Information And Communication Technology Assets Research Articles

Optimal Location-Allocation of Printing Devices for Energy Saving Using a Novel MILP Approach

In recent years, a growing number of enterprises have taken different steps to reduce the energy consumption and carbon emissions of information and communication technology (ICT) assets. Because of the expansion of digitalization and the need for rapid access to information, enterprises have been compelled to optimize the location and utilization of their ICT hardware. In this context, this paper presents a novel method based on a mixed-integer linear programming approach for optimizing the physical location and task allocation of printing devices in office floor plans considering the power usage of the ICT assets, the costs related to the purchase and service of the individual devices, operating costs, and distance between employees and printing devices. The applicability of the proposed model is illustrated using the case study of a company with 100 functional departments located in several office buildings across Poland. The results reveal that the model guarantees the execution of all printing tasks and satisfies the functionality requirements expressed by the users of the workstations. Moreover, the selection of more energy-efficient printing devices leads to a considerable reduction in electricity consumption, related not only to the direct operation of these devices but also to their modes of operation (work, idle, or sleep). Such results also bring tangible effects in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, which is particularly important for businesses operating in countries where fossil fuels still dominate the energy mix.

Innovative competences, the financial crisis and firm-level productivity in Denmark and Finland

ABSTRACT This paper examines how intangible assets contribute to firm-level productivity in the small open economies of Denmark and Finland from 2000 to 2013. We examine whether the role of intangible assets has changed over time, from the period of fairly stable growth prior to the crisis in 2008 to the more difficult period of recovery afterwards where intangible capital deepening decreased in 2008–2013 in many European countries. The productivity analysis is conducted in two stages. First, we derive total factor productivity (TFP), and second, we estimate the effects of intangible assets on total factor productivity. Our approach for measuring intangible assets is based on occupational classifications in a linked employer–employee dataset. We construct measures for three types of intangibles: broad R&D assets (R&D), organizational assets (OC) and information and communication technology assets (ICT). In both countries, the TFP effects of broad R&D increase slightly in the period after the crisis. For Finland, we also find that the TFP effects of OC increase after the crisis, while Denmark experienced a considerable increase in OC assets after financial crises in intangible intensive industries such as information, education and health industries, where productivity is lower.

Reconsidering the digital divide: an analytical framework from access to appropriation

PurposeThis paper presents a framework to measure the digital divide by considering a more comprehensive index of information and communication technology (ICT) predictors. The authors also address the conceptual and methodological problems in the digital divide field, given that its focus has been shifted from technological access to higher-order divides over the years. The proposed framework is hypothesized and tested in the context of unemployed and underemployed residents in Singapore.Design/methodology/approachThrough a quantitative survey, 302 unemployed and underemployed workers were asked what ICT “access”, “usage” and “appropriation” meant to them. Factor analyses were deployed to identify the underlying, granular dimensions of ICT access, usage and appropriation.FindingsThe factor analyses revealed an interesting breakdown of the main factors of ICT access, usage and appropriation. The authors found that one's purpose for which technology is accessed, used and appropriated determines how each of the levels of ICT assets is defined. Thus, the authors propose new operational definitions for ICT access, usage and appropriation based on the analyses.Originality/valueThis study aims to provide a more robust measure of the digital divide from access, capabilities to outcomes. The authors hope that this framework, besides complementing current digital divide models, can be applied to different types of participants.

Social inequalities, fundamental inequities, and recurring of the digital divide: Insights from India

The paper uses a large scale national quantitate dataset to provide a fresh perspective on linkages between the digital divide and social inequalities in India. Commencing from two classical social theoretical perspectives – the Marxian conflict perspective and the Weberian cultural perspective – as starting points, we employed MANCOVA analysis on data of more than forty thousand households. The Marxian perspective reveals how information and communication technologies (ICT) assets come to be owned, and how they are used with the help of specific digital skills by the working class to influence labour markets and intergenerationally transfer class advantage. The Weberian perspective focuses on how ownership and use of ICT assets define an elite lifestyle which excludes others. The analysis is deepened by employing network effects approach. Results from data analysis indicate that the less educated, lower-income group, and lower caste strata are further marginalised as they neither have ICT assets nor the skills to use them. Households whose primary source of income is organised business own and use their ICT assets more than those that depend on agricultural or non-agricultural wage labour. Also, the highest adult education in a household, caste, and the primary source of income of the household differentiate ICT ownership and use. Overall, ICT ownership and usage are significantly different for different socio-economic groups in India. This linkage demonstrates how inequalities are aggravated in the manner of a Matthew Effect. The paper suggests that ICTs may end up amplifying the social inequalities in India.

