DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE IT MARKET INFORMATION SERVICES, THE CASE OF ESOKO Olayinka David-West Lagos Business School, Pan-African University KM 22 Lekki-Epe Expressway, Ajah - Lagos E-mail:
[email protected] ABSTRACT This paper introduces Esoko, an IT system offering market information services (MIS) from which sustainability factors relevant to emerging economies are derived. Using the case study method and a research design formulated by the inclusive markets team of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), qualitative data was acquired through semi-structured interviews and company documents and subsequently analysed using coding techniques. The resultant 14-factor model illustrates 3 distinct dimensions of sustainable MIS – consumer, organisational, and institutional. The findings demonstrate that unlike static enterprise or governmental IT systems, MIS are dynamic and require continuous information services and hence cannot be bound by time. INTRODUCTION In Africa, agriculture remains the major source of livelihood for about 60% of the population but only amounts to 17% of its total gross domestic product (GDP). The nascentnature of agriculture in developing economies vis-à-vis the potential and opportunities abound has contributed to the classification of agriculture initiatives as developmental and often the responsibility of governments and/or developmental agencies that have developed established structures and processes for agricultural extension. The need to close this gap has been identified as one of the high-level objectives of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) through investments in numerous initiatives including “soft” infrastructure projects that facilitate access to accurate price and market information (Harsch, 2004) and hence market information services (MIS). MIS are part of a group of innovative farmer advisory services supporting the collection and dissemination of agricultural information to farmers and other stakeholders using voice, radio, mobile, etc. (Gakuru, Winters, & Stepman, 2009). MIS aim to increase the efficiency of agricultural markets and contribute towards overcoming issues of market failure based on inconsistent access (Ferris, Engoru, & Kaganzi, 2008). As such, MIS assist farmers in their ability to monitor market conditions, make better decisions on where to sell their produce, and negotiate for improved prices rather than being compliant price takers. MIS are beneficial to rural and travelling traders who have less access to market information than their urban counterparts and in need of assistance in decision-making and identification of opportunities. MIS market data is also useful to financial institutions providing them the ability to monitor the long-term health of the economy; and in the short term, assess the risk of lending to both large-scale individual farmers and co-operative farming groups. For policy makers and researchers, current and historical market information from MIS are used to review shifting market patterns and to assist in planning processes such as finding ways to foster market growth, planning for provision of appropriate marketing institutions and making decisions on when and where to invest in new marketing infrastructure (Ferris et al., 2008).
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In spite of the benefits to farmers, financial institutions, and policy makers, the long-term support of MIS is fraught with scepticism from donors and Government agencies for reasons including but not limited to: 1) poor historical performance of government managed MIS; 2) long-term funding requirements; 3) lack of evidence to show the value of market information as a tool to assist farmers and farmer groups to make better marketing decisions and increase their incomes; and 4) bias towards farmers and rural traders (the major MIS beneficiaries) (Ferris et al., 2008). Typically deployed by public sector government agencies and/or donor supported agencies, MIS failures are associated with: • Over emphasis on MIS design as opposed to commercial viability and sustainability (Shepherd, 1997) • Time- or project-bound nature of donor supported MIS where initiatives expire once funds or timeframe elapse (Ferris et al., 2008; Shepherd, 1997) • Operational difficulties and challenges in the collection, processing, transmission, and dissemination of MIS data (Shepherd, 1997) Recent advancements in information and communications technologies and their opportunities in enhancing operations and extending reach have not gone unnoticed by development agencies. As such, IT-based MIS using the Internet, mobile technology, etc. are gradually evolving, whilst issues associated with sustainability and the short-term nature of MIS remain. The resultant impact of these MIS challenges has led to a significant shortage of services amongst needy beneficiaries. These vulnerabilities are confirmed in Garku et al.’s (2009) inventory of MIS in Africa, where of 61 MIS reviewed, 41 (75%) were classified as active, 4 (6%) either undergoing design or implementation, 5 (8%) as completed (expired), and 6 (10%) unknown. Of the active projects, further analysis revealed that 7 (17%) have since elapsed, 2 (5%) continued independently, and donors were substituted in 3 (7%) of the projects. However, whilst commercially viable and sustainable MIS are feasible, they are not widespread. This paper seeks to identify factors for the development and sustainability of agricultural MIS as well as to propose an exploratory model for sustainable and commercially viable MIS is in emerging economies. This study was conducted as part of a larger project on inclusive business models, an initiative of the Growing Inclusive Market (GIM) team of the UNDP. Through research initiatives, the GIM initiative seeks to understand inclusive markets from enterprises in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Eastern Europe (EE) and the Confederation of Independent States (CIS), as well as Latin America and the Caribbean, in a bid to foster the development of inclusive markets that will create opportunities for the world’s poor. Using the case study method in the study of Esoko, the objectives stated earlier were addressed in the quest for identifying factors influencing MIS sustainability. Based on a single MIS case, this paper proposes an exploratory model of sustainable MIS that can be further developed with multiple cases that facilitate cross-case analysis and theoretical saturation (Eisenhardt, 1989). The remainder of this paper is set out as follows. Section 2 introduces Esoko and extant literature on sustainability in general and with reference to IT initiatives. Section 3 presents an overview of the method employed, and Section 4 outlines the results. Section 5 discusses these results. Finally, Section 6 summarises and concludes the paper and identifies implications for future research. SUSTAINABILE MIS SERVICES Introducing Esoko
