Are ICTs Really That Important in Driving Industry Performance?

摘要

A decision tree is used to investigate how information and communication technologies (ICTs) and financial factors influence the performance of service and manufacturing industries globally. Industry performance is measured by average fixed asset purchases among firms at the industry level. In addition, industry sectors and geographic regions are included in the predictive model. The results show that financial factors are better predictors of performance than ICT factors. For example, access to bank loans or lines of credit is by far the best predictor among the variables included in the study. Having a website is the only ICT factor among the top five predictors. Geography also plays an important role in predicting industry performance.