Effective Corporate Reforms with Information Technology: Logit Model Analysis on Business Process Reengineering, Business Unit Restructuring, and Human Resource Management(in Japanese)

The purpose of this study is to examine what kind of corporate reforms are effective in accordance with investment in information technology. Based on the nation-wide survey data from 3141 firms, logit model analysis revealed three observations. First, paperless transactions make the business process efficient both internally and between the firms. Second, drastic and fundamental organizational reforms, such as changes in the top management's decision-making process, business unit restructuring through mergers and acquisitions, and the revision of long-term relationships with suppliers and customers, do not pay off yet. Third, human resource management is more effective and important than organizational reforms, but that, so far, the major effectiveness in human resource management appears merely in training the existing employees in the firms rather than hiring new experts from outside the firms. These empirical analyses suggest that Japanese companies as a whole tend to plan sustainable corporate reforms rather than drastic reforms. This tendency implies that the inertia of Japan's integrated system persists in the midst of information technology innovation.