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Esoko or markets in Swahili, is an MIS that evolved from its earlier version called TradeNet. Initially conceptualised as a single MIS operated by a central entity such as a government agency, Esoko offers extension services for multi-market, multi-commodity, multi-currency, and multi-lingual markets. Using global systems for mobile (GSM) technologies, Esoko collects and distributes (pushes) market information as short message service (SMS) alerts or text messages to subscribers. Esoko is complemented by a website (www.esoko.com) that distributes market information such as commodity prices, buy/sell offers, etc. on a self-service basis and also provides institutional farmer communities access to the web market sites. In addition to the recipients of market information (sellers), additional MIS stakeholders are present across the agriculture value chain, including agricultural processors, farming associations/communities, buyers, governmental and nongovernmental agencies such as development partners, etc. Esoko facilitates the development of commodity marketplaces that can be deployed and operated by franchise and/or association partners, development agency projects, and public sector government services for the benefit of farmers and/or traders that receive the information over mobile networks. A summary of Esoko services, audience, and distribution channel is included in Table 1. Table 1: Summary of Esoko services
Service Mobile Alert
Description SMS text alerts of prices and offers despatched to subscribers based on defined preferences Direct SMS-based direct marketing platform Marketing available to business subscribers to facilitate information sharing Scout Applications that can be used to build polls by providing participants in the field send information back. This application can facilitate Q&A and other services. Market Promotional website for business sites subscribers such as farming/agricultural communities offering them a web presence. Prices Historical collection of market-based commodity process. Buy/Sell Offers are user-generated Offers notifications/solicitations for products available for sale or purchase respectively. News & General information resources dedicated Library to sharing/distribution of multimedia content
Target Individual farmer/trader/buyer
Channel SMS
Farming/Trade Association/Commun ity Farming/Trade Association/Commun ity, FMCG
Internet SMS
Farming/Trade Association/Commun ity
Internet
Individual farmer/trader/buyer Individual farmer/trader/buyer
Internet
All
Internet
Internet SMS
Internet SMS
The Esoko system is developed in Accra, Ghana by a team of local and international professionals. To date, Esoko has been deployed in support of projects such as the Market Information Systems and Traders' Organisations of West Africa (MISTOWA) project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and as an independent service in countries like Afghanistan, Ghana, and Nigeria.
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Sustainability Sustainability simply refers to a capacity to maintain an entity, outcome, service, or process over time. Jenkins (2009) identifies three sustainability factors - economic, environmental and political. Economic factors explain the natural, financial and capital aspects; ecological factors define the biological diversity and ecological integrity; and political factors aim at social systems that realise human dignity. From the IT perspective, the assessment of sustainability in the evaluation of success and failure of IS projects resulted in the identification of identify 10 elements and classified as either critical success factors (CSF) or critical failure factors (CFF) (Heeks & Bhatnagar, 1999). This group of 10 factors includes environmental and political factors, but excludes the economic perspective. Other elements include: information, technical, people, management, process, cultural, structural, and strategic. The information factor relates to the quality and quantity of the information content; the technical factor defines the technology including hardware and software infrastructure and configurations. People and managerial factors encapsulate the employee skills and competences both at the operational and managerial levels respectively. Process factors seek to ensure that information serves cross-functional groups and provides the relevant feedback. Organisational cultures in the workplace permeate IS projects as cultural factors. Complementary organisational structures that support the flow of information make up structural factors. Strategic factors are defined by a strategic and cross-functional approach to IS deployments. Political factors mask themselves in both public and private sector projects in the form of executive leadership and championing of the IS initiatives. Finally environmental factors are present when the IS projects support environmentally friendly initiatives. In rural India, Kumar and Best (2006) exploited the CSF and CFF model in the specification of the sustainability failure model for e-Government projects. They identified 5 factors of sustainability - financial, cultural/social, technological, political/institutional and environmental. Economic factors define the financial and capital resources required to sustain the IS project; political factors relate to the institutional support mechanisms to avert project failure; cultural/social factors define the social impacts of the project which if negative to groups or stakeholders may affect project sustainability. Environmental/ecological factors are cognisant of environmental impacts and technological factors define hardware and software resources. Harmon and Auseklis (2009) introduce the second wave of sustainable IT services extend IT sustainability beyond data centre efficiency and the minimisation of carbon footprint to include the long-term importance of IT to organisations, customers, and society at large. In this context, dimensions of sustainable IT services include service, temporal, cost, organisational, and environmental. Service factors refer to the processes for the delivery and continuous operation of IT services; temporal factors to the clear understanding of the business, customer, and/or societal value derived from the deployment of IT services. Cost services are associated with the financial costs associated with the acquisition and operation of IT services that are supported by organisational factors such as innovation in a rapidly changing environment. Finally, environmental factors refer to the inclusion of environmental choices in the delivery of IT services. Whilst economic, environmental/ecological, and political factors are common, in the IS context, technology and culture are integral characteristics in the operations of IS that have
