IMPLICATIONS OF THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION FOR THE …

Loading...

Taking too long?

Reload document

| Open in new tab

IMPLICATIONS OF THE DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION FOR THE
BUSINESS SECTOR

Conference summary

London, United Kingdom
8-9 November 2018

1

© OECD 20

The ongoing digital transformation holds the promise of improving productivity performance by
enabling innovation and reducing the costs of a range of business processes. But at the same time our
economies have experienced a slowdown in productivity growth, sparking a lively debate about the
potential for digital technologies to boost productivity. Today, as in the 1980s, when Nobel prize
winner Robert Solow famously quipped: “we see computers everywhere but in the productivity
statistics” there is again a paradox of rapid technological change and slow productivity growth.

Jointly organised by the OECD and the United Kingdom Department for Business, Energy and
Industrial Strategy (BEIS), this conference discussed factors that could explain such a puzzle and
explored the role of policies in helping our economies realise the productivity benefit from this
transformation. The following is an informal summary of discussions, provided as an aide memoire for
participants and stakeholders.

Opening session

Summary

The digital transformation is having a wide-ranging impact on the business environment, creating both
opportunities and challenges. Inter-related trends such as e-commerce, big data, machine learning and
artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) could lead to large productivity gains for
the economy. However, disruption to existing business and social models, as well as established
markets, will disrupt the lives of millions of citizens.

To make the best of these changes it is necessary to plan ahead, so that the right policies and institutions
are in place as soon as possible. There is a collective need to pull together good analysis and evidence
at the outset and to support the development of digital policy responses in areas such as competition,
taxation, and trade.

The outputs of the OECD’s ‘Going Digital’ project will improve our ability to measure the impact of
this transformation, and to provide policymakers with the tools needed to develop pro-active, whole-
of-government policy responses to help their economies prosper in an increasingly digital and data-
driven world. The outputs of the project will form the basis of discussion at the Going Digital Summit
on 11-12 March 2019.

2

Introductory Remarks

Christopher Sharrock, UK Permanent Representative to the OECD stressed that the transformation
was having a clear effect on business, with the productivity benefits easily spread out via cheaper
business experimentation, easier sharing of ideas and simplified global reach. However, he reminded
us that we need to be mindful of the challenges ahead, including the paradoxical situation of
technological diffusion not leading to productivity gains, and the reality that a limited number of firms
has captured many of the benefits of the changes experienced so far. He also reminded participants of
the urgent need to upgrade public policies, based on the best available analysis.

Andrew Wyckoff, OECD, Director Science, Technology and Innovation Directorate, noted that better
understanding of the impact of the digital transformation on the business sector is undoubtedly linked
to collecting better data on the diffusion of technology amongst firms. Using this we can better
understand business actions, including how and where value is being generated. The OECD is looking
at these issues, and related questions through the Going Digital project, a fundamental re-consideration
of the political, economic and social impacts of the digital transformation.

Sam Beckett, Director General EU Exit and Analysis at the Department for Business, Energy and
Industrial Strategy, stated digitalisation is increasingly important across a whole range of activities and
interactions between people, businesses, government and other organisations. To make the best of these
changes we need to be thinking and planning ahead now, so that the right policies and institutions are
in place when this transformation really starts to land. The United Kingdom has recognised the cross-
cutting and potentially transformative nature of digitalisation by making AI & Big Data one of the
Grand Challenges for its flagship Industrial Strategy.

3

Keynote Address

Laurence Boone, OECD Chief Economist, introduced Professor John Van Reenen, Gordon Y Billard
Professor in Management and Economics at MIT. After briefly describing Professor Van Reenen’s
major contributions to a number of relevant topics (digital adoption, the determinants of innovation
and the emergence and impact of superstar firms in the digital era), Ms Boone then summarised some
of the recent work of the OECD. This included studies on the rising gap between frontier and laggard
firms, the close link between the availability of skills and digital adoption rates, and the tendency for
digitalisation to contribute to productivity dispersion by bringing higher gains to firms that are already
highly productive.

