PANEL DISCUSSION 1: FRIDAY JUNE 2, 3:30 – 5:30
Conserving & Earning Foreign Exchange Through Information Systems: Managing IS Supply and Demand

Chair: Mr. Ken Sylvester, CEO – Caribbean Knowledge & Learning Network

Panellists:
Dr. Rajiv Kishore, State University of New York, Albany, USA

Dr. Ojelanki Ngwenyama, Ryerson University, CA

Mr. Gordon Webster, Director IT Advisory Services - PricewaterhouseCoopers

Acquiring software through commercial off the shelf (COTS) packages has replaced in-house development as the dominant alternative for satisfying organizational demand for information systems. But should developing countries follow this apparently less onerous trend at the expense of eroding their competencies in software development? How does that affect our capability to contribute to the supply of software to the global software exporting market? How does the absence of IS development skills preclude our participation in the open source computing movement, which has the potential to free companies and nations from dependence on monopoly software producers? Our decision priorities for software acquisition should be informed by their implications on foreign exchange conservation and earning, a pivotal consideration for economic well-being in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean.

These questions and others, such as the factors that determine entry, growth, and success in the software export industry and how companies and nations strategize and develop policies for taking advantage of the open source movement and their potential economic outcomes, will be explored in this panel discussion. The panel discussions will be preceded by presentations from world renowned scholars in these respective areas, Professors Rajiv Kishore and Ojelanki Ngwenyama.