ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the issues surrounding information services from the perspective of a corporation involved in the trading of services, the Royal Bank of Canada. There has been much discussion and analysis of the development of a "service" or "information" economy and, more broadly, the "post-industrial" society. The experience of several transnational corporations relying on information technologies will also be used to give insights into their true contribution to economic development. Information technologies are creating new opportunities for industries serving the international agricultural sector as well as expanding the access to information for fanners. Royal Bank agrologists, who specialize in farm lending, visit their rural clients carrying portable personal computers. Corporations are using information technologies to educate their personnel across borders. The Royal Bank, like other corporations, retains some of the world's best consultants; they share their expertise with bank staff during four-hour seminars broadcast through an internal video network.