Professor Van Reenen organised his intervention around four main themes: the nature of digital
technologies, their effects on productivity, their effects on labour markets via automation or the rise of
superstars, and the policy implications of these observations. After comparing the digital revolution to
previous major technological shifts, he turned to productivity effects, noting that while they were
disappointing taken as a whole (with productivity decelerating in the OECD), these figures improved
at the firm level. He stressed, however, that the associated productivity improvements would typically
depend on a host of complementary factors, with failures occurring as well (e.g. attempts to digitalise
the National Health Service in the United Kingdom). He also noted that organisational change led by
talented managers and supported by a skilled workforce appears to be crucial, as does collecting cross-
country comparable data.

Moving on to labour markets, Professor Van Reenen warned about excessive alarmism of a future
“robocalypse” replacing jobs with machines. He showed that these fears had been common during past
technological revolutions, but in fact economies had continued to generate millions of jobs over the
past century. In short, as suggested by Acemoglu and Repetto, reinstatement employment effects would
countervail the potential job losses due to digitalisation. Professor Van Reenen did, however, see
possible sources of concern for the quality of jobs (e.g. in terms of wages), the risk of labour market
polarisation, with middle skills jobs declining and a decline in labour shares, partly due to the
emergence of superstar firms. Another related source of concern would be the implications of recent
‘winner takes all’ developments on competitive pressures, although he acknowledged these
implications are still to be fully established.

In conclusion, Professor Van Reenen saw both challenges and opportunities for policy makers.
Catching opportunities would require implementing skills, trade and competition policies that would
encourage improvements in management, training and governance, while at the same time monitoring
the uses and abuses of market power. He noted that not all countries were currently following this path.

Session 1: Adoption of new digital tools and disruptive technology: What is the role of skills and
policy?

This session aimed to explore the drivers of technology adoption and what policies can do to smooth
the digital transformation across firms. The panellists described a variety of factors driving the adoption
of digital technologies in firms. Each mentioned the key role of skills, including job-specific and
specialised skills, in the willingness to invest in and adopt productivity-enhancing digital technologies.
They all also mentioned the importance of culture in the adoption of digital technologies. The question
of incentives for digital technology adoption was also discussed by the panellists and skill-boosting
mechanisms were identified as a particularly difficult public policy issue.

Baroness Alison Wolf, Professor of Public Sector Management at Kings College, London mentioned
that skills systems do not currently focus on ongoing skills development and provision, including in
shorter and more intensive bursts.

Debora Revoltella, Director of the Economic Department, European Investment Bank presented survey
evidence showing that digital adoption rates in the European Union are below those in the United
States, in particular in the services sector, and that European firms tend to lag particularly in the
adoption of more sophisticated technologies. She also presented evidence on the reasons why European
firms adopt digital technologies at a lesser rate than American firms and identified three key barriers,
including firm-size distribution, market fragmentation in services, and a financial system that is skewed
towards debt finance. Lack of staff with the right skills is considered a key barrier to digital adoption

© OECD 20

by firms, both in the European Union and the United States. Ms. Revoltella also noted potential down-
side risks of digitalisation such as hollowing-out tendencies for mid-level jobs, job polarisation, risks
of too-high market-concentration, as well as cyber-security threats, but explained that these will have
to be dealt with whether Europe leads the digital transformation or lags behind and should therefore
not be seen as a reason for inaction on the part of policy-makers when it comes to promoting digital
adoption.

Hugh Milward, Director, Corporate External and Legal Affairs at Microsoft, mentioned that firms that
do not adopt AI technologies report extensive costs, skills deficits and culture issues. He noted that
firms that do adopt AI report productivity gains of up to 7%, while also mentioning the anxiety of firms
about the sustainability of their business model in the digital age.

