Information Technology Firms Research Articles

The Relationship between Information and Communication Technology Use and Firm Performance in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Electrical and Electronic Goods Manufacturing SMEs in Tunisia

From the second half of the 1990s, increased investment in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has led to an acceleration of productivity growth and performance in many developed and newly industrialized countries. However, less is known about the current situation of firms in developing countries. This article addresses this issue by examining the relationship between ICT use and the performance of Tunisian SMEs operating in the electrical and electronic industry based on net profit margin. Using an econometric approach (linear regression, Granger causality, Kruskal-Wallis test, Welch ANOVA test, and post hoc tests), the results show that there is a significant statistical relationship between the level of ICT use and the performance of Tunisian SMEs in the electrical and electronic industry.

Differing views of privacy rights in the EU and U.S., and the resulting challenges to international banking: An interview with Joseph Cannataci

Joseph Cannataci studied law at the University of Oslo and received his Doctor of Laws degree (LLD) from the University of Malta. In addition to serving on research projects and committees in the Council of Europe, he has written books and legal articles on data protection law, liability for expert systems, medical informatics, self-regulation and the Internet, the EU Constitution and data protection, police data, and other related topics. He leads several multinational projects involving finance, information, technology, law, and law enforcement–—including the largest EU-supported multi-million Euro research projects investigating personal data in surveillance aspects of security, counter-terrorism, and police work. Joe founded and today coordinates the LexConverge network, which groups Information Technology Law research institutes and firms from over 30 countries.

IT firms' working time (de)regulation model: a by-product of risk management strategy and project-based work management

This paper, based on 140 interviews carried out in two case studies in Montreal over the past decade, builds on previous research results demonstrating the existence of unlimited unpaid overtime among videogame developers and software designers. It uses the two case studies to illustrate an emerging workplace regulation model based on unacknowledged unlimited and unpaid overtime. It argues that this model stems from the combination of information technology firms' risk management strategy with project-based working as an organisation mode and is closely tied to the high international mobility of both capital and workforce. This paper focuses just on the (de)regulation of working time, but it opens up a path to account theoretically for the (de)regulation of work more generally in an expanding sector of the workforce: ‘new professionals’ in knowledge work.

Do technology alliances benefit technological diversification? The effects of technological knowledge distance, network centrality and complementary assets

This study suggests that decisions regarding the scope of a technology base can be traced to factors (technological knowledge (TK) distance, network centrality and complementary assets) that govern the extent of technological specialization and diversification. Based on data from 2000–2007, for 248 electronics and information technology firms in Taiwan, we indicate that technology alliances do not encourage firms to diversify a technology base over time. Decisions in regards to the utilization of external TK can also be traced to TK distance, network centrality and complementary assets. First, TK distance has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the technology base scope. Second, the mere consideration of network centrality and TK distance cannot determine the technology base scope. Third, a firm converges its technology base through combined complementary assets with TK distance and network centrality.

Medical writing in India at a crossroads

Pharmaceutical regulatory medical writing for document submissions to Western health regulatory agencies has been undertaken in India for almost 10 years. From humble beginnings in a couple of non-Indian pharmaceutical multinational giants – Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis (as it was) – this activity has now expanded into multiple companies and almost a dozen information technology firms and contract research organisations. The biggest advantage is the cost, although this often comes at a ‘price’, in terms of document quality. However, medical writing in India may be turning a corner for the good as a result of the rapidly increasing body of experience in the field.

Spatial Mismatch and Determinants of Foreign and Domestic Information and Communication Technology Firms in Urban China*

Studies on foreign direct investment locations in China have been conducted mainly at interregional and interprovincial scales, and little attention has been paid to the intraurban scale where location decisions of foreign firms can differ from domestic firms. This article explores the intraurban locations of information and communication technology (ICT) firms in Suzhou, a city experiencing rapid globalization. We have found that the distribution of ICT firms in Suzhou exhibits distinctive spatial patterns characterized by a geographically based, institutionally created spatial mismatch between foreign and domestic firms. Foreign firms are concentrated in national-level development zones—China–Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park in the east and Suzhou New and Hi-Tech District in the west—whereas domestic firms tend to agglomerate in the inner city and the provincial-level development zone in the north. Poisson and negative binomial analyses further reveal that the locations of foreign firms are strongly correlated to development zones, and the agglomeration economies derived from the stock of foreign investment rather than domestic firms. The case of Suzhou highlights the challenges that Chinese cities face in industrial upgrading and technological development through embedding transnational corporations.

