Computerization in Developing Countries

Model and Reality

Per Lind

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351142267
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Economic Theory
• Index: Economics

Originally published in 1991, this book looks at the problems of applying Western computer programmes to the developing world, arguing that the difficulties are as much cultural as technological. The author shows that the underlying models for computer applications are made up from interpretations of reality which are closely related to Western scientific, technological and cultural development originating from the Renaissance. The book includes a case study of an Egyptian manufacturing company, which reveals the actual problems encountered in the process of computerization.

Part I

Computers, models and developing countries

Wir machen uns Bilder der Tatsachen.

(We make to ourselves pictures of facts.)

Das Bild ist eine Modelle der Wirklichkeit.

(The picture is a model of reality.)

Wittgenstein: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

Chapter one

Introduction

As computerization spreads in developing countries the question about its contribution to the development process has become an issue of much concern. The advances in computer technology that are so apparent in the most advanced industrialized countries have not left developing countries unaffected, and a strong wish to take part in a comparable evolution is frequently spelled out as follows:

It is now an accepted fact that there are various areas in a developing country where the pace of development can be speeded up significantly by the use of computers.

(Gupta, 1981)

We are many in developing countries who found our hope in the computer revolution. We see in it a way to realize our dream to overcome poverty and mediocrity and to reach a society of equity and welfare.

(Benmokhtar, 1984)

A closer look at the present computer usage in many developing countries reveals, however, a considerable uncertainty as to real achievements and benefits. Parallel to the intensive debate about how computerization can be speeded up in the Third World, there is therefore a somewhat less intensive debate about what hampers the utilization of computers in developing countries.

Different phenomena that may have an impact on computer usage and utilization in Southern contexts have been observed. One phenomenon is the discrepancy between today’s computer architecture, designed for fast data communication, on the one hand, and poor data communication facilities in many developing countries on the other hand. Another phenomenon is the fact that computer programs for most applications are based on and developed in accordance with models that originate from a Western view of problems and solutions, and which are not always synonymous with Southern practices and information needs.

The following example from a West African country may illustrate this. A European consultancy firm has been commissioned to implement a new computer-based clearance system at the customs authority. At a ceremony, as the new system is officially handed over to the authority, it turns out, however, that a very specific feature is missing. The feature is an extra key on the keyboard with a very particular function, namely to reduce customs duty by a predefined percentage each time the key is pressed. The function is required on those occasions when the officer on duty finds reasons to reduce the customs duty, calculated by the computer according to formal tariffs. The situation occurs, for example, when the officer receives a sufficiently valuable gift from a client!

The necessity of this feature is very obvious, because without it the customs officers are reluctant to use the system. The consultant team must postpone the opening ceremony until the missing feature has been included.

From this example we learn two things. First, that the way reality works must be reflected in the computer solution. Otherwise the solution is of a cosmetic nature only. Second, even very good computer-based solutions, successfully used in one place, are not necessarily equally applicable in another place; in particular if the two places represent different norms of rationality, as in the example above.

It is this second phenomenon that is the focus of interest in this book, and rephrased into the following question: to what extent can the low utilization of computers and the difficulty in achieving even very moderate objectives be ascribed to the lack of fit between the computer model of an application and the actual reality?

The example above also illustrates very clearly the conflict that appears when two different value systems meet and are to be unified in a computer system. One can find other examples where seemingly identical conditions are in reality so different that one and the same computer solution can not possibly fit into both situations.

Too often this type of phenomenon, related to computerization in developing countries, is debated on a global and general level, with little or no room for local characteristics and features. Also when applicability has been the theme, as in studies by Siffin (1976), Kalman (1982) and Rada (1983), the discussions have largely been held on high and general levels, with little distinction made between different computer applications or between characteristics that separate, in this context, different developing countries from each other.

The effect of these general discussions, as pointed out by Muller (1979) and Pascoe (1978), is that a policy related to computers which is sound and effective in one country may be inappropriate under the social and technical conditions of another country. Therefore, as computer models refer to particular activities and functions within an organization, fit and applicability must be assessed, in the first place, from the level where the activities occur and the functions belong. While the model as such may be discussed on a general level, its applicability can not be regarded in isolation from the environment in question.

