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Bridging the Technological Divide : Technology Adoption by Firms in Developing Countries.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Cirera, Xavier.
Other Authors: Comin, Diego., Cruz, Marcio.
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D. C. : World Bank Publications, 2022.
Edition:1st ed.
Subjects:
Business enterprises Technological innovations.
Developing countries.
Technology and state.
Electronic books.
Online Access:Click to View
Table of Contents:
  • Front Cover
  • Contents
  • Foreword
  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • About the Authors
  • Abbreviations
  • Introduction
  • The Imperative of Technology in Developing Countries
  • The Technological Divide
  • Road Map to the Volume
  • Contributions to the Literature
  • Main Messages from the Volume
  • Notes
  • References
  • Part 1 Measuring the Technological Divide
  • 1. A New Approach to Measure Technology Adoption by Firms
  • Introduction
  • Measuring Adoption and Use of Technology by Firms
  • Opening the Black Box: The Firm-level Adoption of Technology (FAT) Survey
  • The Data Used in This Volume
  • Using the FAT Data to Understand Some of the Limitations of Standard Measures of Technology
  • Summing Up
  • Notes
  • References
  • 2. Facts about Technology Adoption and Use in Developing Countries
  • Introduction
  • Cross-Country Technology Facts
  • Cross-Firm Technology Facts
  • Other Technology Facts
  • Summing Up
  • Notes
  • References
  • 3. Adoption of Sector-Specific Technologies
  • Introduction
  • Technology Differences across and within Sectors
  • Technology Upgrading and the Limits to Leapfrogging
  • Specialization, Technology, and Outsourcing
  • Summing Up
  • Notes
  • References
  • Part 2 The Implications of the Technological Divide for Long-Term Economic Growth
  • 4. Technology Sophistication, Productivity, and Employment
  • Introduction
  • Technology and Firm-Level Productivity
  • Technology Adoption and Employment
  • Summing Up
  • Notes
  • References
  • 5. Digital Technologies and Resilience to Shocks
  • Introduction
  • Digital Technologies
  • Technology and Resilience
  • Summing Up
  • Notes
  • References
  • Part 3 What Countries Can Do to Bridge the Technological Divide
  • 6. What Constrains Firms from Adopting Better Technologies?
  • Introduction
  • Firm-Level Determinants of Adoption.
  • Perceived Drivers of and Obstacles to Technology Adoption
  • Factual Evidence on Drivers of and Obstacles to Technology Adoption
  • Summing Up
  • Notes
  • References
  • Chapter 7. Policies and Instruments to Accelerate Technology Adoption
  • Introduction
  • A Checklist to Design Technology Upgrading Programs
  • Using the FAT Survey to Inform the Design and Implementation of Policies Supporting Technology Upgrading
  • Instruments to Support Technology Upgrading at the Firm Level
  • Summing Up
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix A. The Firm-level Adoption of Technology (FAT) Survey, Implementation, and Data Set
  • Boxes
  • Box I.1 Defining Technology and Business Functions
  • Box 1.1 The Technology Index at the Firm Level: An Example from the Food-Processing Sector in Senegal
  • Box 2.1 The Large Gap in Technology Sophistication between Formal and Informal Firms
  • Box 3.1 The Strong Sector Composition of the Use of Industry 4.0 Technologies
  • Box 3.2 The Closeness of Pharmaceutical Firms to the Technology Frontier
  • Box 6.1 Specific Barriers to the Use of Digital Platforms
  • Box 7.1 Digital Platforms Are Prone to Market Concentration and Dominance
  • Box 7.2 The Firm-Level Technology Diagnostic Tool
  • Box 7.3 Agriculture Extension: The Case of Embrapa
  • Box 7.4 Credit Guarantees for Technology through the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC)
  • Box 7.5 The Difference between Vouchers and Grants
  • Box 7.6 Fraunhofer Institutes
  • Figures
  • Figure 1.1 While Countries Are Converging in Their Adoption of Technology, They Are Diverging in the Intensity of Use
  • Figure 1.2 Conceptual Framework for the Firm-level Adoption of Technology (FAT) Survey
  • Figure 1.3 General Business Functions and Their Associated Technologies
  • Figure 1.4 Share of Firms Using Technologies Applied to Various General Business Functions, All Countries.
