Impacts of investments in IT on the organizational performance of baking companies of minas gerais state: A multicase study

Abstract

Motivated by the productivity paradox of information technology (IT) and the little attention given to IT investments in countries with developing economies, this article aims to highlight the impacts of IT investments on organizational performance of bakery companies whose revenues is more than $ 1 million/year. The research is based on microeconomic vision and on processes vision, because it uses economic models to assess impacts of IT investments on organizational performance, on profitability and on productivity. The field study was conducted with three bakers in the state of Minas Gerais, in the period 2003 to 2008. The study has a descriptive and longitudinal approach. The research strategy is multiple case. To investigate the relationship between IT investments and the indicators of profitability and productivity, we used the Kendall test, which showed positive correlation with the index G sales growth rate and ACK - Annual Cost per Keyboard - with the return on sales. The test showed no relationship between the indicators of IT investment and lower cost of operation. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare indicators of IT investment, profitability and productivity of companies participating in the study, showing that firms differ statistically between the indicators ACK and return on sales. The findings indicate that the impact of IT on organizational performance of companies participating in this study appears to be related to individual efforts of each company to alleviate the difficulties arising that the technological solutions implemented. 

Key words: Information Technology, IT investments, organizational performance.