Small, medium and large companies are recognized as an essential element of development (Solignac Lecompte HB, 1993). In rich or developing countries, they are a strong argument in favor of promotion and encouragement policies aimed at maximizing their contribution to job creation, economic growth and, consequently, to the fight against poverty. poverty and social inequality.
When they enjoy good health and occupy a favorable competitive position in a market, they contribute not only to income generation, but also to the redistribution of national income in favor of the poor. These economic entities, to a certain extent, slow down the migration of populations and thus facilitate the decentralization of development.
All these virtues recognized in companies are only possible if they have the material, financial, human and informational resources. However, the acquisition of the latter and its operation are sometimes the daughter of the company’s information system which, nowadays, is undergoing a real change with the arrival of New Information and Communication Technologies (NTIC) also called Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
New Technologies have marked these last years by the acceleration of their rhythm and the extent of their generalization. This situation, to which is added the globalization and globalization of economies, creates a turbulent economic environment around companies. C. Karr (1999) recognizes that the competitive advantages that connection to the Internet provides to companies, on the one hand, concern all of them, from the pizza seller to General Motors, on the other hand, are immediate. In particular, the rational use of the Internet constitutes a significant asset in the creation and management of small businesses. Opening an electronic mailbox, almost free, is instantaneous. The installation of a website represents, all other things being equal, a modest scaling up of the company’s current investments, even if this amount is quite sensitive to the nature of the functionalities implemented.
On the economic level, the upheaval in the flow of information around the company appears both as a threat and an opportunity. A firm that manages this situation well can benefit from a flexibility and a capacity that can enable it to adapt to its market while ensuring its competitiveness.
Any company using the Internet or its derivatives is placed under the play of a great wind. Many are the “success stories”, of companies having experienced a development of their activity following relationships forged with new local or foreign customers on the web. In a less spectacular, but more frequent way, the use of the Internet allows SMEs to maintain convenient, rapid and inexpensive day-to-day relations with their suppliers, local and/or foreign customers and service providers. Consequently, according to [Porter (1986), Jameux (1989)] it appears in a voluminous management literature as a strategic element for the company both in its search for organizational efficiency and competitiveness on the markets.
The information system is also the driving force behind the development of new product-market pairs, on new strategic management methods in an increasingly turbulent competitive environment. Through ICT, the manager of the company controls information. This allows the company to control its production, commercial, financial, human and information management systems. Therefore, through ICT, the information system is increasingly recognized in the theory of strategic management, as a new key variable of competitiveness within companies in the short, medium and long term. They are thus presented as a crisis exit strategy. Competitiveness requirements induced by the general evolution of the national and international economic environment, imply a modernization of the information apparatus of organizations in order to give them not only an aptitude on a competitive market, but to make them efficient. How are these instruments used within organizations?
Companies and their managers will also find themselves in the future increasingly confronted with an “economy of power”, the functioning of which will be governed by the search for a position on the market such that the company is able to safeguard its decision-making autonomy, strategic leeway. Such a position implies not only a competitive advantage with a significant impact on the market, but also resources allowing the valuation of this advantage. So how do these Information and Communication Technologies contribute to improving business performance?
The purpose of this study is to describe the use of ICT in companies and to highlight the influence of this use on the commercial performance of companies. Our study has two main objectives: to detect and assess the degree of use of ICT instruments within companies and to highlight the existence of a relationship between this degree of use of these different instruments and the performance of companies.
At the level of managers, the study should enable managers, active and potential consumers, to identify the preponderant role of ICTs in terms of productivity, competitiveness and above all of the vases of information resources important for survival, growth and flexibility of their entity in the era of globalization and globalization. It will enable the public authorities to better adjust their actions and aid policies for the development of firms considered to be the essential vector of well-being. Like the work of Raymond et al.(1994) and Torres (1998) the fields of literature and research will be enriched by the results of this study which present ICT as an advantage and a source of commercial, economic, strategic and organizational performance of the company.
