Carlos J. Navarrete

Information Technology Expenditure and Industry Performance: The Case of the Mexican Banking Industry

Abstract This study examines the relationship of information technology spending to Mexican banking industry performance. Focusing on the industry unit of analysis, this project tests whether or not the productivity paradox was present in the Mexican banking industry for the period 1982 to 1992. Specifically, the project tests the correlation between the industrys information technology spending and three performance measures: profits, return on assets, and return on equity. In 1982, Mexicos banks were nationalized, and remained so up to 1992 when the Mexican government sold them back to private investors. The projects data are for the eighteen banks comprising the industry during this period. The methodology consists of longitudinal correlations of the industry consolidated data over the eleven-year period, as well as graphical analysis of time series. The findings show a positive association between IT expenditure and industrys net profits and return on assets. Hence, the productivity paradox is rejected. The results are contrary other studies at the industry level that support the productivity paradox. Findings indicate significant external effects altering IT investment patterns from economic crises and from bank ownership changes. Lastly the project goes beyond other studies in being the first one to test an entire industry for a given country, and in using an eleven-year data set.

Cross-Cultural Telecommuting Evaluation in Mexico and the United States

This paper tests the impact of differences in culture on telecommuting in the United States and Mexico. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of each countrys culture on the perceptions of telecommuting satisfaction and organizational support for telecommuting. The research questions assess the telecommuting satisfaction, and extent of support by organizational policies for telecommuting in the two countries. These results are compared with the expected outcomes due to the differences in culture in both countries. The tests are done, based on a questionnaire sample of 204 employees in the U.S. and Mexico. The statistical method is crosstabulation analysis. The results show no difference between the two samples regarding job satisfaction. Respondents in the two samples indicate differences on the extent of organizational support for telecommuting. The Mexican sample shows more support for telecommuting arrangements than the U.S. one. This result is unexpected, given the cultural differences in both countries. The findings have implications for telecommuting policies and telecommuting cross‐cultural research.

Information Technology Research in Latin America: Editorial Introduction to the Special Issue

No abstract.

IT Investments in Developing Countries: Editorial Introduction

A large portion of corporate spending is related to Information Technology (IT) (Weill, Subramani and Broadbent, 2002). Increasingly, many of these IT-related expenses are investments in developing countries. Often the main motivation of this strategy is to increase the competitiveness through cost advantages. At the same time, the value of the outputs generated in the emerging economies also increases. For these reasons, the topic of the payoffs of IT investments in developing countries is an important issue for the business managers and academic researchers alike.

Initial Selective Information Technology Outsourcing: An Exploratory Study of Large Organizations in Mexico

Abstract Ever since Kodak outsourced its information technology (IT) in 1988-89, an increasing number of large public and private companies have been outsourcing their IT projects. Several factors, including firm size, cost, methodology, and consultants’ backgrounds, affect the outsourcing decision. This paper examines and explains the decision-making process which five large Mexican companies used in 1997 to outsource their initial selective IT projects. Initial selective IT (ISIT) outsourcing projects are outsourcing projects in which outsourcing is begun, but not maintained, and in which some, but not all, of the IT functions are outsourced. The research findings show that large companies justify ISIT outsourcing based on simplified organizational management, improved control over transactions, and/or enhanced efficiency processes in IT. Furthermore, the research findings show that outsourcing experience is the main explanatory factor for selecting an ISIT outsourcing provider. Other factors, such as cost and elapsed time, are not relevant in selecting the provider1.

Information technology security task-technology fit based on the technology-to-performance chain theory

This research study explores the information security technologies that are currently being used within organizations; attempts to determine if, according to information technology security professionals, these technologies are performing the security tasks they were designed to perform; and evaluate the survivability of the critical infrastructure network after the infrastructure has been attacked or penetrated - performance impacts. The Technology-to-Performance Chain and the IT security professionals evaluations of the fit between tasks, technologies, and individual characteristics (Task-Technology Fit) are the theoretical basis for this study. The types of security technologies and procedures are determined and specified by the organizations strategic plans and policy statements, which govern all aspects of organizational operations. This study incorporates the methodology of previous studies, but adds the evaluations of security technologies and tasks by the IT security professionals, which contributes to the existing knowledge base of information security.

E-government services: design and evaluation of crime reporting alternatives

Unreported crime is prevalent worldwide. We developed an interactive internet reporting system for witnesses to report crime. The system emulates police standard interviews. We evaluated its efficacy by comparing it to an example of existing non-interactive reporting systems in terms of completeness and accuracy of resulting reports. Completeness of report was higher for our system with 143% more information. Accuracy of reports was slightly lower for our system with a two percent difference (94% vs. 96%). Our system obtains more complete reports with comparable accuracy and is proposed as an alternative to address unreported crime.