Title: EDI: will African trade and development suffer?

Authors: Dennis K. Agboh

Addresses: School of Business and Management, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, 21239 USA

Abstract: The use of electronic data interchange (EDI) has proliferated in Western industrialised nations over the past decade. However, EDI use in the developing countries in Africa (DCA) is almost nonexistent, or not published. The growth in international trade and globalisation has spurred organisations to commit themselves to EDI with the hope of increased productivity and efficient trading. Several African nations are now undergoing sweeping democratic reforms which could offer a huge potential for increased trade with the West. While EDI users believe trade barriers will be toppled, the use of EDI technology in international trading could create a trade barrier between advanced countries and DCA. This barrier could adversely affect trade and development in DCA. EDI requires a modern telecommunications infrastructure (TI) which is lacking in many parts of Africa. This situation and others could be a major stumbling block for EDI. This paper considers the probable barriers to EDI adoption in DCA, and examines the potential impact on trade and development.

Keywords: Africa; developing countries; electronic data interchange; EDI; international trade; telecommunications infrastructure; Third World development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.1995.062405

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 1995 Vol.8 No.1/2, pp.90 - 97

Published online: 05 Jun 2014 *

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