in anticipation of increasing connectivity, many developing country companies already have introduced home pages.

Information searches are a major use of the Internet, although users exhibit considerable frustration at the slowness of response times, not an unusual phenomenon even in highly industrialized countries. Security also seems to be seen as a problem, since uses of the Internet such as financial and credit transactions are relatively less frequent among the sampled companies. [author]