IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v45y1999i7p1008-1024.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Information Technology Effects on Firm Performance as Measured by Tobin's q

Author

Listed:
  • Anandhi S. Bharadwaj

    (Goizueta Business School, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322)

  • Sundar G. Bharadwaj

    (Goizueta Business School, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322)

  • Benn R. Konsynski

    (Goizueta Business School, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322)

Abstract

Despite increasing anecdotal evidence that information technology (IT) assets contribute to firm performance and future growth potential of firms, the empirical results relating IT investments to firm performance measures have been equivocal. However, the bulk of the studies have relied exclusively on accounting-based measures of firm performance, which largely tend to ignore IT's contribution to performance dimensions such as strategic flexibility and intangible value. In this paper, we use Tobin's q, a financial market-based measure of firm performance and examine the association between IT investments and firm q values, after controlling for a variety of industry factors and firm-specific variables. The results based on data from 1988--1993 indicate that, in all of the five years, the inclusion of the IT expenditure variable in the model increased the variance explained in q significantly. The results also showed that, for all five years, IT investments had a significantly positive association with Tobin's q value. Our results are consistent with the notion that IT contributes to a firm's future performance potential, which a forward-looking measure such as the q is better able to capture.

Suggested Citation

  • Anandhi S. Bharadwaj & Sundar G. Bharadwaj & Benn R. Konsynski, 1999. "Information Technology Effects on Firm Performance as Measured by Tobin's q," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(7), pages 1008-1024, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:45:y:1999:i:7:p:1008-1024
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.45.7.1008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.45.7.1008
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.45.7.1008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ian Domowitz & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1986. "Business Cycles and the Relationship Between Concentration and Price-Cost Margins," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(1), pages 1-17, Spring.
    2. Cockburn, Iain & Griliches, Zvi, 1988. "Industry Effects and Appropriability Measures in the Stock Market's Valuation of R&D and Patents," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(2), pages 419-423, May.
    3. Joe S. Bain, 1951. "Relation of Profit Rate to Industry Concentration: American Manufacturing, 1936–1940," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 65(3), pages 293-324.
    4. Ray Ball, 1995. "The Theory Of Stock Market Efficiency: Accomplishments And Limitations," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 8(1), pages 4-18, March.
    5. Jarrell, Gregg A, 1984. "Change at the Exchange: The Causes and Effects of Deregulation," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(2), pages 273-312, October.
    6. Martin, Stephen, 1988. "Market Power and/or Efficiency?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(2), pages 331-335, May.
    7. Megna, Pamela & Klock, Mark, 1993. "The Impact on Intangible Capital on Tobin's q in the Semiconductor Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 265-269, May.
    8. Kee H. Chung & Stephen W. Pruitt, 1994. "A Simple Approximation of Tobin's q," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 23(3), Fall.
    9. Vijay Sethi & William R. King, 1994. "Development of Measures to Assess the Extent to Which an Information Technology Application Provides Competitive Advantage," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(12), pages 1601-1627, December.
    10. Morck, Randall & Yeung, Bernard, 1991. "Why Investors Value Multinationality," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(2), pages 165-187, April.
    11. Zvi Griliches, 1984. "Market Value, R&D, and Patents," NBER Chapters, in: R&D, Patents, and Productivity, pages 249-252, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Anitesh Barua & Charles H. Kriebel & Tridas Mukhopadhyay, 1995. "Information Technologies and Business Value: An Analytic and Empirical Investigation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 6(1), pages 3-23, March.
    13. Lindenberg, Eric B & Ross, Stephen A, 1981. "Tobin's q Ratio and Industrial Organization," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(1), pages 1-32, January.
    14. Fama, Eugene F, 1991. "Efficient Capital Markets: II," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(5), pages 1575-1617, December.
    15. John Bound & Clint Cummins & Zvi Griliches & Bronwyn H. Hall & Adam B. Jaffe, 1984. "Who Does R&D and Who Patents?," NBER Chapters, in: R&D, Patents, and Productivity, pages 21-54, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Schroeter, John R, 1988. "Estimating the Degree of Market Power in the Beef Packing Industry," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(1), pages 158-162, February.
    17. Gale, Bradley T, 1972. "Market Share and Rate of Return," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 54(4), pages 412-423, November.
    18. Brian L. Dos Santos & Ken Peffers & David C. Mauer, 1993. "The Impact of Information Technology Investment Announcements on the Market Value of the Firm," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 4(1), pages 1-23, March.