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been defined by Kumar and Best (2006) and Heeks and Bhatnagar (1999). The roles of process, strategy, structure, people, management, and information defined in the CSF and CFF and partly by Harmon and Auseklis (2009) cannot be under-estimated in enterprise IS projects that have been known to fail for non-technical problems such as incompatible structures (Heeks & Bhatnagar, 1999) and many others. The summary of factors in Table 2 shows that whilst all 10 factors proposed by Heeks and Bhatnagar (1999) are relevant, finance cannot be understated. Although the environmental definitions somewhat vary, the support MIS render to the environment is more appropriate than that proposed by Harmon and Auseklis (2009). Thus, the 10 factors including economic form the initial list to be employed in the data analysis. Table 2: Summary of sustainability factors
Harmon and Jenkins (2009) Auseklis (2009) Cost Economic Political
Organisation Service Temporal Environmental
Kumar and Best Heeks and (2006) Bhatnagar (1999) Economic/financial Political Political Information Technological Technical People Management Structural Process Social/cultural Social/cultural Strategic Environmental/ecological Environmental Environmental METHOD
This study employs the case study method (Yin, 2003) for an in-depth analysis of an emerging market MIS, Esoko. The case study method is based on the research design developed by the UNDP GIM programme (UNDP Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative, 2009) that sought to understand the business model and identify the role of actors or participants and the results of inclusive business models using in-depth structured interviews. The depth of analysis provided by the case study method makes it an appropriate strategy for the analysis and understanding of sustainability in business models such as Esoko. The casebased research approach adopted for the entire GIM project corresponds with the 9 activities elaborated by Eisenhardt (1989). However, in the case of this study, the primary activities conducted include case selection, fieldwork (data collection) and within-case analysis. Case Selection From over 1,000 inclusive businesses identified as possible case study candidates, 100 possibilities were short-listed by the GIM core team. Criteria used in the selection of the 50 cases included human development and poverty alleviating impact, commercial viability, environmental sustainability, potential for growth, replication, and significant impact, stakeholder relationships, and innovation (UNDP Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative, 2009). Data Collection Semi-structured interviews were conducted in September 2009 at the Esoko Ghana offices with members of the Esoko team in using the GIM research protocol comprising of 5
questions seeking the creation, distribution of value alongside actors and impacts (UNDP Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative, 2009). In addition to the interview with the CEO and founder of Esoko, additional interviews were conducted with personnel in product development, franchisee business development, partner development, enumeration manager, monitoring and evaluation, and financial management. Internal company documents were also acquired during the course of the interviews. Data Analysis Transcripts of the recorded interviews were produced and imported into qualitative data analysis tool, Nvivo version 9, for subsequent analysis. Using the list of extant dimensions of sustainability as a starter list of codes (Miles & Huberman, 1994), provisional and holistic coding techniques (see Saldaña, 2008) were applied to the data in two coding cycles. The first cycle of coding was used to generate Nvivo nodes for extant sustainability categories whilst the second cycle employed in vivo and versus coding techniques comprising of direct phrases from interviewees and comparisons respectively. Although the absence of multi-case data made cross-case analysis impossible, within case analysis was facilitated by the various roles of the interviewees within the organisation. The analysis of the documents and interview transcripts resulted in 14 emergent factors of MIS sustainability that are presented in the results section and substantiated by quotations. RESULTS The exploratory model of sustainable MIS illustrated in Figure 1 comprises of 14 factors in 3 dimensions - consumer, organisational, and institutional. The Consumer Dimension of Sustainability Information and usability impacted by culture are evident at the consumer level. Information that is foundational to MIS is characterised by multiple- markets, agricultural commodities, and currencies - that are consumed by farmers, traders, etc. and subject to usability factors such as ease of use, reliability, accuracy, etc. “And the other thing is that most of the people from the market told us consistently from the start that they never trusted government data, that they felt that government data was first of all very difficult to access and it was frequently inaccurate and the best data that they can get is from themselves and from their traders.” The ICT-orientation of MIS also subjects usability to technology adoption factors that are embedded in culture. “We are dealing with mostly conservative communities that have done things in a specific way and aren't particularly tuned in the new technologies.” The demand for accurate, reliable, and usable information influences the organisational strategy and the MIS provider organisation. The embodiment of field-based enumeration services into the MIS organisation not only ensures information accuracy, timeliness, etc, but also serves as a feedback loop from the monitoring and evaluation perspective. “Another reason we have the enumeration staff is not only to gather market information but also to make sure that those information reach the top management as a feedback and they proffer ideas on what will make the company move forward.”
