Citation

Discussion Paper Details

Please find the details for DP9762 in an easy to copy and paste format below:

Full Details   |   Bibliographic Reference

Full Details

Title: The distinct effects of Information Technology and Communication Technology on firm organization

Author(s): Nicholas Bloom, Luis Garicano, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

Publication Date: November 2013

Keyword(s): communication technology, delegation, information technology, organization and theory of the firm

Programme Area(s): Industrial Organization

Abstract: Guided by theories of management by exception, we study the impact of Information and Communication Technology on worker and plant manager autonomy and span of control. The theory suggests that information technology is a decentralizing force, whereas communication technology is a centralizing force. Using a new dataset of American and European manufacturing firms, we find indeed that better information technologies (Enterprise Resource Planning for plant managers and CAD/CAM for production workers) are associated with more autonomy and a wider span, while technologies that improve communication (like data intranets) decrease autonomy for workers and plant managers. Using instrumental variables (distance from ERP's birthplace and heterogeneous telecommunication costs arising from regulation) strengthens our results.

For full details and related downloads, please visit: https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=9762

Bibliographic Reference

Bloom, N, Garicano, L, Sadun, R and Van Reenen, J. 2013. 'The distinct effects of Information Technology and Communication Technology on firm organization'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=9762