This Tunisian businessman is representative of his country’s effort to position itself in Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Professionals with disabilities are often overlooked in trade, telecommunications and economic development policies. Service providers from this community, however, are using technology to unlock their diverse talents and reach out to new markets.

A revolution is looming in the world of goods and services procurement. It will fundamentally change the relationships between costs and returns.

Outsourcing business support services, coupled with e-trade possibilities, offers increased opportunities for women in developing and transition economies to export services.

Most women-owned firms are in the services sector. Business training can build the expertise and confidence necessary for these firms to export their services efficiently.

Can national branding improve export competitiveness? Branding experts, business executives and government officials debated the issue as part of the Executive Forum process.

The lack of staff skills is the single biggest impediment to innovation success. Services and service delivery processes do not lend themselves to development by a separate unit. All staff need to be actively involved and to have an innovation mindset.

One of the most common management errors is to underestimate the skills training needed so that staff can participate constructively in innovation. Investment in training will benefit the firm in the long run by eventually reducing the time needed to identify new opportunities and increasing the degree of certainty in the solution selected. There are five areas in which training is critical: stimulating creativity, assessing innovation options, focusing on the customer, designing new services and implementing change.

The single most common reason for export failure is inattention to cultural factors, a maxim frequently repeated in international business literature. People choose service providers and strategic business partners with whom they feel at ease, and this comfort level is dictated initially by cultural factors. In over half the process innovations reported to ITC by services firms from developing and transition economies, cultural adaptation was cited as ‘important’.

National cultures are numerous, and subcultures are even more so. Increased travel has resulted in a large group of people socialized in more than one culture, and widespread television access gives exposure to different cultural values.

To be sensitive to these factors, it is useful to have a structure for understanding cultural differences. Below are ten variables which affect cultures and subcultures, and can serve as a framework for reflection.

When ITC began researching this topic in late 1997, no information was available on services innovation in developing countries and economies in transition. ITC decided to request examples of services innovations from its partner organizations in these countries. Responses came from 26 countries, citing a total of 85 innovations. The range of countries demonstrates that much innovation is already occurring in all developmental contexts. Here are the results:

Success of failure of a service innovation is linked to two primary factors:

• A correct reading of the market and what matters to customers.

• Appropriate management of the innovation process.

The Internet can help service firms in developing and transitional economies exactly where they need it most. It helps them overcome two of the biggest barriers they face: gaining credibility in international markets; and travel costs and restrictions that impede export market development.

To reach global markets through Internet, businesses need to adopt a sound business strategy, coupled with flexibility to question traditional practices. This is the real challenge for businesses using the Internet, no matter where they are located.

Are you looking for timely business information at a relatively low cost? Many companies and trade support institutions (trade promotion organizations, professional associations, consultants) are adopting the Internet to improve their access to information sources, expand their scope of data collection and to bridge information gaps for specific international markets.