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Figure 1: Exploratory model of sustainable MIS
The Organisational Dimension of Sustainability At the organisational level, sustainability is expressed through strategic thinking and orientation, people, processes, structures, management, capital, and technology that are directly influenced and driven by political will and determination. The elements of strategy are founded in the conceptualisation of Esoko as a commercial entity enforcing the focus on strategic attributes like the business model that encompasses the value proposition, financial, distribution, and operational models, risk management, and competition, etc. The significance of the business model is succinctly described as a fundamental of any business venture: “I think MIS never had a business model. I mean Bloomberg does”. The opportunities abound in the ICT-based MIS was also evident in the conceptualisation of Esoko. “Agriculture projects were trying to build software and that was a recipe for disaster. As a software and businessperson, I thought that was a great opportunity to build a product that will be cheaper and better for all of these products and projects to use.” Whilst Esoko’s founder quickly identified the opportunities in MIS, capacity differences between software development and agricultural initiatives were evident. “Software companies build software and agriculture projects do capacity building or seed distribution. So it is different kinds of skills for different companies.” Embedded in this business model are consumer and partner engagement strategies that are also commercially oriented and can be implemented as business entities. Consumer engagement is facilitated by the organisation structure where enumeration agents responsible for collecting market prices also seek feedback and through monitoring and evaluation (impact assessment) initiatives. For partner engagement, the Esoko team have developed a toolkit comprising of business development aids for commercial operations. “We have tried to develop a franchise model that presents it as a profitable business opportunity and we are looking to attract individuals, companies, organisations, partners in countries to do it that way.” 7
The presence of a strategy influences the organisation and its operations including the human resources, business processes, organisational structures, management capacities, capital, and technology as explained by Esoko founder: “Software is never finished and when you launch a product, that is when it actually begins because that's when you actually have people using it and nobody uses it in a way you imagine they will. So you have to be listening, you've got to be watching and you've got to have the capacity to continue your technical development. So from our point of view, we have not developed a product, we have developed a capacity and a team.” With technology rapidly advancing, technological innovations that ensure usability and conformance with global standards are mandatory. “So as we better understood the market and as we began also witness some of the ways in which technology was evolving with social networks like Facebook and Twitter, and where we saw more user generated content and I think that’s how we began to understand how we can use technology.” The Institutional Dimension of Sustainability Institutional sustainability, although derived through various partnerships, is constrained by the operating environment comprising of political and cultural factors. The development of Esoko would have been challenging without agriculture extension expertise and funding from developmental agencies; however, additional institutional relationships, such as those with mobile telecommunications operators whose networks facilitate the distribution of SMS market information are mandatory. In addition to the transmission of SMS messages, the dispersion of mobile networks can also facilitate the direct and independent retail of Esoko and Esoko subscription fees debited from mobile call credit. “We are looking at having an agreement with the mobile service providers to upgrade our service as an option in their network.” In contrast to enterprise IT systems and services, the service-oriented nature of MIS forms their dependence on institutional alliances that distribute the service, provide access to farmers, capital, etc that are however influenced by environmental, political, and societal/cultural factors in developing countries like Ghana where this is evident in the absence of a high-tech industry and personnel. “One of the difficulties we are facing is in the highly skilled sector like software, which is mostly non-existent in Ghana, is bringing in some of the capacity to train up local staff. I think that some of the immigration issues has been problematic for us and I think that we need help advocating with the government that we are not displacing a local industry, we are actually creating a local industry and that if you don’t bring in that expertise.” Informed understanding of the cultural and adoption issues has influenced the development and deployment of Esoko; which according to the product development manager is complemented with appropriate teaching aids, processes, and structures. “It’s not just releasing software and saying ok anybody can use it. It is also providing guidance and putting people there to make sure they have access to the platform.” Although technology knowledge is an important factor in the adoption of ICT-based MIS, the Esoko founder establishes the relationship between the value proposition and technology adoption.