Session 2: The impact of the digital transformation on productivity

This session discussed the paradoxical phenomenon of wide spread diffusion of new technologies, but
a slowdown in productivity growth, seen in many countries and explored the role of policies in
changing this, to help economies realise the productivity benefits of the digital transformation.

Carol Corrado, Research Director in Economics, The Conference Board, explored the causes of the
productivity slowdown, focusing on the missing link between productivity and intangibles in the
United States. She showed that both Multifactor Productivity (MFP) growth and the contribution from
ICT sectors had declined, suggesting a slowdown in technology diffusion among firms (but not
consumers), perhaps suggesting a return to a “new normal” after the productivity boom experienced
two decades ago. However, she also noted that the available data is missing much of what is actually
going on at firm level, such as increasing investment in data analytics and the value generated by an
ever-widening variety of products. In terms of ICT, Dr Corrado noted that while returns on investment
continue to rise sharply, investment rates have been going down. In terms of R&D, investments rose
sharply in some areas (for example, software development or computer design services) but remained
flat in most other areas. Concluding she suggested three possible explanations to this paradox:
spillovers from ICT investment and non-R&D intangibles on MFP are weak, leading to a slowdown in
investment; or the productivity gains of intangible investment are delayed resulting in a productivity
J-curve; or mismeasurement is still significant in IT sectors.

Professor Mirko Draca, Associate Professor at Warwick University, also focused on explanations of
the productivity slowdown. He argued that most current theories are unable to fully account for the
slowdown. However, he argued that new explanations, based on the idea that we are in the latest cycle
for implementation of general purpose and evolving technologies, are more convincing and would
imply a new productivity boom over the next decade. This is corroborated by two concurrent
observations: a surge in R&D and patenting in the AI domain, especially by mature firms (e.g. Google),
and a constant increase in the NASDAQ index, a leading indicator of future market returns from
investment. This would also fit with previous patterns seen in the dot-com bubble. Nonetheless, major
uncertainties remain, such as the possibility of setbacks (as happened with Nokia in the past), the
prospect of tech taxes and the sustainability of the current high profit rates. Professor Draca argued
that policy should devote more attention to fundamentals, financing basic research and investing in
education and training, as well as concentrate on monitoring of markets and developing early warning
systems. He also called for a wider use of scenario analysis to analyse worst cases and countervailing
effects resulting from disruptive innovations.

James Manyika, Chairman and Director, McKinsey Global Institute took a different approach. He
noted that future growth in the United States and European Union will have to be driven by productivity
to a larger extent than before. He argued some of the productivity deceleration could be due to
weakness in demand, leading to a numerator (value added) driven decline in growth as opposed to a
denominator (hours) driven slowdown. Drawing from past examples, he showed that productivity
increases were driven either by small productivity improvements across all sectors or by strong
improvements in few but large sectors. Mr Manyika also underlined the role played by the strong
decline in tangible investment since the crisis and stressed that digitalisation has been very uneven
across sectors. He also pointed out that the intensity of adoption also varies widely across firms
(e.g. while access to broadband is common, the use of the cloud remains subdued). Ultimately, he

4

5

joined the other speakers in suggesting that the potential for future productivity increases is high
(e.g. via the development of AI) but it could take some time before these occur.

Following theses interventions, discussion revolved around the labour market and competitive
implications of digitalisation. Technology is having an impact on the labour market, where
employment protection has weakened, the gig economy offers unsecure jobs and medium skilled roles
are declining. This is leading to hollowing out and polarisation, which is compounded by a slowdown
in public and private investment in training. It was noted that without policy action, such countervailing
factors would likely worsen the quality of jobs, and displaced middle-aged and medium skilled workers
would find reemployment difficult. There was a general concern raised about the future of competitive
pressure, particularly with the rise of superstar firms – although whether these are new was a debatable
point. It was also noted that ‘winner take most’ dynamics were not only based on size but also on the
complementarity with intangibles and there was still a lot of churning occurring among the group of
top firms.