The impact of technology-motivated M&A and joint ventures on the value of IT and non-IT firms: a new examination

We extend Lee and Lim (Rev Quant Financ Account 27:111–123, 2006) who provide empirical evidence on the impact of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and joint ventures on the value of information technology (IT) and non-IT firms. Using technology-motivated transactions, we examine whether there are differences in market response to the announcement of M&As and joint ventures, and we consider the long-term performance of such firms. We find the market provides no (positive) reaction to joint ventures (M&As) at the announcement. We also present new evidence suggesting the market reacts more favorably to the announcement of technology M&As relative to joint ventures for our full sample, IT sample and non-IT sample. However, our examination of these firms’ long-term performance suggests the initial reaction is not fully supported. The findings suggest improved (declining) operating performance for joint venture (M&A) firms, and evidence to conclude joint venture firms achieve superior long-term performance changes for both accrual- and cash-based measures. To explain these inconsistencies, we employ a set of control variables previously documented as determinants of the innovation ownership decision. For joint venture firms, we find that, while the market fails to consider the importance of the firms’ R&D intensity and growth prospects in its initial reaction, these are ultimately key indicators of their future performance. The evidence also suggests the market overreacts to M&A announcements because it over-weights the impact of R&D intensity on the firms’ future performance in its initial response.

What Factors Affect Information Technology Firm Location Choices in Middle America? An Examination of Regional and Industrial Variation in Kansas

The importance of information technologies in regional economic performance is widely accepted but only widely studied in more populous regions in the United States. Local and state development practitioners and policy makers actively court and promote Information Technology (IT)—intensive industries in rural areas. Despite various promotional efforts, relatively little is known about the specific location requirements of such industries, however, especially in lower population areas of the United States such as the mostly rural Midwest. In this article, the authors examine the location choice preferences of firms in three IT industry sectors in metro, metro-adjacent, and nonmetro regions using a highly detailed data set of Kansas industries. The modeling framework combines both conditional logit and Poisson regression models. The results indicate that average establishment size, industry clustering, labor intensity, and county employment growth explain variations in industry location choice preferences across regions.

Top Management Team Members’ Decision Influence and Cooperative Behaviour: An Empirical Study in the Information Technology Industry

Organizational leadership is generally distributed between the chief executive officer (CEO) and the top management team (TMT) members. Building on this observation, we present an empirical investigation of the cues for CEOs to delegate decision‐making influence to particular TMT members. In the literature, explanations both based on expertise and driven by similarity are described. In this study, we reconcile both explanations by examining the moderating role of the TMT's level of ‘cooperative behaviour’ (collaboration and information exchange). We analyse when and in what circumstances TMT members’ expertise and similarity to the CEO regarding his/her functional background and/or locus‐of‐control predict their decision‐making influence. We postulate that TMT cooperative behaviour will advance the effect of expertise on TMT members’ decision influence but impede the effect of similarity to the CEO. Our hypotheses are tested on a data set of 135 TMT members from 32 Dutch and Belgian information technology firms. Overall, we find that our proposed research model is confirmed for technology‐oriented decisions. Furthermore, we draw exploratory conclusions about the effect of TMT cooperative behaviour on the systematic distribution of decision influence in TMTs.

How to keep the talent you have got

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine where high rates of employee attrition are a problem and put forward some possible solutions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper concentrates on the experience of information technology (IT) firms in India.FindingsThe paper describes how employees seem most likely to leave a company after around five years. The longer an employee remains with a company, the less likely he or she is to leave.Practical implicationsThe paper highlights the importance of making employees feel valued, keeping them informed of what is going on in the company, relating their work to the aims of the organization as a whole and ensuring that they have a clear career‐development path.Social implicationsThe paper stresses that high rates of employee attrition can harm not only individual companies, but also national economies as a whole.Originality/valueThe paper focuses on the IT industry in India to recommend how to reduce employee attrition.