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“You also can see that given the right value proposition, every single one of them is capable of learning those technology tools and using them to their advantage.” Finally, even though environmental factors are not explicitly derived from the interviews, ICT-based MIS are not damaging to the environment in the provision of alternative (nonpaper) distribution channels for extension information. “I’m sure people will be sending out wedding and death notices on the SMS. I think that they will be saving fuel costs and not in adding to the pollution, with transport, we’ll be able to allow people to find trucks that are moving back and forth and reduce the number of trucks. So indirectly the impacts on the environment could be significant because you’re just making markets work more efficiently.” DISCUSSION OF RESULTS The proposed 14-factor model of sustainable MIS illustrated in Table 3 can be associated with Harmon and Auseklis’ (2009) definition of societal sustainable IT services - “the aggregate value available to society from the systematic integration and alignment of the individual IT service components for the purpose of creating superior societal value”. In conclusion, whilst organisational factors positively influence MIS, inhibitors are typically in the external institutional factors, and depending on the inclusion of feedback mechanisms, the consumer factors may be either influencing or inhibitive. Table 3: Emergent factors of MIS sustainability
Consumer Information: multimarket, multi-commodity, multi-currency market information. Usability: initiatives that ensure market information are accessible and usable by farmers.
Institutional Environmental: initiatives that protect the environment. Political: the political constraints in the environmental environment and executive leadership in the MIS provider organisation. Societal/Cultural: social and cultural perspectives of the operating environment and the consumers. Partnerships: the various institutional relationships required to maintain the MIS.
Organisational Strategy: of commercially oriented tactics. Technology: hardware, software, and technical skills and competencies. Structures: structures that ensure all required activities are conducted. Management: managerial skills and competencies. Processes: processes to support MIS activities. People: operational skills and competencies. Capital: financial resources required develop and support innovation capacities. Technology Innovation: the wherewithal to extend the MIS features in given technological advancements.
LIMITATIONS, FUTURE RESEARCH AND CONCLUSION Although commercially viable MIS are not widespread, this study shows that using services such as Esoko that offer dynamic distribution models, MIS can easily be deployed
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globally. Although these findings, based on a single-case are a limitation, it serves as a research opportunity where data will not only facilitate cross-case analysis, but also ensure theoretical saturation. The exploratory model proposed could serve as a guide to governments and development agencies considering the transformation of current agricultural services to ICT-based environments and could also guide the development of ICT-based social ventures especially in the agriculture sector. In sum, in addition to the 11 previously identified constructs, consumer usability and partnerships are just as important to the viability and longevity of MIS. REFERENCES Eisenhardt, K. M. 1989. Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review: 532-550. Ferris, S., Engoru, P., & Kaganzi, E. 2008. Making Market Information Services work better for the poor in Uganda, Research Workshop on Collective Action and Market Access for Smallholders. Cali, Colombia. Gakuru, M., Winters, K., & Stepman, F. 2009. Inventory of Innovative Farmer Advisory Services using ICTs: The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa. Harmon, R. R. & Auseklis, N. 2009. Sustainable IT services: Assessing the impact of green computing practices. Management of Engineering & Technology, 2009. PICMET 2009. Portland International Conference on: 1707-1717. Harsch, E. 2004. Agriculture: Africa's 'engine for growth', Africa Recovery, Vol. 17. New York: United Nations. Heeks, R. & Bhatnagar, S. 1999. Understanding Success and Failure in Information Age Reform, in R. Heeks (ed.) Reinventing Government in the Information Age: International Practice in IT-Enabled Public Sector Reform, London: Routledge. Jenkins, W. 2009. Sustainability Theory, Berkshire Encyclopedia of Sustainability, Vol. 2011: 380 - 384: Berkshire Publishing Group. Kumar, R. & Best, M. L. 2006. Impact and Sustainability of E-Government Services in Developing Countries: Lessons Learned from Tamil Nadu, India. The Information Society, 22(1): 1-12. Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A. 1994. Qualitative Data Analysis: an expanded sourcebook. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Saldaña, J. 2008. The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Shepherd, A. W. 1997. Market Information Services: Theory and Practice. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. UNDP Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative. 2009. Case Study Research Programme 2009/10: Research Design. New York: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Yin, R. K. 2003. Case Study Research Design and Method. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
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