ABSTRACT

In the latter half of Japan’s Two Lost Decades (1990–2010), Japanese firms failed to undergo a thorough information and communications technology (ICT) revolution. In this study, we investigate the most likely cause for this situation and find that chief executive officers (CEOs) in Japanese companies simply did not know how to utilize the new equipment including ICT capitals. We estimate the impact of CEOs’ educational backgrounds(assessed based on their alma mater’s fame) on investments in software by using a compiled dataset that included Japanese listed firms with panel fixed effects models and a generalized method of moments. We find significant evidence that an increase in CEOs’ educational background raises their investment in software. We also revealed that a lack in CEOs’ knowledge of new equipment could be an obstacle for introducing new equipment and, consequently, could lead to loss of competitiveness.

摘要

在日本失去的两个十年（1990-2010）的后半段，日本公司未能经历一场彻底的信息和通信技术（ICT）革命。在这项研究中，我们调查了造成这种情况的最可能原因，发现日本公司的首席执行官 (CEO) 根本不知道如何利用包括 ICT 资本在内的新设备。我们通过使用包含具有面板固定效应模型和广义矩方法的日本上市公司的编译数据集来估计 CEO 的教育背景（根据母校的名气评估）对软件投资的影响。我们发现重要的证据表明，CEO 教育背景的增加会增加他们对软件的投资。