Building an Organizational Culture that Promotes Innovation in IT Firms

Conceptually, new technologies have affected individuals and organisations resulting to the rethinking of all the fundamental operating assumptions of many organisations and the roles in them. Organisations exist in a rapidly changing environment, necessitating responsive and often radical strategic capabilities. This strategic move has allowed organisations to create new demand, open up new market space, apply creative solutions to problems and exploit opportunities to enhance or to enrich people’s lives - innovation. The Information Technology (IT) industry is competitive by any market criteria used. Unlike its counterparts from traditional manufacturing industries, IT products have short shelf-lives (Mody et al., 1987) and appeal for customers and consumers. Survival for IT firms thus depends on a constant stream of new products and/or incremental efficiencies of existing products from the firm’s innovation assembly line. Within the technology industry, the market for IT products is perfectly competitive with little or no barriers to entry. This paper focuses on investigating why matured stage IT firms finds it so difficult to innovate. It will also assess some relevant growth strategies and further review related literature on how matured IT firms can build an organisational culture that promotes innovation. A new conceptual framework necessary to formulate strategies for surviving will also be developed and diagrammatically represented.

Leadership Competencies Analysis - A Study with Reference to Women Managers in Software Industry

Women with enormous potential were being underutilized to their capacity in Business. And most boards say they want more diversity but the percentage seems to be very less attractive and still confront challenges in reaching business leadership positions. According to the latest reports women hold only 16.6 percent of Fortune 500 board's seats in 2012. The purpose of the present paper is to identify and examine the key leadership competencies of women managers working in the IT (Information Technology) sector and understand why still women have not made greater inroads. This research is an exploratory one; it is designed to explore the leadership competencies of women managers. The competency questionnaire with 29 competencies was designed and administered to 100 women managers of 5 software companies in Hyderabad. The respondents are the women managers who are having experience of minimum one year and maximum of fifteen years in managerial position leading a team of members. The data collected was analysed by a multivariate analysis technique (Factor Analysis) reducing the factors to the minimum of five commonalities and to the maximum of ten commonalities. And also an attempt was made to find out whether Age and Experience of women in the similar field will have any significant variance with leadership competencies. This study is contributed to and enhances the knowledge on the key leadership competencies for women to be successful in getting sponsored to the leadership positions. The popular saying - Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra devatah - meaning wherever women are respected and worshipped, there lie the divinity and prosperity. India has long been a civilization giving immense respect to women and providing women equal opportunities to exercise power in day to day life and in important decisions. In modern India women are no longer treated as show pieces to be kept at home. They are also enjoying the impact of globalization and making an influence not only in domestic front but also on international sphere. The influx of Information Technology (IT) has helped to evolve the socio-economic status of the people in the country and specially women. This also made to transform woman into the career woman of today. Information technology is a sector where a quarter of the total workforce comprises women, but when it comes to representation at the top the figure is abysmally low. Only one in every 10 senior management positions is occupied by a woman in the Indian IT sector, were it is perceived to be a preferred destination for female employees. In the last five years, IT firms have largely placed women at the entry level positions while the count of mid- to senior level women executives has remained the same. So in effect, while their absolute numbers may be growing, their numbers at the top are not. The alarming signal is that a large number of women are dropping out of the IT industry due to various reasons at a crucial time of their careers. The research show that while 22% of women left their jobs because of family reasons, 27% of them quit while taking care of their children and 32% of women have not come back to the IT sector. It is a matter of another 5-10 years when we will see more women in the top deck. That is largely because the diversity programmes which have started in India seriously to mentor women leadership and to sponsor them to the top level by recognizing their special traits.

Strategic management of knowledge in globally distributed information technology firms: a case study

Knowledge management is being increasingly recognised as a strategic tool across organisational domains for employee involvement, engagement and for creating business-wide impact towards productivity and profitability. These organisations are increasingly using their acquired knowledge to optimise and increase their operational efficiency, drive down operational cost and solve their business pain points. This assumes criticality in information technology firms that operate on a truly global scale across cultures, economies and political systems. The present study probes into these aspects by presenting a case of a successful globally distributed international information technology major that has risen to great heights in the recent past. This case study reflects upon the innovative steps adopted by the IT major, Sapient Corporation, to enhance the knowledge management competencies of the enterprise and of the employees that are so essential for a company’s survival and growth in today’s turbulent times. The case refers to the steps taken by the company to develop knowledge generation and assimilation tools on its own as well as in partnership with other companies. The case details the evolution of the major components of this strategic initiative adopted by Sapient. The implications of the study results are discussed.

