Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), human capital, organizational changes and performance of manufacturing SMEs.

Summary ICT is a key performance factor in developed countries. This thesis focuses on the adoption of ICT and its impact on the performance of manufacturing SMEs in a developing country. Following a first part that presents the theoretical and conceptual framework, the rest of the thesis is organized into three empirical studies. The first study proposes a Probit model to identify the determinants of ICT adoption. Human capital is the most significant explanatory variable. Based on dummy-variable linear regression, Granger causality, Kruskal-Wallis test and Welch's ANOVA test, followed by corresponding post-hoc tests, the second study finds a strong statistically significant relationship between the level of ICT adoption and profitability. In a third study, several Probit models (simple, ordered and multivariate) were tested on different performance measures. We show, first, that ICT has a positive impact on productivity, profitability and competitiveness. Second, ICT, human capital and training are determinants of overall performance. Finally, the contribution of ICT to overall performance is strong when combined with skilled human capital. Ultimately, our empirical results showed a positive effect of ICT, human capital and organizational change on the performance of SMEs.