Inter- and Intra-Firm Diffusion of Technology: The Example of E-Commerce: An Analysis Based on Swiss Firm-Level Data

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractThe paper aims at a joint analysis of inter-firm and intra-firm diffusion of technology, taking as an example E-selling and E-purchasing. The analysis is based on an encompassing model of diffusion, drawn from the literature, which is extended by considering technology-specific obstacles and benefits of adoption. As hypothesised, we find, firstly, that the determinants of inter-firm and intrafirm diffusion differ in case of both types of E-commerce; secondly, that the drivers of the diffusion of E-selling and E-purchasing are not the same, and, finally, that uncertainties and adjustment costs, mostly neglected in previous work, are important factors in explaining technology diffusion.

Determinants of Initial Technology Adoption and Intensification: Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean

“…Initial adoption has been subject to many theoretical and empirical studies (Geroski 2000;Meade and Islam 2006), establishing regularities such as the existence of an S-shaped diffusion curve for individual technologies. Intensification has had far fewer studies, although following Battisti and Stoneman's (2003) comparative study of intensive and extensive use of technology, there has been a recent increase in the number of empirical studies of it (Battisti et al 2007;Fuentelsaz, Gomez, and Polo 2003;Hollenstein and Woerter 2008).…”

“…For example, Antonelli (1985) uses data from US and Western European companies, Battisti et al (2007) work with British and Swiss data, Battisti and Iona (2009) employ UK data, Bocquet and Brossard (2007) use French data, Fuentelsaz, Gomez, and Polo (2003) have Spanish data, and in Hollenstein and Woerter (2008) Swiss data is used. As a result of the previous geographic focus in the literature, many interesting questions about intensification relevant in lower income countries do not arise in the countries examined, and cannot be investigated with data from them.…”

The adoption of green energy technologies: The role of policies in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland

“…Such models have been applied, for example, by Hollenstein and Woerter (2008) for e-commerce adoption, by Arvanitis and Ley (2013) in terms of inter- and intra-firm diffusion of energy-saving technologies, or by Stucki and Woerter (2016) 10 10 Stucki and Woerter (2016) provide a very similar econometric framework, however their estimations are limited to intra-firm diffusion and they could not—due to the lack of policy information—compare policy effects for inter- and intra-firm diffusion or apply this framework simultaneously to different countries.; concerning the intra-firm diffusion of energy-related technologies.…”

“… 13 Epidemic effects refer to learning and network effects either from the firm’s own experience gained from using a technology or the knowledge gained from observing other users of the technology (Battisti, Canepa, and Stoneman 2009; Hollenstein and Woerter 2008). …”

Determinants of initial technology adoption and intensification: evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean

“…The framework is applied to initial adoption and intensification in separate equations, as in Battisti et al (2007) and Hollenstein and Woerter (2008).…”