Abstract

“Information Era” is the term used to designate the current economic period, in which information, especially through technology production and innovation generation, is very important in the conduct of a business and to generate added value. In this environment, investing in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) enables access to information and knowledge, as well as improvements in the inter- and intra-organizational integration. Therefore individuals, organizations and countries, which have little or no access to ICT, cannot profit from these benefits: they are the "digitally excluded." This situation, which affects mainly small and medium companies (SMCs), is still underrepresented in the literature, motivating the present exploratory study that aims at describing the digital divide of Brazilian companies, taking into consideration their size and market segment. The research used micro-data from the 2011 report "ICT Use in Brazilian Households and Enterprises" a survey that is performed annually by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI) and has data for over 6,000 companies of diverse sectors in all regions of the Country. The main contribution of the present is paper is the development of an index of digital inclusion at company level that takes into account its size and economic activity.

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