  • Figure 1.5 Sector-Specific Business Functions and Technologies
  • Figure 1.6 An Example of the Technology Index
  • Figure B1.1.1 Comparing Technology Sophistication of a Large and a Small Firm in the Food-Processing Sector
  • Figure 1.7 Firms Vary Widely in the Status of Their Adoption of General-Purpose Technologies
  • Figure 1.8 Among Firms with Access to Computers and the Internet, a Large Share Relies Mostly on Less Sophisticated Methods to Conduct Business Functions
  • Figure 2.1 Estimated Technology Sophistication, by Country: Manufacturing
  • Figure 2.2 Estimated Technology Sophistication, by Country: Agriculture and Services
  • Figure 2.3 There Is a Strong Correlation between the Technology Sophistication of a Region and Regional Productivity
  • Figure 2.4 Cross-Country Differences in Technology Are Also Explained by the Number of Firms Using Sophisticated Technology
  • Figure B2.1.1 Technology Sophistication Is Significantly Greater among Formal Firms in Senegal
  • Figure 2.5 The Level of Technology Sophistication for General Business Functions Varies Greatly
  • Figure 2.6 Technology Sophistication Varies across Firm Size
  • Figure 2.7 The Likelihood of Adopting Frontier Technologies for General Business Functions Varies across Firm Size
  • Figure 2.8 The Likelihood of Adopting Frontier Technologies for Sector-Specific Business Functions Varies across Firm Size
  • Figure 2.9 Rank Orderings of the Distribution of Technology Sophistication Are Consistent across Select Countries
  • Figure 2.10 Most Productive Countries and Regions Have Firms That Use More Sophisticated Technologies on Average
  • Figure 2.11 Within-Firm Variance of Technology Sophistication Is Positively Associated with Regional Productivity
  • Figure 2.12 Technology Disruption in Telecommunications
  • Figure 2.13 Diffusion Curves, by Firm Size (Early versus Late Adopters).
  • Figure 2.14 Firms with Lower Levels of Technological Capabilities Tend to Overestimate Their Technological Sophistication
  • Figure 3.1 Firms in Agriculture Tend to Use More Sophisticated Technologies in Sector-Specific Business Functions
  • Figure 3.2 The Technology Gaps Are Larger in General Business Functions in Agriculture Compared to Sector-Specific Business Functions
  • Figure 3.3 Technology Sophistication for Fabrication in Manufacturing Is Low in Developing Countries
  • Figure B3.1.1 The Likelihood of Adopting Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Varies Widely across Sectors
  • Figure B3.1.2 More Capital-Intensive Agricultural Firms Are More Likely to Adopt Advanced Technologies
  • Figure 3.4 Differences in Technology across Countries Roughly Follow Income Differences in the Food-Processing Sector
  • Figure 3.5 Cross-Country Comparisons in Wearing Apparel Are Not So Large among Exporter Countries
  • Figure B3.2.1 Pharmaceutical Firms Are Relatively Close to the Technology Frontier, but There Is Significant Room for Improvement in Developing Countries
  • Figure 3.6 Digitalization of Sector-Specific Business Functions Is at an Early Stage in Retail Services
  • Figure 3.7 The Diffusion Curves of Newer Sector-Specific Technologies Do Not Suggest Leapfrogging
  • Figure 3.8 Tractor Ownership, Renting, and Digital Renting Do Not Suggest Leapfrogging through Digital Platforms
  • Figure 3.9 Across Sectors, There Is Large Heterogeneity in Outsourcing Sector-Specific Business Functions
  • Figure 3.10 Within Sectors, There Is Heterogeneity in the Degree of Outsourcing within Sector-Specific Business Functions
  • Figure 3.11 The Significant Correlation between Outsourcing Tasks and Technology Sophistication (All Business Functions) Is Restricted to Some Business Functions.
  • Figure 3.12 There Are No Significant Differences between Traders and Nontraders in Outsourcing Business Functions
  • Figure 4.1 Several Drivers Affect the Margins of Productivity Growth
  • Figure 4.2 Technology Sophistication Is Correlated with Labor Productivity
  • Figure 4.3 The Level of Technology Sophistication Varies Considerably across Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Services Sectors
  • Figure 4.4 Differences in Technology Sophistication between the Republic of Korea and Senegal Are Larger in the Agricultural Sector than in Nonagricultural Sectors and Are Driven Mainly by the Low Sophistication of Informal Firms
  • Figure 4.5 Firms Generally Keep the Same Number of Jobs When They Adopt New Technologies
  • Figure 4.6 Firms That Have Adopted Better Technology Have Increased Employment
  • Figure 4.7 More Sophisticated Technologies in Some Business Functions Are More Associated with Employment Growth
  • Figure 4.8 Firms with a Higher Level of Technology Are Creating More Jobs but Not Changing Their Share of Low-Skilled Workers
  • Figure 4.9 Firms Using More Sophisticated Technologies Pay Higher Wages
  • Figure 4.10 Technology Sophistication Contributes to Wage Inequality within Firms
  • Figure 5.1 Use of Internet and Adoption of Applications of Digital Technologies Vary by Sophistication and Firm Size
  • Figure 5.2 Digital Technology Intensity Varies across Sectors and Business Functions
  • Figure 5.3 Some Technologies Diffuse More Rapidly than Others
  • Figure 5.4 Market Concentration Poses a Challenge for the Supply of Digital Business Solutions
  • Figure 5.5 The Large Drop in Sales at the Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic Persisted for Many Firms, and the Loss Was Greater for Microenterprises and Small Firms
  • Figure 5.6 Demand for Digital Solutions Increased Greatly in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
  • Figure 5.7 A Large Share of Businesses Digitalized during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

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