Cover Page COVER STORY
By Margarita Sologuren and Jorge Jacobs

The Power of Information

A decade ago, in Megatrends, John Naisbitt proclaimed that the United States would start a transition process that would take society from being industrialized to being automated. Naisbitt explained how more developed societies would make this change in an easier way than when the Industrial Revolution took place. This transition would be followed by several changes around the world: after heavy technology comes hi-tech, a national economy is followed by a liberalized economy, short term thinking is changed by long term planning, beneficiary States are followed by subsidiary ones and a representative democracy is changed by a participative democracy.

This global scenario places countries with agriculturally based economies such as ours in a crossfire: How can we reach out to the Information Era if we have not yet passed through the industrialization process?

Now that Guatemala has begun to get involved in the so called economic globalization process, entrepreneurs admit they need truthful, updated information at the right moment in order to compete in better conditions. Although advances have been made and Guatemala is slowly becoming a part of the Internet, information offers are still scarce and demand is still moderate among medium and large businesses and multinational companies.

Trade information from abroad is also of great importance for those who make business abroad in order to compete effectively in the international market. Where do businessmen find the information they need to make the right decisions?

Statistics published by the National Bank , Banco de Guatemala are available as well as those from the National Statistics Institute (INE, for its abbreviation in Spanish) which provide macro economic data giving businessmen a broad idea of the national economy.

The Economics Area of the Banco de Guatemala is divided in the following three Departments: Economic Studies (Estudios Económicos) is in charge of the follow up and calculation of monetary add ups and figures. Economic Research (Investigaciones Económicas) work on new long term projects, studying other countries' experiences. Economic Statistics ( Estadísticas Económicas) is in charge of working with all information regarding the Gross National Product (GNP) and foreign trade data.

Further information can be obtained from private research organizations:

Some of this information can also be found in print media of national circulation. In addition, the Center for Market Documentation and Information (Centro de Documentación e Información de Mercados, Cedime), at the Non Traditional Exporters Guild (Gremial de Exportadores de Productos No Tradicionales , Gexpront). This center provides great amount of services for national and international investors.

Although more information is needed for the country's development, a transition from an agricultural society to an information society seems to be going in the right direction.

Inicio Comments to gerencia@nortropic.com
December, 1995