تغییر بحرانی از عوامل کلیدی موفقیت ملی استراتژی الکترونیکی در کنار وضعیت توسعه اقتصادی سازمان ملل

Many studies mention the importance of national e-Strategy as it is a vital contributing factor for ICT-enabled development. However, it is difficult to find a conceptual framework that suggests how the national e-Strategy should be defined and applied by the target country. This creates more confusion for policy makers. This paper reviews previous research on national e-Strategies to recognize its significance as a major contributing factor. Based on that, this research defines the critical success factors of national e-Strategy and investigates the possibility of prioritizing factors by the scale of economy through a Delphi survey. By reviewing the evaluated status of e-Readiness and co-relating the evaluation with economic status, we may further investigate the significance of the digital divide and national e-Strategy. The outcome of this research may be applicable in differentiating critical success factors from general ingredients of National e-Strategy.

National strategy for ICT, or sometimes called ‘national e-Strategy’ may be set in place to contribute to national growth. According to the World Bank's study, a country needs to have a significant stock of ICT or users in place and perhaps be more advanced in using that stock for economic transformation (Hanna, 2003). Many countries have put their effort into promoting “National e-Strategy” as a way of enhancing their respective countries' economic growth. For example, in South Korea, comprehensive national e-Strategy has been a key driving factor in the phenomenal rebound of its economy from the 1997 financial crisis: the ICT industry's contribution to GDP growth rose from a mere 4.5% in 1990 to an astounding 50.5% in 2000 (Hanna, 2003). However, it is still difficult to understand the critical ingredients of the strategy because there are different definitions and interpretations of critical success factors for national e-Strategy (Lavin, 2005, Hanna, 2003 and Heeks, 2003). Moreover, looking at the statistics analyzed by monitoring institutions such as the UN, e-Readiness shows the seriousness of digital divide between developed countries and developing countries. According to the report from the Technical Assistance Program, jointly performed by the National Information Society Agency and the World Bank, most of the client countries (Morocco, Republic of Congo, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, and Argentina) have national e-Strategy plans already set in place (National Information Society Agency, 2004a). However, it is unlikely that these countries would exercise the plans effectively considering their strategic targets and environment. In reality, those strategies are planned by benchmarking strategies taken from developed countries. Thus, it is important to find a conceptual framework that suggests how national e-Strategy should be defined and effectively applied according to the characteristics of the target country or region.

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) declaration emphasized the critical importance for the establishment of a national e-Strategy in bridging the digital divide (Cho, 2005, ITU, 2008a and ITU, 2008b), creating an information society, and strengthening national competitiveness. Accordingly, the study gives a clear indication of the importance of identifying strategic priorities in effectively establishing national e-Strategies. The need to take into account the limited resources and circumstances specific to each country, and linking with national development strategy in establishing a national ICT strategy by identifying strategic priorities was indirectly verified through the views of experts. Furthermore, the experts' opinions on critical success factors and tailored approaches applicable according to a target country's economic level and environment, and the comparative analysis of the different types, can be used as references in a macro view-point towards establishing future national e-Strategies. In particular, inadequate infrastructure, poor financing, low level of IT human resources, and lack of information awareness are common to many developing countries, and these work to reduce the effectiveness of support initiatives from international organizations and developed countries. The experts' opinion on a tailored approach by applying critical success factors according to the economic level and environment of target countries can be of valuable use in establishing e-Strategy for the developing countries in the future.