Session 3 – Competition in a digital world

The digital transformation will have a profound impact on the way firms enter and compete in the
market, particularly as processes become replicable at near zero cost margin. Competition will be vital
in driving innovation, and the policies set out by policy makers should reflect this. Data flows, data
protection, AI and standards are now recognised as important digital and competition policy issues,
with much discussion amongst governments on this subject. But how best can governments respond to
this going forward, and what enforcement tools are important for the digital age?

Bob Fay, Director of Global Economy Program, Centre for International Governance Innovation used
an example of a digital neighbourhood developed by Alphabet, to illustrate the wide-ranging questions
on control, ownership and monetisation of data. He noted that whoever controlled the data would then
control big data analytics, especially if there are few, or no, rules over how it is used. Mr Fay went on
to raise the issue of standards, which are never politically neutral, discussing patents, integrated and
interoperable systems, level-playing fields, trust and comparative advantage, all of which could lower
or raise transaction costs or trade barriers. All of these factors could be used to block competition he
suggested, if the large firms are able to influence the standard-setting process and there are various
opportunities for rent seeking. Mr Fay also wondered if standards were already being set by dominant
players, and hinted at some of the other potential issue areas related to standards, such as AI or big
data, as well as the role for smaller countries in international standards.

Adam Cohen, Head of Economic Policy in Europe, Google, agreed that standard essential patents allow
for a wider diffusion of technology, and argued for a set of standards, so that there can be
interoperability and innovation. He argued that data was finite and its value has never been based on
volume, rather on what you can do with such data, particularly through deep learning. For example, he
argued that only 6% of Google searches could be monetised. Mr Cohen also noted that many new
entrants do not face the same cost as the incumbent, which gives them a competitive advantage and
often it is easier to follow than lead when it comes to online markets (he used the example of Uber
being followed by Lyft, being followed by Juno).

Cristina Caffarra, Head of Charles River Associates Europe pointed out that while some companies
are looking at volume (e.g. Microsoft), this does not apply to everyone. The organisations she
represents no longer look at the ‘big data soup’, they are looking at whether there is a code of conduct
put in place by such organisations to tilt the level playing field in their direction. Ms Caffarra also
disagreed with Adam Cohen, stating that not all platforms are equal, and that she does have concerns
with those who collect very large amounts of data — “super aggregators”– such as Facebook and
Google, as competition simply does not seem to be occurring and it is too easy to say there is nothing
to be concerned about. Ms Caffarra remarked there is very little finance for advertising based start-ups.
However, Ms Caffarra also encouraged policy makers to think carefully as to whether competition
policy was the correct format to tackle some of these issues.

Following the interventions of the speakers, the audience asked a range of questions. Of particular note
one audience member asked how we rectify theory, which is rational, with reality, which is often
irrational. Mr Cohen and Ms Caffarra disagreed, both saying that overall consumers act in a specific

© OECD 20

way, as opposed to the individual. Concerns over consumer protection and the creation of monopolies
were also raised, which led to thoughts about what the customer desires (and whether data protection
is part of this) and the sophisticated nature of the industry and the need to understand how specific
markets work. Finally, a member of the audience asked a question on how to measure incentives to
innovate. Ms Caffarra agreed that discovering this was important and that it was not very clear at this
time.

Session 4 – Business Dynamics and Entrepreneurship

The digital transformation will bring important changes and lasting implications for business
dynamism. It will create new entrepreneurial activities, and may lower the barrier to entry for some.
However, it may also have negative impacts, such as opening a gap between those firms who can gain
market share and those who cannot not. The OECD’s ongoing empirical work on business dynamics
and digitalisation has identified two major themes in this policy area. First, digital intensive sectors –
especially digital intensive services – are on average more dynamic than other sectors of the economy,
exhibiting higher entry rates and higher job reallocation rates. Second, business dynamism has been
declining, and declining at a faster rate in digital intensive sectors, especially after 2001.

