Volume 13 of The Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries, focuses on software exporting economies, i.e. software development outsourcing.

It looks like interesting contributions on a diversity of subjects, including analysis of software exporting indistries in places like Iran, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Ukraine. Also a few more general looks at the ned for government planning etc.

These are some of the issues I dealt with when I was a volunteer with GeekCorps in Yerevan, Armenia, in October 2002. Their software industry is extremely geared towards to goal of outsourcing, and the issue introduced and the necessary considerations are vastly different than for an industry still struggling with delivering the basic internal systems, such as the Ghanaian software industry anno 2001.

Volume 13 is a special issue of the journal that focuses on the “emergence of software exporting industries in dozens of developing and emerging economies”. It is edited by Erran Carmel of the Kogod School of Business at the American University in Washington D.C., USA, who also contributes the following editorial introduction:

Dozens of nations around the world are trying to be the “next India” – to launch successful software exporting industries. There is enormous excitement around this idea.