Title: The potential role for an ICT entrepreneur in accelerating SME development in Indonesia: the case of the metal working industries in Tegal

Authors: Derry Pantjadarma

Addresses: Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology, Division for Technology Policy for SME Development, Indonesia

Abstract: This paper explores the role of the ICT entrepreneur in accelerating the development of SMEs in Tegal, Central Java. It describes and discusses a case study of a group of metal working SMEs in Tegal to articulate the role of an ICT entrepreneur in this context. Indonesian SMEs generally face many obstacles in developing and growing. Some of these include limited access to finance, technology and information. The Tegal metal working industries with accumulated technical knowledge of over 20 years are now capable of producing various kinds of agricultural machinery. However, the industries are eager to embrace ICT as a new way of developing business. However, this investigation showed that owing to different technological trajectory it is difficult for them to learn and adopt ICT. The learning network and promotion of SMEs in ICT sector offers an alternative to acquiring new knowledge and explores business linkages. A shared community-based internet access facility can be the embryo of this network.

Keywords: ICT entrepreneurs; entrepreneurship; SMEs; small and medium enterprises; Indonesia; metal working industries; agricultural machinery; learning network; information technology; communications; web-based communities; internet.

DOI: 10.1504/JIBED.2004.007849

Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 2004 Vol.2 No.2, pp.17 - 24

Published online: 27 Sep 2005 *

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