Digital divide is the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all. It is the gap between those who use computers and the internet and those who do not.
It is the unequal access by some members of society to information and communication technology, and the unequal acquisition of related skills.
Four major components that contribute to the digital divide are:
- Social economic status
- Income
- Educational level
- Race among other factors associated with technological attainment
Access to hardware, access to internet and details relating to both categories are often used to distinguish between those that have and those that do not have access to digital facilities.
FEATURES OF OLD ECONOMY
- Work force characteristics: The workers are mainly male with a high proportion of semi-skilled or unskilled.
- Business model: It is traditional with command-and-control
- Organizational structures: It is hierarchical, and functional with pyramid structure
- Key technology drivers: Automation and mechanization
- Main sources of competitive advantage: There is access to raw materials, cheap labour and capital conversion (cost reduction through economics of scale)
- Success measure: Profit
- Decision making is vertical
- Production focuses on internal processes
- Pace of business is very slow
- There is constraint of space, time and distance
LIMITED OF THE OLD ECONOMY
- The market expansion is slow
- The scope of competition is local
- Lack of digital knowledge and concepts
- Slow growth in the economy as it is labour-based
- High cost of communication
FEATURES OF NEW ECONOMY
- Economic development is volatile. Extremely fast change with explosive up surges.
- The market changes are fast and unpredictable.
- The economy is customer-driven.
- The key economy drivers are innovative, entrepreneurial knowledge-based firms.
- Key technology drivers include information and communication technology, e-business, computerize design and manufacturing
- There is no gender bias in the workforce but a high proportion of graduates.
- Time, space and distance are irrelevant.
- Teaming up with other firms to add complementary resources.
- Pace of business is appreciably faster with ever-rising customer expectations.
- It is a digital economy
Evaluation
- What is digital divide
- List three features of new economy
- List three limitations of old economy