A Survey on ICT Usage among English Teachers at College of Engineering, Anna University

English Language Teaching in institutions on the planet today takes diverse dimensions and focuses. The success of the integrations of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the teaching and learning of English Language depends significantly on the level of information of ICT controlled by the educators and genuine use of same in the classroom. ICT instruments can in reality bolster students in acquiring English language competency and also improve the quality of learning experience. This paper analyzes the accessible ICT assets and the level of ICT abilities of English language instructors. This exploration depends on the discoveries of a poll overview directed among the teaching personnel at the department of English, College of Engineering, Anna University. The discoveries uncovered that most respondents were proficient in utilizing applications, for example, MS Word, messaging and MS Power Point. The results indicated that despite the fact that instructors are willing to utilize ICT tools and are mindful of the current potential, they are confronting certain issues in connection to power blackouts and deficient ICT facilities and institutional backing.

Labor demand and ICT adoption in Spain

Spain is delayed in adopting information and communication technologies (ICT) and its productivity per hour worked presents a downward trend since the mid-90s. In this paper we argue that these two facts are related. Using the EU KLEMS dataset we test the capital-skill complementarity hypothesis in a cross-section of sectors in Spain. We find that the substitutability between workers and ICT assets falls as worker skill level rises, and that this feature holds across all sectors. Furthermore, the ICT assets are complementary with skilled workers. The fraction of workers employed with medium and high skills across sectors rose by 21% and 12%, respectively, to the disadvantage of low skilled workers, due to an adjustment within sectors more than to a composition effect between sectors. Finally, using a regression analysis, we conclude that some labor market institutions are likely behind the evolution of sectorial productivity and ICT investment in Spain.

Information and communication technologies over the business cycle

This paper quantifies the relative importance of different sources of technological progress as determinants of short-run fluctuations in the US economy. In particular, it focuses on the role of the technical innovations associated with information and communication technologies (ICT). The paper points to three main findings. First, neutral technical change is the main determinant of the US aggregate fluctuations, and its contribution remained constant throughout the postwar sample. Second, the importance of ICT increased significantly during the last decades of the considered sample, which nowadays is responsible for approximately 1/5 of GDP fluctuations. Third, the variance reduction of exogenous shocks typically associated with the last decades of the postwar sample, mainly comes from ICT and neutral shocks, whereas the volatility of innovations in traditional capital remained relatively stable. Overall, we conclude that attention should be focused on identifying those incentives behind the adoption of knowledge and technology, an issue related to the neutral progress, rather than the quality or technology embedded in capital goods such as ICT assets.

Computer Aided Planning for Wireless Systems

Information and communication technology (ICT) managers in the modern enterprises face a bewildering array of decisions regarding planning of new systems, integration of new systems with existing ones, securing the ICT assets, and administrating the resulting complex ICT systems. The rapid introduction of wireless systems (mobile computing and wireless communications) in the business and government settings is further exasperating the situation, particularly in the developing countries. A Computer Aided Planner (Planner), part of the UN eNabler Toolset, has been developed to quickly and effectively produce detailed strategic plans for a wide range of egovernment services with particular attention to wireless systems. This paper presents a high level overview of this effort.

