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Abstract The information and communication revolution and the increase in the spread of knowledge have given birth to a new era of knowledge and information which affects directly economic, social, cultural and political activities of all regions of the world. Countries worldwide have recognized the role that Information and Communication Technologies could play in socio-economic development. A number of countries especially those in the developed world and some in developing countries are putting in place policies and plans to transform their economies into a knowledge economy. Malaysia, one of the developing countries that have a comprehensive ICTs policies and plans regarding the development and utilization of ICTs, It considered ICT as a key component of their national vision (2020) to improve the quality of life, knowledge and international competitiveness. The success of the Malaysian experience in ICT is due to the large investment not only on ICT infrastructure but also the investment in developing the human resources. While, the financial and non-financial incentives play an important role in attracting the world class companies to invest in the Malaysian ICT sector. The Malaysian experience achieved successful steps that Egypt can follow in developing its ICT sector and overcome some of its challenges as mentioned in this study. Research Problem: Malaysia’s strategy towards the knowledge economy started in the mid-1990s, as Malaysia issued the National IT Agenda (NITA) to set the layout of the information society and the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) which considered a global hub for ICT and multimedia innovation to transform Malaysia into a knowledge economy. In early 1980s, Egypt has realized the role of ICT in improving the efficiency of the organizations and the individual therefore; the Egyptian government adopted the national plan for the development of ICT and improving the human resources. Egypt has no doubt adopted various reforms to develop the ICT sector but its size still has been limited as Egypt’s rank in the global reports and indices still low comparing with Malaysia : The Networked Readiness Index (NRI) that assesses how different economies benefit from the latest ICT advances based on: Environment, Readiness, Usage shows that Malaysia had an advanced position (30) in 2013 better than Egypt (80), as Egypt should improve the ICT infrastructure and the governmental and individual access to ICT. The IT industry competitiveness index prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit compares 66 countries in different regions in the world on the conditions that necessary for IT industry shows that Egypt had an issue in the most important category which is R& D as Egypt achieved an average weight of (0.6) less than Malaysia (43.9) in 2012.while, Malaysia’s rank in the Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) that illustrate the overall level of development of a country towards the Knowledge Economy was (48) better than Egypt (97) as Malaysia worked on developing its education, ICT infrastructure and innovation.from the above mentioned, the statement of the problem can be summed up in the following questions: 1. What are the opportunities that Malaysia has in ICT and how it overcomes its challenges? 2. What are the challenges that face Egypt’s ICT? 3. The possibilities of how Egypt can benefit from the Malaysian experience in the field of Information and Communication Technology sector? Research Hypotheses: 1. Information and Communication Technology has an impact on the economic growth. 2. Egypt has the drivers of Information and Communication Technology development. 3. Egypt can benefit from the Malaysian experience in developing the Information and Communication Technology sector. Research Objectives: 1. To study the impact of the Information and Communication Technology sector on economic growth. 2. To study the development of Information and Communication Technology sector in Egypt and Malaysia. 3. To analyze the Egyptian performance and the challenges that face Information and Communication Technology sector in Egypt. 4. Exploring how Egypt can benefit from the Malaysian experience in Information and Communication Technology development. Methodology of the study: The researcher applies both inductive (descriptive) and comparative methods in handling the topic of the possibilities of how Egypt can benefit from the Malaysian experience in the field of ICT. The descriptive method has been applied to study the historical development of the Malaysian ICT sector as well as the historical development of ICT sector in Egypt. On the other hand, the comparative method has been adopted depending on the statistics from the Global reports and indices to compare ICT indicators in both Egypt and Malaysia. The study used reference books, scientific periodicals and working papers relevant to the topic of the study. Research Plan: The study is divided into three parts divided consequently into eight chapters as follows: Part One : Literature Review Chapter One: Information and Communication Technology definitions and measurements. Chapter Two: Economic growth theories and ICT worldwide. Part Two: The Malaysian Experience in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. Chapter Three: The historical development of ICT in Malaysia. Chapter Four : ICT sector indicators in Malaysia. Chapter Five: The opportunities and the challenges of ICT sector in Malaysia. Thesis Summary 184 Part Three: How Egypt Can Benefit from The Malaysian Experience in ICT sector. Chapter Six: The historical development of ICT in Egypt. Chapter Seven : ICT sector indicators in Egypt. Chapter Eight: How Egypt can benefit from the Malaysian experience in ICT. |