An Empirical Analysis of Innovation Success Factors Due to ICT Use in Japanese Firms
ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has now become one of the most important sources of innovation, and it contributes to share information on innovation within the firm as well as between firms. The former is referred to as ICT use inside the firm, while the latter as ICT use outside the firm. The objective of the chapter is to analyze how innovation is enhanced by two categories of ICT use based on a survey conducted with respect to 2,260 unlisted Japanese industrial companies in January 2010. This survey asked how ICT is used among respondents and the number of patent applications, which is used as a proxy of innovation. After defining the index of internal innovation capability, how ICT use promotes internal capability and innovation are analyzed using probit estimation. Moreover, the study focuses on open innovation, and these analyses are applied for firms practicing open innovation.