E-commerce and efficiency at the firm level

This paper addresses the effect of Internet use on efficiency heterogeneity among firms. It uses a rich dataset for Spanish manufacturing firms in the period 2000-2005. The empirical framework is based on the simultaneous specification of stochastic frontier and inefficiency effects. The results suggest that, after controlling for additional sources of heterogeneity, e-buying process has a positive influence on firm efficiency. However, it becomes non-significant in the case of e-selling. These results are compared with those obtained in previous empirical papers.