Digital heterogeneities in developing countries

Abstract

This article investigates patterns of digital technologies’ adoption by industrial firms of selected developing countries, namely: Argentina, Brazil, Ghana, Thailand, and Vietnam. The objective is to identify inter and intra countries’ similarities and differences in terms of digital adoption, and understand how this distribution is leading to digital heterogeneities thus reinforcing the well-entrenched structural heterogeneity prevailing in these economies. The analysis is based on surveys carried out between 2017 and 2019 that covered a panel of 1,212 firms of varied sizes and industries. The evidence shows that most firms are currently adopting a low level of digitalization and have a positive expectation for the future even with a low level of readiness. The larger and technology intensive firms are, the higher the probability of firms being digitally progressive. These results suggest an increase of inter and intra countries’ asymmetries in digital adoption, bringing the emergence of digital heterogeneities.