ABSTRACT
A decision tree is used to explore the effects of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and financial factors on global manufacturing industry sales performance. Existing research provides an unclear picture of how ICTs affect sales performance. Earlier studies showed little evidence that ICTs improve performance, more recent studies do. Our investigation found that between 2006 and 2009, companies with high ICT scores performed well, but their performance declined substantially between 2010 and 2014. ICTs do not significantly influence manufacturing sales growth performance, but financial factors do. Supplier credit as a source of financing leads to negative sales growth, while low loan collateral improves sales performance. Taking advantage of bank financing improves sales, but using equity or stocks to fund investments negatively affects them. These findings are used to develop seven research hypotheses for future studies.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contirbutors
Benjamin Yeo is an Assistant Professor at the School for New Learning, and the Director of the Decision Analytics program. His research interests include innovation- and technology-driven economic growth and social informatics, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Recent ongoing projects include the economic impact of information and communication technologies and university innovation. Prior to academia, Benjamin Yeo worked as a Senior Analyst in Regional Economics. He received a PhD in Information Science from the College of Information Sciences and Technology at the Pennsylvania State University.
Delvin Grant is an Associate Professor of MIS and the Program Coordinator for MIS and Ebusiness. He has worked or consulted for IBM, Merrill Lynch, and Tecumseh. He has taught at the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance, CMC Graduate School of Business in Czech Republic, University of Gothenburg in Sweden, University of Jyvaskyla in Finland, and in Taiwan. He has published in Information Systems Journal, Communications of the ACM, Information Technology and People, Computers & Industrial Engineering, Computers in Industry, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Computers in Human Behavior, Business Process Management Journal, Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, Electronic Commerce Research, International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing and other Journals and international conferences.
Notes
* Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson is the accepting Associate Editor for this article.