Networked Economy

ICT Employment Opportunities (Stage3)

Information technology is not considered as one of the main industries within Argentina.  The main industries are food processing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, textiles, chemicals and petrochemicals, printing, metallurgy, and steel.  Employment opportunities have recently been made as the software industry continues to grow within Argentina. ^[1]

As Argentina is undergoing new services products within their telecommunication industry, new employment ventures appear.  The introduction of new services is helping identify the need for technical resources.  Argentina can only rated as a stage 3 in the ICT employment opportunities category as there is still many.  As new ethnology is introduced, new training programs are being established.   Microsoft and Argentina’s Ministry of Labor have been working together to promote scholarships and new opportunities for technical professionals.  ^[28]

B2B Electronic Commerce (Stage 3)

Several companies utilize technology as part of their sales and purchasing operational processes.  However, it is not a dominant trend in Argentina.  One of the primary reasons that e-commerce in Argentina is not used more widely is that Argentina does not encourage it.  Tax evasion in Argentina is high, thus causing the government to set restrictions on e-commerce transactions. ^[35]

Argentina is in stage 3 for B2B Electronic Commerce.  There are some companies that use B2B e-commerce; however, since tax evasion is prevalent the government set restrictions on B2B e-commerce transactions. For Argentina to move in to stage 4, the government must provide a more defined framework to enable businesses to transact electronically.  This will enable Argentine businesses to experience economies and cost savings and promote efficient use of technology with Argentina.

B2C Electronic Commerce (Stage 3)

The Argentine eCommerce market is not yet fully developed; however, over each of the last three years online purchases has more than doubled.  During 2004 and 2005, online purchases were USD $730,000 and USD $1.61 million respectively. ^[36] During 2006, online purchases more than doubled to USD $3.31 million.  In 2007, online purchases are expected to double again.  Approximately 13% of Argentine users were believed to have made online purchases. The types of products purchases varied.  The types of products included clothing, home appliances, financial service products, electronic learning, and event tickets. ^[8]

There is an online presence of retailers, banks, and auction companies; however, businesses in Argentine have not fully optimized the use of ecommerce.  Some retailers have enabled the ability to make purchases online and there is a growth in the use of online auction sites.  One of the biggest uses of web services is people accessing their bank accounts to transfer funds and to pay for items instead of using checks.  However, only 8% of stock market trades are performed online.  Another statistic of importance was that online advertising increased by 35% in 2006 and it is expected to increase again in 2007. ^[8]

Argentina is currently in stage 3 of the B2C electronic commerce.  Businesses in Argentina do offer the ability to use the Internet to make online purchases and there has been an increasing trend of making online purchases.  Over each of the last three years online purchases have more than doubled and that trend is expected to continue in 2007.

Although online sales have increased significantly over the past four years; the fact that only one-third of citizens use the Internet, most businesses in the community do not offer online sales and online sales is not yet a significant portion of the retail activity stops them from being in stage 4.

E-Government (Stage 3)

Many governmental agencies have websites; however, they have not provided many of the services available over the web.  In 2005, the Argentine government approved Decree 378, which was called the National Plan for Electronic Government.  The goal of this decree was to digitize governmental services and information.  With this effort comes several challenges, the most significant is that digitization of the current bureaucratic administration that the government uses is difficult. ^[9] As of June 2006, 500 digital procedures were available online and more were planned to be made available. ^[37] Goals as well as requirements of Decree 378 are to reduce the complexity and bureaucracy of the Argentina government, improve the relationship between the government and its constituents, and reduce the administrative work that is performed by governmental employees ^[9].  Online payments are also something that the government wants to utilize; however, that is something that will be included in future plans. ^[37] 

Argentina is currently in stage 3 of E-Government.  Many of the governmental entities support a website that contains general information as well as forms and other documentation that can be used by its constituents. However, there are several components that are missing to move it into stage 4.  One of them is that they do not currently allow payments for services rendered to be made over the Internet. Another is that not all government websites allow citizens to use the online resources interactively.  Additionally, the government must be able to utilize the Internet to transact with their vendors.  Moving into stage 4 will be a big challenge, especially since much of the bureaucracy will need to be removed from Argentina’s governmental processes.