Figure 3.5 A Typical Informal Network
cause of limited Internet connectivity or that they cannot network because of language differences. In fact, the fastest growing group of online users is in the developing world. In many countries, phone use is almost exclusively cell phone use. Pay-as-you-go smartphones allow instant virtual networking and access to information from anywhere. So what does this mean? Does having access to global knowledge help developing countries solve entrenched problems or help countries get work delivered to achieve results? A recent white paper for the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (Gill and Grant 2011) examined the problem of underresourcing of maternity services in developing countries. The study found that overall health care in many countries focused on acute care and needed to rethink how maternity services are delivered. A series of focus group workshops were held in Australia to determine how social networking, collaboration, and other information and communications technology solutions could improve the reach and quality of prenatal and postnatal care. Workshop ďŹ ndings suggested that implementing virtual, online maternity services that are based on collaboration and social networking technologies could dramatically lower costs and could improve prenatal and postnatal outcomes. In 2010, a research study conducted by the World Bank evaluated the effect of female social networks for subsistence farmers in rural Uganda on a reemerging cash crop. This work was part of a larger, randomized con42
Fail-Safe Management