Corporate IT Investment and Internet Usage Gain Momentum- The NLI Survey of Business Conditions

While consistently lagging behind the U.S. in the adoption of information technology (IT)，Japan’s recent surge in Internet use has propelled e-commerce activities and triggered thegrowth of information technology (IT) related industries to a new level. Moreover， thestrength of IT related investment in an otherwise uninspired investment climate has brought tolight the macroeconomic significance of corporate IT programs as well.

To examine the status of corporate IT programs in Japan， Nippon Life Insurance Co. and NLIResearch Institute jointly conducted the Nissay Business Conditions Survey in January andFebruary， covering 4，034 companies nationwide. We found an aggressive stance toward ITrelated investment， with over 30% of companies increasing IT related investment spending infiscal 2000 over the previous year. In addition， approximately 60% have made IT investmentsin accounting operations in the past three years， while over half have already set up web sites.

However， progress has not been uniform: a quarter of the companies (27.5%) have no morethan one personal computer for every five employees， and only about 10% are engaged in e-commerce.This may be attributed to two major concerns shared by many companies: the lackof specialized personnel， and the unproven effectiveness of IT investment.