Boon-Chye Lee

Public policy and SME development

We review the policy arguments in favour of assisting SMEs in various areas of their operations. Our review suggests that many of the arguments put forward for subsidising SME activities (as distinct from some activities of firms regardless of size) are not economically justified. Nonetheless, it is widely acknowledged that SMEs suffer from disadvantage relative to large firms, principally in the areas of access to information and technology. We then study the possibilities offered by networks in helping SMEs deal with the disadvantages they experience. Our examination indicates that there are benefits that firms can derive from participating in networks. Further, because networks can assist firms overcome some of their inherent disadvantages, they can become less reliant on public assistance and more able to compete on an equal footing with larger firms once the initial impetus is provided for the formation of cooperative networks that can enable firms to compete more effectively.

Regulatory issues in electronic money: A legal-economics analysis

In this paper we examine regulatory issues relating to electronic money. The discussion proceeds along three main lines. First, the focus of attention on the potential risks to the financial system is typically on the systemic risk arising from the payments system. Since issuers of electronic money automatically become part of the payments system we consider if the arguments relating to systemic risk originating in the payments system apply in the case of electronic money.Second, we examine the sharp divergence in regulatory approaches between the US and the EU, and suggest that a useful way of reconciling this divergence is to note the existence of a tradeoff between the efficiency of the financial system and the amount of risk assumed by the public sector. This means that there is not necessarily a “correct” answer to the desirability of regulation.Third, technological advances and financial innovations have made it easier for firms to engage in regulatory arbitrage. Competitive pressures may have encouraged financial centres to engage in competitive deregulation, resulting in a less than socially optimal level of regulation overall. It is therefore important that national authorities coordinate and harmonise their regulatory policies.

Sustaining Growth and Performance in East Asia

This third book in the series focuses on how small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) contribute to achieving and sustaining growth and performance in their economies, as well as the ways in which governments can assist and enhance that contribution. This is of particular concern given the trauma suffered by East Asian economies in the wake of the financial and economic crisis of 1997–98.

Introduction: the role of small and medium-sized enterprises in achieving and sustaining growth and performance

This volume is the third in a series on small and medium sized enterprises in East Asia, defined broadly to include the countries along the western rim of the Pacific from Japan and China in the north to Australia and New Zealand in the south, taking in the ASEAN countries along the way.

Paying for Goods and Services in the Information Age

In the last decade, the Internet has grown exponentially in terms of the numbers of both users and applications. Until just a few years ago, however, there prevailed among users a widespread informal understanding that frowned upon any commercial material on the “Net”. Violators of this code of conduct were routinely cowed into submission by a chorus of indignant email messages. Companies and individuals have since begun to realise the seemingly endless commercial possibilities of the Internet and to exploit them. Commercial transactions initiated, and often completed, on the Internet are now a commonplace.

Benefits Derived from ICT Adoption in Regional Medical Practices: Perceptual Differences Between Male and Female General Practitioners

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) are being used more and more by general practitioners (GPs) in their day-to-day activities. While a number of studies have shown that ICT adoption and use can provide real benefits to medical practices, there have been few studies to determine whether the perception of those benefits is uniform across the sector. This study examines whether differences in the perception of benefits exist between male and female GPs. The results suggest that the groupings and priorities of benefits arising from ICT use differ substantially between male and female GPs. Results also show, amongst other things, that male GPs are focussed on business efficiency, while female GPs are focussed on communication and practice expansion.

Benefits of ICT adoption and use in regional general medical practices: a pilot study

This paper presents a pilot study of benefits derived from information and communications technology (ICT) adoption and use in medical practices in regional Australia. The study involved 122 regional medical practitioners. The results show that like the more general small business sector, the perception of certain benefits is associated with the size of the practice (in terms of employee levels) and/or the gender of the respondent practitioner. The data also showed that the level of skill of certain software used within the practice was significantly associated with the level of perceived benefit derived from ICT adoption and use.

An Examination of the Driving Forces Behind ICT Adoption in Australian Rural and Regional Medical Practices

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) within the Australian general practice sector has been widely researched and is well documented. This paper adds to the knowledge by using data collected from 122 regional medical practitioners to show that the driving forces behind the adoption and use of ICTs can be grouped according to three factors: improvement to business and medical care, external pressure exerted by other practices, patients and medical authorities and the need to communicate with other businesses as well as medical groups