The value of IT to firms in a developing country in the catch-up process: An empirical comparison of China and the United States
This study seeks to better understand the role of information technology (IT) to firms in a developing country in the catch-up process. Using the event study methodology, we empirically compare the value of IT investments to firms in China and those in the United States. Three factors that may affect the value of IT (industry, firm size, and firm type) are considered. We find that IT investment announcements significantly increase firms' market value in China but not in the US. This may be evidence that IT brings more benefits to firms in China, helping them to catch up with leader firms in the US. Furthermore, we find that the positive effects of IT investments are more easily observed in IT-using firms than in IT-producing firms in China. Our findings offer further insight into the catch-up theory and the value of IT investments.
Since international awareness of a global rush for land has grown from 2008 onward, various databases and reports have attempted to provide an overview of the situation by compiling information on individual land deals. While providing such an overview is challenging owing to the dynamic and untransparent nature of the investments, flawed methods of using and citing data are aggravating that challenge and allowing dissemination of inaccurate information. The consequences are an unnecessarily blurred picture of the land deal situation and thus an inadequate basis for related political decisions or social actions and a misleading starting point for new research projects. In this article we demonstrate some of the flaws in the use of data and their consequences, with examples from fieldwork and literature on Tanzania. The paper illustrates and contributes to the evolving debate on appropriate research methodologies for studying the global land rush.