According to W. Edwards Deming, American companies require nothing less than a transformation of management style and of governmental relations with industry. In Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future, he claims, brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service. In simple, direct language, he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.

Out of the Crisis

计量经济分析 = Econometric analysis

The resource-based view of the firm attributes superior financial performance to organizational resources and capabilities. This paper develops the concept of IT as an organizational capability and empirically examines the association between IT capability and firm performance. Firm specific IT resources are classified as IT infrastructure, human IT resources, and IT-enabled intangibles. A matched-sample comparison group methodology and publicly available ratings are used to assess IT capability and firm performance. Results indicate that firms with high IT capability tend to outperform a control sample of firms on a variety of profit and cost-based performance measures.

A resource-based perspective on information technology capability and firm performance: an empirical investigation

Offering a unifying theoretical perspective not readily available in any other text, this innovative guide to econometrics uses simple geometrical arguments to develop students' intuitive understanding of basic and advanced topics, emphasizing throughout the practical applications of modern theory and nonlinear techniques of estimation. One theme of the text is the use of artificial regressions for estimation, reference, and specification testing of nonlinear models, including diagnostic tests for parameter constancy, serial correlation, heteroscedasticity, and other types of mis-specification. Explaining how estimates can be obtained and tests can be carried out, the authors go beyond a mere algebraic description to one that can be easily translated into the commands of a standard econometric software package. Covering an unprecedented range of problems with a consistent emphasis on those that arise in applied work, this accessible and coherent guide to the most vital topics in econometrics today is indispensable for advanced students of econometrics and students of statistics interested in regression and related topics. It will also suit practising econometricians who want to update their skills. Flexibly designed to accommodate a variety of course levels, it offers both complete coverage of the basic material and separate chapters on areas of specialized interest.

Estimation and Inference in Econometrics

The 2008 crash has left all the established economic doctrines - equilibrium models, real business cycles, disequilibria models - in disarray. Part of the problem is due to Smith’s "veil of ignorance": individuals unknowingly pursue society’s interest and, as a result, have no clue as to the macroeconomic effects of their actions: witness the Keynes and Leontief multipliers, the concept of value added, fiat money, Engel’s law and technical progress, to name but a few of the macrofoundations of microeconomics. A good viewpoint to take bearings anew lies in comparing the post-Great Depression institutions with those emerging from Thatcher and Reagan’s economic policies: deregulation, exogenous vs. endoge- nous money, shadow banking vs. Volcker’s Rule. Very simply, the banks, whose lending determined deposits after Roosevelt, and were a public service became private enterprises whose deposits determine lending. These underlay the great moderation preceding 2006, and the subsequent crash.

The Economic Institutions of Capitalism

Previous research has demonstrated that the production of information services can be characterized at the aggregate economy-wide level by the Cobb-Douglas production function. However, the underlying production process at the firm level has not yet been ascertained. The objective of this paper is to determine the form of the production process for information systems services at the firm level by conducting an empirical analysis of IS budget data. The production of information services is modeled using a production function with two inputs, hardware and personnel. We estimate various econometric specifications to determine several characteristics of the provision of information services, including the allocation of the information systems budget to its two largest components--hardware and personnel--and its implications for the form of the production function. After controlling for industry sector, we find that the ratio of personnel to hardware is independent of scale, which indicates a homothetic production function. We also find that the ratio of factor shares is constant with time, consistent with the Cobb-Douglas production function.We conclude that the underlying form of the production function is the same at the level of both the firm and the economy. Our analysis demonstrates how the application of production theory to the production of information services can yield useful insights from both a theoretical and managerial perspective.

The Production of Information Services: A Firm-Level Analysis of Information Systems Budgets

The production and use of information technology (IT) in developed countries is wcll established and growing at a rapid pace. Newly industrializing countries are adopting both IT production and use as national goals. Developing countries are beginning to formulate plans to do the same. The institutional role in the international diffusion of IT is not well understood, but it is clear from the literature on innovation that the institutional role is critical. The paper makes four points. First, a traditional and fairly rigorous way of thinking about innovations the economic perspective deriving from Schumpeter and Hicks has been shown by studies from economic history and sociology/communications of innovation to be inadequate for explaining the dynamics of innovative change. The missing element is understanding of differential roles played by institutions. Second, among those promoting the need for institutional intervention there has been a debate about whether innovation is primarily supply-pushed or demand-pulled. The answer to the question has important institutional implications. The evidence, again mostly from economic history, shows it to be both, in iterative fashion. Thus institutions can intervene meaningfully on both sides. Third, there are two major forms of institutional intervention: influence and regulation. The possible intervention actions of institutions can be encompassed by a 2 x 2 matrix with supply-push and demand-pull on one dimension and influence and regulation on the other. Finally, if government wants to intervene, there are six classes of roles that might be pursued to affect innovation.

https://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=icis1990

Institutions and the international diffusion of information technolog

This paper develops a microeconomic framework for the determination of data-processing budgets over time, and, in particular, the allocation of these budgets between software and hardware. The model dynamically balances the value and cost of information services, given the prevailing cost trends. It regards software and hardware as inputs to the process of producing information services, and identifies the complementarity and substitution between them as major determinants of the efficient budget allocation. The theory provides a basis for understanding the budgeting process and for predicting future trends, and is applied to actual budget data.

Software and Hardware in Data Processing Budgets

Information technology outsourcing (ITO) is the predominant mode of acquiring information systems services, providing clear evidence that the economics of service delivery favor external service providers over in-house information systems departments. An interesting feature of many large ITO arrangements is that the production assets necessary for service delivery are transferred to the vendor. The argument in favor of such asset transfers, based in property rights theory, is that they are necessary to incentivize vendors to continue to invest in transaction-specific assets to improve service. On the other hand, transaction cost economics predicts that transferring such assets increases bilateral dependence and will elevate the risk of post-contractual opportunistic behavior. The contracting challenge in this context is to specify the terms of exchange to achieve the client's objectives for outsourcing while managing the risks of asset transfer. We develop a theoretical framework to derive propositions on contract design in the presence of asset transfer. We identify the importance of contractual clauses that mitigate the associated risks and the complementary role of compensation mechanisms, specifically the pricing scheme and IT-related performance incentives. We have compiled a unique dataset that allows us to test our propositions by comparing ITO contracts that include asset transfer to those that do not. We find that asset transfer does significantly affect contract design, manifested in the inclusion of clauses that protect both clients and vendors. Outsourcing objectives are more likely to be met when contracts include compensation mechanisms that complement asset transfer.

Information technology outsourcing: asset transfer and the role of contract

We analyze the impact of information technology (IT) on the technical efficiency of firms in the context of their observed competitive settings. Because competition can be a driver of efficiency and industries display varying degrees of competitiveness, firm-level efficiency is likely to display considerable heterogeneity. To shed light on these questions, we analyze the economic impact of IT on technical efficiency, a key component of efficiency, in heterogeneous competitive settings. Our study employs a number of econometric techniques, including a stochastic frontier and a generalized method of moments approach, on data from firms in a wide cross-section of industries. We find, after controlling for firm-level heterogeneity and potential endogeneity, that IT is positively associated with gains in technical efficiency but its impact is moderated by the degree of competition. Firms display large variation in their levels of technical efficiency partly because of the heterogeneous market competitiveness c...

Vijay Gurbaxani

Papers

The Production of Information Services: A Firm-Level Analysis of Information Systems Budgets

Institutions and the international diffusion of information technolog

Software and Hardware in Data Processing Budgets

Information technology outsourcing: asset transfer and the role of contract

An Empirical Analysis of Technical Efficiency: The Role of IT Intensity and Competition