Althought we run an Internet bookseller (www.publications-etc.com) in first-world Hong Kong, we are also involved in Internet projects in such countries as Russia and Laos. Companies in these countries often lack international business expertise and the means, financial business expertise and the means, financial and otherwise, to acquire it quickly. Such expertise can be codified on the Internet, allowing a small or medium enterprise (SME) in Indiana to buy from a company in Vladivostok or Luang Prabang in almost as strightforward a way as from a company in San Francisco. Potentially, anyway. A great deal of work remains to be done to hide the differences in language, payment systems and other details from buyers and seller so that they can concentrate on plain businesss.
These countries also have excellent and cos-effective human resources, whether engineers or artists. However, the cost of delivering this resource to the market (tickets, et cetera) can more than wide out the cost advantage. But the Internet allows a wide variety of such resources electronically. The Internet would allow Asian service industries to compete internationally just as their manufacturing industries have done. We are ourselves working in such fields as music and art.
However, it is also true that the opportunities will not come from merely slavishly copying American business models. These may in many cases not work in the Asian context - while a number of real opportunities for Asia may never show up in the US.
Letters To The Editor
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