It ain ’ t what you do , it ’ s the way that you do I . T . It ’ s taken a long time to confirm that computers boost productivity . But as

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Bloom, Nick Sadun, Raffaella Reenen, John Van
Abstract	W hat has been the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on productivity? This has been a burning question for policy-makers and business leaders for several decades. But it is only in recent years that computer power itself has enabled researchers to conduct the statistical interrogation of large-scale datasets on firms that can give us some more definitive answers. In this article, we report and synthesise some of the main messages emerging from this new line of research. Perhaps the most intriguing finding comes from examining the use of ICT by global businesses. Multinational enterprises in general and US multinationals in particular appear to have higher productivity, and this seems to be linked to a distinct pattern in their use of ICT. This fact may help unravel some of the puzzles in the macroeconomic data such as why the productivity acceleration witnessed in the United States since the mid-1990s has not been reflected in Europe. It may be that US firms have organised their management structures in a way that makes better use of ICT than their European counterparts. We first set the historical scene over the last few decades, paying particular attention to the end of the paradox described by Nobel Laureate Robert Solow whereby computers were ubiquitous but seemed to have no effect on productivity. Then we discuss firm-level evidence on the impact of ICT on firm performance, focusing on the role of the organisational factors that make the difference between ICT projects being a success and failure. Finally, we delve into new research on the impact of ICT in multinationals. The bottom line is that economists have confirmed what business leaders have long known: the returns to ICT are extremely variable and what makes the key difference is the management and organisation of the firm into which the ICT is placed. Labour productivity – or output per hour worked – is the key indicator of material wellbeing as it allows sustainable income and consumption growth (which can be in the private sector or the public sector). Over the last 60 years, roughly three periods can be distinguished. The first one, starting after the Second World War, was a period of strong productivity growth in the developed world, interrupted in the mid-1970s after the first oil shock. Despite this slowdown in productivity growth, between the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s, Europe continued to catch up with US productivity …
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
Alternate Webpage(s)	http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/CP188.pdf
Alternate Webpage(s)	http://www.people.hbs.edu/rsadun/ADITB/it_centrepiece.pdf
Alternate Webpage(s)	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/4644/1/It_Ain't_what_You_Do,_It's_the_Way_that_You_Do_I.T..pdf
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article