Corporate productivity and the stages of ICT development

A number of studies have considered the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on corporate productivity, including the relationship of ICT to corporate structure and business processes. Comparatively less attention, however, has been directed toward the relationship between corporate productivity and the various stages of ICT application development; to date, the only work in this direction has been the proposal of some conceptual frameworks for the development stages of ICT, and no empirical studies have been conducted. In this paper, using individual data from the 2006 Information and Communication Technology Survey conducted by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, we use estimated production functions to quantify how productivity changes with the stages of ICT development. When we classify ICT applications into four stages of sophistication--nonperforming ICT assets, section-wide system applications, company-wide system applications, and inter-corporate system applications--we find that the impact of ICT on productivity increases with each successive stage of sophistication. For instance, when we use a production function that assesses the impact of the ICT development stage on Total Factor Productivity (TFP), we find that companies that have developed company-wide system applications exhibit added-value productivity some 1.07-fold higher than companies that have only progressed as far as the development of section-wide system applications. We also find that companies that have developed inter-corporate system applications exhibit added-value productivity some 1.11-fold higher than companies with only company-wide system applications.

Using structural equation modelling for investigating the impact of e-business on ICT and non-ICT assets, processes and business performance

This paper investigates the impact of adopting an e-business strategy on two organizational characteristics which have gradually become highly important for organizations in the last 20 years, information and communication technology (ICT) assets and business processes, and also on a ‘traditional’ one, the non-ICT (regular) assets, and finally through them on business performance. Its theoretical foundations are the Contingency Theory of Organizations in combination with the Cobb-Douglas Production Function. Advanced quantitative techniques of structural equation modelling (SEM) have been employed, which allow the estimation of complex multi-layer models including mediator variables that are both dependent (i.e. affected by others) and independent (i.e. affecting some others) at the same time, and enable the investigation of complex networks of relationships. Firm-level data collected through a survey of 271 Greek firms have been used for estimating a SEM connecting the above variables. The results show that the adoption of e-business strategy by Greek firms leads to adaptation of their business processes, which has a positive impact on their business performance, but not to additional investment to ICT or non-ICT assets. In particular, e-business drives Greek firms’ processes adaptations aiming mainly to increase the non-hierarchical decentralized coordination within the firm, in order to cope with the higher task complexity and uncertainty that e-business gives rise to, and also to respond to the specific technical and operational requirements that this strategy poses.

ICT capital and employment of information workers: are they related?

This paper examines the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) related capital assets and employment of information workers in the private non-farm sector of the US economy. The results from our empirical analysis based on annual data for 59 industries from 2002 to 2007 indicate that, after controlling for relative wages of information workers and other industry-specific factors, an increase in net stock of ICT capital assets decreases the employment of information workers. This finding suggests that the effects of ICT capital assets on the employment of information workers through ICT-enabled business process innovations such as automation and outsourcing dominate over the complementarity effects on high-skilled information workers. Of the three main categories of ICT assets, communications equipment provides more definitive evidence of reducing the employment share of information workers.

ICT-specific technological change and productivity growth in the US: 1980–2004

This paper studies the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on US economic growth using a dynamic general equilibrium approach. A production function with six different capital inputs is used, three of them corresponding to ICT assets and the other three to non-ICT assets. The technological change embedded in hardware equipment is found to be the main leading non-neutral force in US productivity growth, accounting for about one quarter of total growth during the period 1980–2004. As a whole, ICT-specific technological change accounts for about 35% of total growth in labor productivity.

New technologies and regional growth: the case of Andalucía

This paper studies the contribution of information and communication technologies (ICT) to economic and labour productivity growth in Andalucia (Spain) between 1995 and 2004. We find that, for the period under study, ICT assets only modestly improved total market GVA growth but did significantly improve that of ICT-intensive sectors. Although our analysis shows that ICT-intensive sectors are highly productive in comparison with non-intensive (less intensive) ones, we conclude that it is too early to detect the potential advantages of ICT use in the Andalusian marketplace, especially in comparison to most developed economies.

The productivity paradox and the new economy: The Spanish case

This paper studies the impact of the information and communication technologies (ICT) on economic growth in Spain using a dynamic general equilibrium approach. Contrary to previous works, we use a production function with six different capital inputs, three of them corresponding to ICT assets. Calibration of the model suggests that the contribution of ICT to Spanish productivity growth is very relevant, whereas the contribution of non-ICT capital has been even negative. Additionally, over the sample period 1995–2002, we find a negative TFP growth and productivity growth. These results together aim at the hypothesis that the Spanish economy could be placed within the productivity paradox.