industry, and farming, fishing, and forestry industry) where the percentage of enterprises with business regions contained in one prefecture was above the average as local regional enterprises, along with another two types (farming, fishing, and forestry industry and tourism industry) where the dependence on regional resources is assumed to be high (Figure 3-1-2-1).

## (a) Overall scores on ICT use and application by enterprise type

To obtain an overall ranking of the state of ICT use and application, we created a 32-point score (the ICT adoption score) in order to see what differences exist between enterprise types (Figure 3-1-2-2).

We examined the distribution patterns of the ICT adoption scores and found that among non-local-regional enterprises, the distribution was generally symmetrical from the low scores to the high scores centered on the mode value of the distribution. Among local regional enterprises however, the distribution was distinctly slanted toward the low scores. This illustrates that many of these enterprises are comparatively late in efforts to incorporate ICT. Despite this, it is necessary to note that there are a few local regional enterprises with high ICT adoption scores (Figure 3-1-2-3).

Because there is a large discrepancy between local regional enterprises that have aggressively adopted ICT and those that haven’t, and because a high percentage of enterprises are behind in adopting ICT, it is felt there is considerable room to raise the baseline of ICT adoption through the sharing of best practices, for example.

Figure 3-1-2-1 Business region sizes by industry type

Local regional enterprises | Contained in one prefecture | Other
Medical care and social (n=209) | 94.9 | 5.3
Real estate and rental and leasing industry (n=126) | 61.7 | 15.8
Retail industry (n=258) | 77.5 | 22.5
Mining industry (n=4) | 25.0 | 25.0
Electricity, gas, heating, and water provision industry (n=36) | 25.0 | 25.0
Construction industry (n=332) | 64.5 | 35.5
Financial and insurance (n=35) | 62.9 | 32.1
Transportation industry (n=103) | 61.2 | 38.8
Service industry (n=417) | 59.7 | 40.8
Farming, fishing, and forestry industries (n=27) | 59.3 | 40.7
Average (n=3,385) | 52.0 | 48.0
ICT industry (n=462) | 48.5 | 53.5
Wholesale industry (n=292) | 42.1 | 52.9
Accommodation industry (n=13) | 39.5 | 61.1
Manufacturing industry (n=1,057) | 29.8 | 20.6

(Source) "Study Report on Revitalizing Local economies and Enterprise ICT Use and Application," MIC (2015)

Figure 3-1-2-2 ICT adoption scores

Ownership of ICT devices
Maximum 6 points	(1) Computers (max. 2 points)
(2) Smartphones (max. 2 points)
(3) Tablets (max. 2 points)
(1) Have a website and publish information (max. 2 points)
(2) Carry out transactions over the Internet (max. 2 points)
(3) Make use of social media (max. 2 points)
ICT use in business transactions and information disclosures
Maximum 6 points	(1) Make use of cloud computing (max. 2 points)
(2) Analyze customer information and / or usage histories (max. 2 points)
(3) Analyze automatically collected sensor data (max. 2 points)
Use of cloud computing and other ICT services
Maximum 6 points	(1) Product or service planning, development, or design
(2) Inventory stocking, ordering, procurement
(3) Production or manufacturing
(4) Product management or inventory management
(5) Service provision
(6) Marketing, sales, or customer management
(7) Accounting or bookkeeping
(8) Payroll or human resources
(9) Information sharing
Adoption of information systems
Maximum 9 points	(1) Sales skills
(2) Product strength
(3) Productivity
(4) Management reform
(5) Human resources development
State of ICT use and application to solve management problems
Maximum 5 points	(1) Sales skills
(2) Product strength
(3) Productivity
(4) Management reform
(5) Human resources development

(Source) "Study Report on Revitalizing Local economies and Enterprise ICT Use and Application," MIC (2015)

Figure 3-1-2-3 ICT adoption scores (left: local regional enterprises (n = 1,586); right: non-local-regional enterprises (n = 1,824))

(Source) "Study Report on Revitalizing Local economies and Enterprise ICT Use and Application," MIC (2015)