The Impact of Internet Banking on the Performance of Micro and Small Enterprises in Costa Rica: A Randomized Controlled Experiment

Ricardo Monge-Gonzalez

No 4742, Research Department Publications from Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department

Abstract: This paper uses a randomized controlled experiment in Costa Rica to determine whether IB use by Banco Nacional de Desarrollo`s micro and small enterprise (MSE) clients has an impact on their performance, measured in terms of productivity, increase in sales, and cost reduction. Results from the intervention group surveys indicate that Internet use is limited in MSEs` daily operations because of limited access to computers and the relatively low penetration of Internet services in employees` activities. In addition, firms have limited knowledge about the uses of the Internet as a business development tool. These results contrast with the reported benefits obtained by a small group of firms. Those benefits include reduced costs, higher sales, and better contact with customers.

JEL-codes: D22 D83 O14 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ict and nep-sbm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.iadb.org/research/pub_hits.cfm?pub_id=36377365 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 404 Not Found (http://www.iadb.org/research/pub_hits.cfm?pub_id=36377365 [301 Moved Permanently]--> https://www.iadb.org/research/pub_hits.cfm?pub_id=36377365)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:idb:wpaper:4742

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Research Department Publications from Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Felipe Herrera Library ().