Danielle Galliano

Spatial externalities, organisation of the firm and ICT adoption: the specificities of French agri-food firms

The aim of this paper is to define the organisational foundations of the process of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) adaption, and to show the influence of determinants related to the spatial structure of firms. We examine the existence of specificities in the adoption behaviour of agri-food firms. For this purpose, our econometric study makes use of individual data from almost 4,000 industrial French firms. This data provides information concerning the behaviour of firms in terms of ICT adoption, but also the different components of the firms internal and external modes of organisation and their relations to space. Beyond the determinants traditionally examined in empirical studies concerning firms ability to innovate, results show that the organisational and spatial factors have a significant impact on ICT adoption. They also enable us to highlight agri-food specificities, in particular those related to their spatial and managerial organisation.