Part of this book is therefore a micro-study of a manufacturing company and, in particular, its production system. The company is an Egyptian vehicle manufacturer where computers have been implemented to assist managers in production control. This application represents a common problem in industry for which a variety of computer programs have been developed. However, as the studied Egyptian company is exposed to constraints and contingencies that are partly specific to Egypt, an important question is to what extent do the programs reflect these conditions?

Many enthusiastic computer projects in developing countries have been launched where computer solutions, successfully implemented somewhere else, have failed to perform, often because the actual reality was never fully understood (values, authority patterns, rationality, time concepts, etc.). Starting from reality, in an attempt to understand the application area of the actual company, will therefore enable us to identify major parameters influencing the production system of the company and, hence, also the conditions for the computer.

The reader may find, quite rightly, that a relatively large part of the book deals with Egypt and Egyptian industry. The point made here is that many computer systems, for example for planning and control, in general require considerably more detailed analysis before the degree of resemblance between the computer model and the actual reality can be established. The computerization process in many developing countries would probably be slower if more detailed analysis were done before a computer was installed. This would probably jeopardize vendors’ marketing plans. It is most unlikely that it would negatively influence the development process. But it would with certainty influence, positively, the cost/efficiency ratio of computerization.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part gives a general view on the computerization process in developing countries and an attempt is made to characterize some basic types of problems of particular relevance for users in Third World countries. The types of problems that are identified here lead to a discussion about how computer programs are based on models and to what extent the applicability of models is limited. One such model, of industrial production, is presented together with a set of computer programs typically designed to cope with the model.

Part two is devoted to the detailed description of a company in a Third World country. This description will serve as a frame of reference and as an illustration to some real problems encountered in a Third World industry.

In the last part the comparison is made between model and reality and conclusions are made about the applicability of the actual models and computer programs.

Chapter two

Computers in developing countries¹

Introduction

Two things seem to be characteristic as computers spread into developing countries. One is the high degree of confidence shown by many policy makers about computers and computer technology as a blessing for the Third World, as a Pandora’s box full of promises and hopes about contributing to the development process. The other is the almost total absence of a critical debate as to whether and to what extent the computer models, practically always designed and developed in the West, are applicable in Southern contexts.

The very enthusiastic attitude towards computer technology that we meet in developing countries and which is not in proportion to real achievements bears some resemblance to the dominating developing paradigm of the 1950s and 1960s. Here the question of whether a particular technology was applicable in a given situation, and thus had the potential of lifting the level of development, was considered less relevant. It was more or less taken for granted that Western technology was generally applicable.

Backwardness was seen as an original development stage which should be followed by a process that released the forces of modernization and different stages of development were just different points on a scale, ranging from the least developed to the most developed countries. The task of development theory was seen to be observing these differences and putting forward suggestions on how to bridge the gaps. A most efficient way of bridging was for poorer countries to imitate already existing technology from the more advanced countries and thus gradually assume the qualities of the latter.

This modernization model was linked to a more general Western development ideology that has now been largely abandoned due to its inadequacy and inability to explain phenomena in the development process. The 1970s and 1980s have therefore seen newer development models emerge.

In spite of this, arguments belonging to the rhetoric of the modernization model still seem to dominate the computer strategies in many developing countries and be the driving force behind the computerization process.² One of the basic characteristics of modern computer technology is its total association with the most advanced industrialized countries, being an integrated part of their scientific and technical development. By imitating this technology many developing countries hope to take part in a comparable technical and economic development.

This imitation process includes not only the skills necessary to handle the equipment, but also the conceptual thinking that surrounds and accompanies the technology. The conceptual thinking – it can for instance be the way of defining a problem or identifying a solution – is not neutral, neither semantically nor culturally, nor from a social, technical or economic point of view, but is closely related to a particular society, or group of societies, sharing a common value system.

From this perspective, transfer of computer technology is al...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of tables
• List of figures
• Preface
• Part I Computers, models and developing countries
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Computers in developing countries
• 3 Model and reality – a conceptual discussion
• 4 Industrial production as a model
• Part II From model to reality – Egypt
• 5 Industry in Egypt
• 6 NASCO – a company presentation
• 7 Vehicle production at NASCO
• 8 Materials management at NASCO
• Part III Model and reality – a critical view
• 9 Materials management at NASCO – an analysis
• 10 Computerization at NASCO – illusions and achievements
• 11 The NASCO analysis in perspective
• Some concluding reflections
• 12 Computerization in developing countries – model and reality
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index