Information technology and changes in industry

Because of its generic character, information technology (IT) is a key technology in changing the industrial structure and daily routines of companies. The diffusion process of new technologies, including information technology, is a complicated process and difficult to manage. Increasing understanding of this process means increasing management of the technology and its use. The diffusion process of a technology can be described by the form of a S-shaped curve. Such a curve is a function of time giving the penetration level of the particular technology. Because the function itself is dependent on so many variables and arguments, the only way to increase understanding of the existing status and the future improvements is to use modularisation (i.e. finding components whose behaviour can be managed) and thereby achieve an incremental increase in our knowledge of the continuing process. This investigation includes state-of-the-art studies, case-studies and analyses on the diffusion process of specific products. Each of these provides both quantitative and qualitative data to produce a synthesis giving a clear view of the diffusion process. This paper reviews some of the results of two studies (Jaakkola & Mertanen, 1990; Latvala et al., 1990) on the diffusion of information technology in Finnish industry. The experiences and results of a national microelectronics program are reported. Basic principles and the character of the diffusion process are discussed, and in conclusion, certain details of the diffusion process of IT are discussed.