Kjell Håkan Närfelt, Chief Strategy Officer, Vinnova, Sweden’s Innovation Agency argued that
innovation is necessary to sustain competitiveness. However, the means of value creation today has
changed significantly. Mr Närfelt argued that today, value creation is all about creating eco-systems to
encourage change.

Presenting the Canadian perspective, Joy Senack, Chief Innovation Officer at the Canadian Ministry
for Innovation, Science and Economic Development stressed that a mix of policy tools has an impact
on innovation and competitiveness. The role of government is to convene different actors in the
economy, working together with industry leaders

Carmen Benitez, Serial Entrepreneur and Founder of Fetch Blockchain Limited echoed Ms Senack’s
points, but from a business perspective. She emphasised the need for a minimum viable eco-system,
composed of growth accelerators. Ms Benitez also stated that countries need to create innovation hubs,
as well as public / private sandboxes, etc.

6

Geoff Mulgan, Chief Executive of NESTA noted that while he agreed in theory with the points made by
the other speakers, putting more money into eco-systems doesn’t necessarily lead to more innovation.
Experimentation is needed to find the optimal balance and ensure that investment leads to innovation.

Following these initial comments, people and skills were highlighted as an important element in a
country’s innovation strategy. Increasing labour participation has a clear economic rationale and an
impact on growth, including, for example developing women’s entrepreneurship potential.

Ecosystems, peer learning, consultation, engagement and partnership with business were identified as
conditions for successful entrepreneurship and the mindset of public administration is still considered
an issue, as entrepreneurs often encounter archaic methods, silo mentality, lack of dedicated resources,
funding of strategies and not of projects, and strategic plans not promoting new ideas. The session also
discussed data as a lever to competition and developments on the control of own data by SMEs and
natural persons.

Session 5 – Tax Challenges Arising from Digitalisation

Digitalisation and the ways in which it is changing business models are having a major impact on tax
regimes, which in turn are having a significant political impact. Responding to a mandate from the
G20, the OECD has undertaken work on this subject, and produced an interim report on the Tax
Challenges Arising from Digitalisation in March 2018. Given the lack of an international consensus
on how to address these challenges and the tremendous political pressure in some countries to take
action, some countries have already implemented or proposed short-term unilateral measures. This
session considered whether the existing tax rules could meet the demands of digitalisation and, if not,
the potential for new measures to be put in place.

Grace Perez-Navarro, Deputy Director, OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, opened the
session with a presentation on the OECD’s ongoing work on the tax challenges arising from

7

digitalisation. She noted that the OECD’s recent work on this topic was a critical component of the
OECD/G20 project on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). She explained that the BEPS Action
1 Report on the digitalised economy released in 2015 concluded that it would be difficult, if not
impossible, to provide a ring-fenced solution focused on digitalised companies, given that the whole
economy was becoming increasingly digitalised. The report provided useful solutions on the indirect
tax front that are already generating significant revenues for those countries that have implemented
them, but failed to reach consensus on a long-term solution on how best to address the wider direct tax
challenges arising from digitalisation. Instead, it concluded that the other BEPS measures (e.g. on
transfer pricing, permanent establishments and CFC rules) would go a long way towards addressing
the BEPS concerns in relation to digitalisation. It considered but did not recommend various options
for dealing with the broader issues and agreed to return to the issue in 2020.

However, in response to the 2017 request by the G20 for an interim report, the work was accelerated.
Although the interim report did not reach consensus on policy recommendations, it did include
agreement by the over 120 members of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS to review the key
international tax concepts of nexus and profit allocation. Ms Perez-Navarro mentioned that the March
interim report highlighted three common characteristics of highly digitalised companies that put stress
on the current international tax rules: (i) increased reliance on intangibles, (ii) cross-jurisdictional scale
without mass; and (iii) data and user participation. However, countries disagree on how to address
these issues. Some countries want to wait and evaluate the effect of BEPS recommendations; others
favour targeted measures focusing on issues arising from specific digitalised business models; and a
third group believes that some of the same tax challenges are raised by more traditional businesses and
that therefore a comprehensive international reform of the tax system is necessary. Since the
publication of the March interim report further work has been undertaken on a long term solution on
the basis of proposals put forward by various members of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS.