    19. Moshe Ben-Horim & Jeffrey L Callen, 1989. "THE COST OF CAPITAL, MACAULAY'S DURATION, AND TOBIN'S q," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 12(2), pages 143-156, June.
    20. Nelson, Philip, 1974. "Advertising as Information," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(4), pages 729-754, July/Aug..
    21. Fama, Eugene F, 1970. "Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 383-417, May.
    22. Wernerfelt, Birger & Montgomery, Cynthia A, 1988. "Tobin's q and the Importance of Focus in Firm Performance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(1), pages 246-250, March.
    23. Cynthia A. Montgomery & Birger Wernerfelt, 1988. "Diversification, Ricardian Rents, and Tobin's q," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(4), pages 623-632, Winter.
    24. Megna, Pamela & Mueller, Dennis C, 1991. "Profit Rates and Intangible Capital," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(4), pages 632-642, November.
    25. Benston, George J, 1985. "The Validity of Profits-Structure Studies with Particular Reference to the FTC's Line of Business Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(1), pages 37-67, March.
    26. Michael A. Salinger, 1984. "Tobin's q, Unionization, and the Concentration-Profits Relationship," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(2), pages 159-170, Summer.
    27. Waring, Geoffrey F, 1996. "Industry Differences in the Persistence of Firm-Specific Returns," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1253-1265, December.
    28. Schmalensee, Richard, 1978. "A Model of Advertising and Product Quality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(3), pages 485-503, June.
    29. James Robins & Margarethe F. Wiersema, 1995. "A resource‐based approach to the multibusiness firm: Empirical analysis of portfolio interrelationships and corporate financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(4), pages 277-299.
    30. Peter Weill, 1992. "The Relationship Between Investment in Information Technology and Firm Performance: A Study of the Valve Manufacturing Sector," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 3(4), pages 307-333, December.
    31. Zvi Griliches, 1984. "R&D, Patents, and Productivity," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number gril84-1.
    32. Shepherd, William G, 1986. "Tobin's q and the Structure-Performance Relationship: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 1205-1210, December.
    33. Demsetz, Harold, 1973. "Industry Structure, Market Rivalry, and Public Policy," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 1-9, April.
    34. Roll, Richard, 1977. "A critique of the asset pricing theory's tests Part I: On past and potential testability of the theory," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 129-176, March.
    35. Tobin, James, 1969. "A General Equilibrium Approach to Monetary Theory," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 15-29, February.
    36. Scherer, F M, et al, 1987. "The Validity of Studies with Line of Business Data: Comment [The Validity of Profits-Structure Studies with Particular Reference to the FTC's Line of Business Data]," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(1), pages 205-217, March.
    37. repec:fth:michin:282 is not listed on IDEAS
    38. Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa & Blake Ives, 1990. "Information Technology and Corporate Strategy: A View from the Top," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 1(4), pages 351-376, December.
    39. Qinrong Wu & Bruce Bjornson, 1996. "Value of advertising by food manufacturers as investment in intangible capital," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(2), pages 147-156.
    40. Perfect, Steven B. & Wiles, Kenneth W., 1994. "Alternative constructions of Tobin's q: An empirical comparison," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 1(3-4), pages 313-341, July.
    41. Raphael Amit & Joshua Livnat, 1989. "Efficient Corporate Diversification: Methods and Implications," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(7), pages 879-897, July.
    42. Carol J. Simon & Mary W. Sullivan, 1993. "The Measurement and Determinants of Brand Equity: A Financial Approach," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(1), pages 28-52.
    43. Joe S. Bain, 1951. "Corrigendum"Relation of Profit Rate to Industry Concentration: American Manufacturing, 1936–1940" by Joe S. Bain (August 1951)," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 65(4), pages 602-602.
    44. Alfred E. Kahn, 1988. "The Economics of Regulation: Principles and Institutions," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262610523, April.
    45. Dennis E. Smallwood & John Conlisk, 1979. "Product Quality in Markets Where Consumers are Imperfectly Informed," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 93(1), pages 1-23.
    46. Smirlock, Michael & Gilligan, Thomas & Marshall, William, 1984. "Tobin's q and the Structure-Performance Relationship," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(5), pages 1051-1060, December.
    47. Noel Capon & John U. Farley & Scott Hoenig, 1990. "Determinants of Financial Performance: A Meta-Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(10), pages 1143-1159, October.
    48. Hirschey, Mark, 1982. "Intangible Capital Aspects of Advertising and R&D Expenditures," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 375-390, June.
