ICT , innovation and productivity : evidence from Latin American firms 1 Draft – do not distribute

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Grazzi, Matteo
Copyright Year	2015
Abstract	It is generally recognized that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have radically changed how modern business is conducted, benefitting firm performances through several channels, such as increasing the efficiency of internal processes, expanding market reach or increasing innovation. However, most related literature refers to developed countries and evidence for Latin America is scarce and fragmented. This paper contributes to fill in this gap by identifying the drivers of ICT diffusion in LAC firms and assessing the relationship between ICTs and firm performance in the region. We find evidence of the presence of both epidemic and rank effects, where larger, older, skill-intensive, exporter and urban firms are more likely to adopt ICTs. However, once adopted, size and location lose importance. Additionally, our results show a positive relationship between broadband and firmperformance. In particular, firms that have adopted broadband increase the probability of innovating, and this effect is found to be mainly related to the use of broadband to perform research and development activities. Moreover, the combined use for different activities is found to have an additional positive effect on firm innovation performance. Further estimations also provide evidence on the fact that broadband adoption and use constitute a source of productivity growth for Latin American firms.
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://lacer.lacea.org/bitstream/handle/123456789/53074/lacea2015_ict_innovatiom_productivity.pdf?sequence=1
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article