Lower education levels in management drops Canada’s ICT ranking, expert says

Canada’s business leaders aren’t as educated as their U.S. counterparts—a factor that may have impacted its ranking in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual Global Information Technology Report. Released last week, the 2010-2011 report ranked Canada eighth out of 138 countries for “network readiness,” one spot lower than in 2009-2010. Canada ranked 10th in 2008-2009 and 13th in 2007-2008. The report weighs factors such as access to venture capital, laws relating to information and communications technologies (ICTs), mobile network coverage, and use of social networking applications. James Milway, executive director of the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity, a not-for-profit organization focused on economic progress which helped collect survey results from Canadians for the WEP report, draws a connection between management and education. Milway said in an interview that there is a link between poor business adoption of communications technology and the disparity between Canadian and U.S. business managers’ education levels. “Our research has shown our management capabilities may not be as good as they are in the U.S.,” he said. In an analysis of management education levels, the institute found that Canada produces fewer university graduates than the U.S. as a percentage of the population. In 2008, 6.88 out of 1,000 Canadians attained university degrees, while 7.46 in the U.S. did the same, the organization says. The institute also found that businesses are better run when they have a higher percentage of university graduates in management positions. Milway said businesses benefit from ICTs when they invest in technology platforms that incorporate a variety of elements, not just one or two stand-alone applications. He added that businesses lacking educated managers are less likely to “use ICT to change the way you do business.” In its report, the WEF said Canada’s “strong showing” was driven by high levels of “individual readiness” to use communications technologies, and high levels of government ICT usage. But Canada’s rankings on individual ICT usage (23rd) and business usage (22nd) dragged down the country’s overall score. “Canadian businesses appear less prompt than their southern neighbours to harness new technologies or to produce and export innovative products in the international markets,” the report said. “The country ranks 20th for patent applications per million population (80.2) and only 9.2 per cent of its goods exports are high-tech products (28th).” Mark Goldberg, head of telecom consultancy Mark H. Goldberg & Associates Inc., noted in an interview that, according Statistics Canada, 20 per cent of Canadian households don’t have computers, and the country needs a national digital strategy to bridge the digital divide. “That should be a huge concern, especially for homes with school-aged children,” he said, adding that children now tend to do homework on computers. Catherine Middleton, the Canada research chair in communications technologies and the information society at Ryerson University, said Canada continues to lag behind countries like the U.S. and Australia in terms of a national digital strategy. “I would hope that’s something that would happen after the election,” she said. Goldberg pointed out that the WEF ranked Canada first in Internet and telephony market competition (but the country tied for that position with 60 other countries). Middleton said competition doesn’t necessarily translate into better services and lower prices for ICT adopters. If that was the case, Canada would have ranked better in broadband pricing, she noted. The WEF ranked Canada 23rd in that category. Similarly, in other data released last week, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranked Canada 28th out of 33 countries on average monthly broadband pricing. The WEF also ranked Canada low in two legal subcategories in a section called “the Political and Regulatory Environment.” The country placed 54th for the number of procedures available to enforce a contract and 75th for the number of days needed to enforce one. Milway said that ranking could result in part from the fact that Canadian culture isn’t as litigious as others. As a result, issues that wind up in court tend to be complicated to solve and take more time resolve, he suggested. news@thewirereport.ca

Lower education levels in management drops Canada’s ICT ranking, expert says

News | 04/27/2011 5:15 pm EDT

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