Organisational and spatial determinants of ICT adoption: the case of French industrial firms

The influence of the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) on the organisation and location of firms has been the subject of an important debate in economic literature. In contrast we focus in this paper on the effects of the organisational and spatial structures and behaviours of firms on ICT adoption. These effects are tested by means of an original data set of approximately 5000 French industrial firms, which enables us to combine the different components of the firms' internal and external modes of organisation and their relations to territories, notably by taking into account the diversity of their spatial environments (urban, periurban, or rural areas). Beyond the traditional structural determinants, results confirm that organisational factors play a significant part in ICT adoption. Among these factors, the internal and external modes of coordination of firms and the codification of knowledge, practices, and relations considerably influence the adoption of ICT. Results also confirm the importance of spatial factors such as the type of areas where firms are located, and more generally the importance of the firms' spatial structure. These results theoretically emphasise the need to depart from a vision of the firm as a single-unit entity. Empirically they suggest that ICT do not only enable the firm to manage problems of distance or of proximity, but also to manage new organisational modes in space.