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Papers Containing Tag(s): 'Electronic Data Interchange'

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  • Working Paper

    Computer Investment, Computer Networks and Productivity

    January 2005

    Working Paper Number:

    CES-05-01

    Researchers in a large empirical literature find significant relationships between computers and labor productivity, but the estimated size of that relationship varies considerably. In this paper, we estimate the relationships among computers, computer networks, and plant-level productivity in U.S. manufacturing. Using new data on computer investment, we develop a sample with the best proxies for computer and total capital that the data allow us to construct. We find that computer networks and computer inputs have separate, positive, and significant relationships with U.S. manufacturing plant-level productivity. Keywords: computer input; information technology; labor productivity
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  • Working Paper

    The Myth of Decline: A New Perspective on the Supply Chain and Changing Inventory-Sales Ratios

    October 2004

    Authors: Adam Fein

    Working Paper Number:

    CES-04-18

    There is a widely held perception that improved supply chain practices and new technologies have led to declines in the inventory-sales ratio. Our empirical analyses of 87 inventory-sales ratios in 45 manufacturing, wholesale distribution, and retail trade industries casts doubt on assumptions of widespread declines in these ratios. We find that less than half of the ratios showed statistically significant declines during the 12 year period from January 1992 through December 2003. Information technology may indeed have improved inventory management, but this improvement is not reflected in inventory-sales ratio data for many U.S. industries. Our detailed case study of the pharmaceutical supply chain also offers additional insights by showing how relevant technological investments led to an extended period in which inventory-to-sales ratios increased.
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  • Working Paper

    Computer Networks and U.S. Manufacturing Plant Productivity: New Evidence from the CNUS Data

    January 2002

    Working Paper Number:

    CES-02-01

    How do computers affect productivity? Many recent studies argue that using information technology, particularly computers, is a significant source of U.S. productivity growth. The specific mechanism remains elusive. Detailed data on the use of computers and computer networks have been scarce. Plant-level data on the use of computer networks and electronic business processes in the manufacturing sector of the United States were collected for the first time in 1999. Using these data, we find strong links between labor productivity and the presence of computer networks. We find that average labor productivity is higher in plants with networks. Computer networks have a positive and significant effect on plant labor productivity after controlling for multiple factors of production and plant characteristics. Networks increase estimated labor productivity by roughly 5 percent, depending on model specification. Model specifications that account for endogenous computer networks also show a positive and significant relationship. Our work differs from others in several important aspects. First, ours is the first study that directly links the use of computer networks to labor productivity using plant-level data for the entire U.S. manufacturing sector. Second, we extend the existing model relating computers to productivity by including materials as an explicit factor input. Third, we test for possible endogeneity problems associated with the computer network variable.
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  • Working Paper

    U.S. Productivity and Electronic Processes in Manufacturing

    October 2001

    Working Paper Number:

    CES-01-11

    Recent studies argue that the use of information technology is a significant source of U.S. productivity growth. Official U.S. data on this use have been scarce. New official data on the use of electronic business processes (business processes such as procurement, payroll, inventory, etc.,conducted over computer networks) in the manufacturing sector of the United States were recently released. Preliminary estimates based on these data are consistent with some results in the literature. However, they also raise questions requiring additional detailed micro data analysis.
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  • Working Paper

    Measuring the Electronic Economy: Current Status and Next Steps

    June 2000

    Working Paper Number:

    CES-00-10

    The recent growth of consumer retailing over the Internet draws attention to the electronic economy. However, businesses also conduct other business processes over computer networks, and many have been doing so for some time. Uses of computer networks attract attention because of assertions that they lead to new products and services, new delivery methods, streamlined or re-engineered business processes, new business structures, and enhanced business performance. These changes, in turn, potentially affect the performance of the entire economy, including economic growth, productivity, prices, employment, trade, and the structures of businesses, regions, and markets. Evaluating these assertions, and their effects on economic performance, requires solid statistical information about the electronic economy. This paper develops principles for identifying information critical to measuring the size and evaluating the potential effects of the electronic economy, relates that information to current data collection programs, and notes relevant measurement issues. Some of the required information about the electronic economy can be collected by adding questions to existing surveys, making the scope of existing surveys consistent, or developing new surveys. However, many key pieces of information pose significant challenges to economic measurement. While some of those challenges are specific to the electronic economy, others are long-standing ones. Interest in the electronic economy highlights the importance of continuing attempts to address these challenges. Improving and enhancing the statistical system to provide information about the electronic economy, therefore, would also substantially improve the baseline information available for evaluating the performance of the entire economy.
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  • Working Paper

    The Diffusion of Modern Manufacturing Practices: Evidence from Retail-Apparel Sectors

    February 1997

    Working Paper Number:

    CES-97-11

    As in many industries, firms in the apparel industry exhibit substantial heterogeneity in the adoption of "modern manufacturing" practices. Based on detailed business-unit level data, we show that this heterogeneity can be explained firm inputs. We show that the interaction between these explanatory factors means that complementarities between inputs may emerge over time rather than all at once as is often assumed in other studies of complementarities.
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