Volume 18, Number 1 Article by Sandip Anand and Vinayak Parashar March, 2006
Integrating Local and Global Knowledge through ICT: Implications for Rural Business and Development :
Revisiting the debate on global and localised knowledge in the context of business and development, Sandip Anand and Vinayak Parashar argue for the integration of these two apparently contradictory sets of knowledge, and try to understand the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the process. Establishing the legitimacy of alternate forms of knowledge that often reside in communities, they hold that ICT designs could help strengthen a community’s capacity for self-organisation and cultivate diversity of knowledge. Drawing the argument into organisational strategy, they suggest that multinational corporations combine their technology and global reach with indepth understanding of local knowledge and nurture native capability. Such collaboration between organisations and communities anticipates the genesis of meta-organisations, where communities become an extended part of the business enterprise. However, government policy is needed to facilitate this symbiotic relationship between organisation and community.
The paper then attempts to analyse the ITC eChoupal model, regarded as one of the most innovative and successful commercial models in rural India, from the perspective of knowledge creation, accumulation, dissemination and re-use. The eChoupal model has accomplished the synchronisation of local and global knowledge and the customisation of technology through innovation, and has enabled the emergence of innovative e-business models. Further, it has been able to build trust within communities of farmers and has removed the psychological barrier that ICT cannot be utilised in the rural context. However, in order to create synergy with communities to its fullest extent and meet its developmental objectives, ITC may need to consider resource poor farmers in its business model. The paper then suggests an extension of the basic framework of the eChoupal application domain to other areas, such as e-microfinance which will build real capacity in the community and also help widen the business base of organisations.
Reprint No 06106b
