But assessing the impact of technology on the modern business world is not that simple. Some researchers have instead compared company profits to the percentage of revenue spent on computers. According to research from the early 1990s, it turns out that the more a company invests in technology, the less profitable it tends to be. These industries have in fact been the most sluggish. The service industry's performance seems paltry when compared with the world of manufacturing.
Manufacturing continues to witness productivity gains, while the rest of the economy crawls along.
In their attempts to find answers to these questions, some researchers have focused on individual companies. Thomas Landauer, a professor of psychology at the University of Colorado at Boulder and former director of cognitive research at Bellcore, points to the phone company as an example of a company that has invested successfully in technology. Over the years, it has been one of the few white-collar service companies whose investment in information technology has paid off in tangible numerical results. Ma Bell's output per hour of labor has risen over the past 40 years. Meanwhile, costs have decreased, while the wage of the average telephone employee has gone up.