TY - JOUR T1 - Understanding the Role of Rural Entrepreneurs in Telecentre Sustainability: A Comparative Study of the Akshaya and eSeva Projects in India JF - Technology Innovation Management Review Y1 - 2018 A1 - Gaurav Mishra A1 - Balakrishnan Unny R KW - developing countries KW - entrepreneurship KW - India KW - services KW - sustainability KW - telecentres AB - In rural areas of India, telecentres provide access to computers and other digital technologies and have been utilized as a delivery channel for various government services. Following a public–private partnership (PPP) model, there is a general belief among policy makers that the revenue from government-to-consumer (G2C) services would be sufficient to cover the village-level entrepreneurs’ cash flow requirements and therefore provide financial sustainability. Also, the literature suggests that telecentres have a large enough market for public-access businesses to be commercially viable. In India, around 100,000 telecentres are being set up to serve 600,000 villages – one telecentre for every six villages – to provide one-window access to government services. In the literature, a lack of government services is often quoted as a reason for telecentre failure. This study, using an exploratory approach, aims to understand the parameters that relate to the sustainability of telecentres across a number of common, government-related services. It is observed that some telecentres perform better than the others even though they have the same number of government-related services. Reasons for such differences are explored and the learnings from this research will benefit the stakeholders who are engaged in providing telecentre-based services in other developing countries. In addition, a theoretical framework is suggested to understand the dynamics between different types of sustainability parameters such as financial, social, staff, technology, and institutional. The findings of this research have policy implications in terms of the way services are designed and delivered through telecentres in developing countries such as India. PB - Talent First Network CY - Ottawa VL - 8 UR - http://timreview.ca/article/1130 IS - 1 U1 - Nirma University Gaurav Mishra is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Management at Nirma University in Ahmedabad, India. Before joining Nirma University, he was associated with the Development Management Institute in Patna and the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology in Gandhinagar as Assistant Professor. He also worked with International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad in the Knowledge Management and Sharing department. He received his PhD from the University of Reading, United Kingdom. His thesis focused on understanding adoption, social Inequality, and development impact with respect to e-government centres in rural India. He also holds an MS degree from Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology. U2 - National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli Balakrishnan Unny R is currently pursuing his PhD in the area of software project management from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (NIT Trichy) in Tamil Nadu, India. He has over 10 years of experience in academia and consulting in the area of IT and risk. He has executed projects in information security, business continuity, IT risk, and IT process improvements. Prof. Balakrishnan also has experience working in projects across multiple domains including financial markets, telecommunications, and IT service provision. He holds an MBA from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, with a specialization in IT and risk management. ER -