Instrument Development for Studying Work Life Balance Programs in Information Technology Firms

The purpose was to construct a comprehensive instrument to study the impact of moderating variables on the independent variables with respect to work life balance in IT companies in India. The Design/Methodology/Approach included questions that were made for the specific social culture based on the objective of the study. Experts’ opinion was gathered and an iterative process ensured that the instrument was corrected. Content validity test, pilot study and reliability test were performed to finalize the instrument before the data collection exercise started. The instrument created through the above-mentioned process ensured easy data classification and relevance to the research. Various hypotheses were tested and a detailed analysis was possible due to the way the questions and options were offered to the respondents. This instrument was administered to IT employees in India, which has a unique social fabric due to its diversity and cultural differences.

The impact of knowledge sharing on firm performance: an empirical investigation of information technology firms

In the knowledge run economy, firm’s ability to implement knowledge-based activities becomes increasingly vital for the sustenance of competitive advantage. To foster this process, the role of knowledge sharing is very crucial. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of task characteristics along with mutual trust in the knowledge sharing process. The data has been collected from 239 project managers working into the knowledge intensive service economy. The level of mediation of knowledge sharing on team performance and finally firm performance has been examined along with the moderating effect of trust. Result shows that knowledge sharing mediates the effect of task characteristics on firm performance. The key implication of the study is that service organisations should design service roles and allot resources appropriately for better knowledge sharing and improved firm performance.

"Social influence, learning, and the abandonment of corporate venture capital practices"

The adoption and diffusion of practices has been the subject of intense study, but much less is known about why firms abandon practices they had formerly adopted. Studies of practice abandonment have found that abandonment processes mirror adoption processes of mimesis and contagion, such that firms abandon previously adopted practices when their social referents do. However, unlike adoption decisions where organizations must rely on the experiences and behaviors of others, firms have their own direct experience to draw on when deciding to abandon previously adopted practices. We propose that the firm’s implementation and ongoing management of a practice influence its abandonment decision and also condition its response to contagion pressures for abandonment. We test our hypotheses using data on the abandonment of corporate venture capital units by a sample of information technology firms. Results suggest that firm’s utilization of a practice and staffing choices influence abandonment decisions. We furthe...

Organizational Slack and the Marketing Performance of Information Technology Firms

Organizational Slack and the Marketing Performance of Information Technology Firms

Increasing Emotional Intelligence of Employees: Evidence from Research and Development Teams in Taiwan

Although the concept of emotional intelligence has captured the interest of researchers and the wider public, the mechanism by which transformational leadership exerts its influence on the development of emotional intelligence behavior of followers remains relatively unexplored. In this study we proposed a latent growth model, recruiting 342 employees from Taiwan information technology firms at multiple time points over a 6-month period to test the proposed model. The findings showed that, compared with their coworkers, those employees who perceived their leaders as demonstrating more transformational leadership at Time 1, were more likely than others to develop increases in emotional intelligence behavior over time, which consequently improved their task performance and led to the development of an increase in their organizational citizenship behaviors.

A use of DEA–DA to measure importance of R&D expenditure in Japanese information technology industry

This study discusses a use of DEA–DA (Data Envelopment Analysis–Discriminant Analysis) to assess the corporate value of IT (Information Technology) firms and other manufacturing firms. It is widely known that Tobin's q is a ratio that serves as a measure of corporate value. This study explores a linkage between DEA–DA (as a methodology) and Tobin's q (as a theoretical basis for corporate performance) via the measurement of Altman's Z score (as a financial performance). The Z score provides us with aggregated information regarding financial ratios and other financial measures that investors usually examine in their investment decisions. This study applies the proposed approach to compare between Japanese IT and manufacturing firms. The empirical evidence obtained in this study indicates that R&D (Research and Development) expenditure enhances the corporate value of Japanese IT and manufacturing firms. However, the R&D expenditure of IT firms is important but not essential, compared with other manufacturing firms in Japan. The empirical result is inconsistent with the opinion of many corporate leaders and individuals who are associated with the IT industry. They believe that the R&D expenditure is essential for the Japanese IT industry to maintain its international competitiveness in the global market. In addition to the R&D expenditure, the empirical study indicates that IT leaders need to pay attention to the reduction of an R&D cycle time to enhance their competitiveness because a market cycle time of IT products is less than that of the other manufacturing products. The findings on Japanese IT and manufacturing industries are applicable to other industrial nations.

About Our Authors

About Our Authors