    49. Lang, Larry H P & Stulz, Rene M, 1994. "Tobin's q, Corporate Diversification, and Firm Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(6), pages 1248-1280, December.
    50. Peltzman, Sam, 1973. "An Evaluation of Consumer Protection Legislation: The 1962 Drug Amendments," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(5), pages 1049-1091, Sept.-Oct.
    51. Stevens, Jerry L, 1990. "Tobin's q and the Structure-Performance Relationship: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(3), pages 618-623, June.
    52. Lester G. Telser, 1964. "Advertising and Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(6), pages 537-537.
    53. Fisher, Franklin M & McGowan, John J, 1983. "On the Misuse of Accounting Rates of Return to Infer Monopoly Profits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(1), pages 82-97, March.
    54. Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin Hitt, 1996. "Paradox Lost? Firm-Level Evidence on the Returns to Information Systems Spending," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(4), pages 541-558, April.
    55. Ravenscraft, David J, 1983. "Structure-Profit Relationships at the Line of Business and Industry Level," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 65(1), pages 22-31, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Villalonga, Belen, 2004. "Intangible resources, Tobin's q, and sustainability of performance differences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 205-230, June.
    2. Michael Salinger, 1990. "The Concentration-Margins Relationship Reconsidered," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 21(1990 Micr), pages 287-335.
    3. Salas-Fumás, Vicente & Rosell-Martínez, Jorge & Delgado-Gómez, José Manuel, 2016. "Capacity, investment and market power in the economic value of energy firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 28-39.
    4. Gleason, Katherine I. & Klock, Mark, 2006. "Intangible capital in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 300-314, May.
    5. Alfredo Martín-Oliver & Vicente Salas-Fumas, 2007. "How do intangible assets create economic value? an application to banks," Working Papers 0730, Banco de España.
    6. Khan, Habib Hussain & Ahmad, Rubi Binti & Chan, Sok Gee, 2018. "Market structure, bank conduct and bank performance: Evidence from ASEAN," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 934-958.
    7. Jaffe, Adam B, 1986. "Technological Opportunity and Spillovers of R&D: Evidence from Firms' Patents, Profits, and Market Value," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 984-1001, December.
    8. Sandner, Philipp G. & Block, Joern, 2011. "The market value of R&D, patents, and trademarks," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(7), pages 969-985, September.
    9. Humayun Zafar & Myung S. Ko & Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson, 2016. "The value of the CIO in the top management team on performance in the case of information security breaches," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1205-1215, December.
    10. Niket Jindal & Leigh McAlister, 2015. "The Impacts of Advertising Assets and R&D Assets on Reducing Bankruptcy Risk," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(4), pages 555-572, July.
    11. Khan, Habib Hussain & Kutan, Ali M. & Naz, Iram & Qureshi, Fiza, 2017. "Efficiency, growth and market power in the banking industry: New approach to efficient structure hypothesis," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 531-545.
    12. Murali D. R. Chari & Sarv Devaraj & Parthiban David, 2008. "Research Note--The Impact of Information Technology Investments and Diversification Strategies on Firm Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(1), pages 224-234, January.
    13. McGahan, Anita M. & Silverman, Brian S., 2006. "Profiting from technological innovation by others: The effect of competitor patenting on firm value," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1222-1242, October.
    14. Wenyi Chu & Chien-Nan Chen & Chuang-Hung Wang, 2008. "The market share--profitability relationships in the securities industry," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 813-826, July.
    15. Neil Thomas Bendle & Moeen Naseer Butt, 2018. "The Misuse of Accounting-Based Approximations of Tobin’s q in a World of Market-Based Assets," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(3), pages 484-504, May.
    16. Chang, Shao-Chi & Wang, Chi-Feng, 2007. "The effect of product diversification strategies on the relationship between international diversification and firm performance," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 61-79, March.
    17. Chen-Lung Chin & Picheng Lee & Hsin-Yi Chi & Asokan Anandarajan, 2006. "Patent Citation, R&D Spillover, and Tobin's Q: Evidence from Taiwan Semiconductor Industry," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 67-84, February.
    18. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Oriani, Raffaele, 2006. "Does the market value R&D investment by European firms? Evidence from a panel of manufacturing firms in France, Germany, and Italy," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 971-993, September.
    19. Efstathios G. Parcharidis & Nikos C. Varsakelis, 2010. "R&D and Tobin's q in an emerging financial market: the case of the Athens Stock Exchange," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(5), pages 353-361.
    20. Berger, Philip G. & Ofek, Eli, 1995. "Diversification's effect on firm value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 39-65, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:45:y:1999:i:7:p:1008-1024. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.