Firm level analysis of information network use and productivity in Japan

This paper shows firm level micro analysis of information network use and its impact on firm’s productivity. New evidences on economic impacts of IT by type of its application are provided, based on METI’s firm level data of Japanese manufacturers and distributors. It is found that productivity impact of information network use is different, depending on application of network. In addition, due to rapid progress of information technology, economic implications of information network are different also by the timing of its introduction. METI’s datasets covers information on network use by its type, as well as firm’s IT use throughout the period of 1990’s. Detail analysis of information network use at Japanese firms can shed a new light on heterogeneous and dynamic nature of firm level IT use and its performance.