Ali Kennedy, Vice President of Group Tax at Sophos Group, stated her support for the OECD work on
a long-term solution to the tax challenges arising from digitalisation and stressed the need to update
the tax system to deal with the fourth industrial revolution. However, she highlighted that the principle
of taxing profits (rather than turnover) should be adhered to and that profits should be taxed only once.
Ms Kennedy also noted the weaknesses of a user contribution/participation approach given the inability
to accurately measure economic activity by counting users or online activity. She noted the ease with
which users can mask and change their location or identity on the web (e.g. through use of different
VPNs) and how challenging these issues would be to solve even on a purely technical basis.

Gaël Perraud, Deputy Director of International Taxation and European Affairs at the French Ministry
of Economics and Finance and Co-Chair of the OECD Task Force on the Digital Economy, highlighted
France’s support for the OECD work in this area. Their main concern is to ensure fairness between
digital firms and their traditional competitors who might be less able to take advantage of digitalisation
to reduce tax payments. As a result, France considers it important to act now, even if it means adopting
interim measures. Mr Perraud argued that the close ties to the single market mean that in his opinion
this issue should be addressed at the European level and not unilaterally. He disagreed with Ms
Kennedy that a reasonable approach to measuring user contribution could not be found. He stressed
that support for the digital services tax proposed by the European Commission is not inconsistent with
working within the OECD towards a long-term solution. He noted the new dynamic among countries
to find a long-term solution

Anna Milanez, Economist at OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, presented new work on
the impacts of tax systems on incentives to employ non-standard workers instead of standard workers.
By treating non-standard workers differently from standard employees, tax systems create arbitrage
opportunities for firms in the types of contracts offered to workers and for individuals in their choice
of organisational form. The analytical work, which covered eight countries, compares incentives to
choose specific types of contracts. The results show that in some countries there are significant
incentives for firms to shift away from standard employment created by the unequal tax treatment of
these types of employment.

© OECD 20

Following the panel discussion and presentations, questions were raised from participants regarding
the choice of a turnover tax as an interim measure, what changes would need to be made to tax treaties
to modernise the tax system, and about the role that platforms play in hiring labour.

Session 6 – International Trade in the Digital Era

The digital transformation is fundamentally changing what and how we trade. This session gathered
the views of international organisations, governments and businesses, on the issues that the digital
transformation raises for trade, including reductions in cost, trade facilitation, trade in data, de minimis
rules, and more broadly, the new opportunities offered. The panel agreed that there is need for more
global dialogue across policy silos to find solutions to existing challenges arising from digital trade.

Julia Nielson, Head of the Emerging Policy Issues Division, OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate
opened the discussion by providing some background remarks on the evolving environment. She
argued that digitalisation is blurring traditional distinctions between goods and services, and the
borders these cross, making it more difficult to identify the specific rules that apply to specific
transactions. Ms Nielson also noted that data underpins trade, whether directly or indirectly, so
measures that restrict its flow can have trade consequences. Such measures are motivated by regulatory
concerns (such as audit), industrial policy, privacy concerns or national security issues and can affect
different types of data. We need to better understand impact on ability to trade and avoid a patchwork
of approaches she argued.

Bob Koopman, Chief Economist of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), then presented the recent
World Trade report that sought to understand how digitalisation is transforming global commerce. The
work combined a gravity model and a computable general equilibrium approach to identify how trade
cost reductions arising from digitalisation translate into changes in trade. This work found that
digitalisation will bring about a dramatic reduction in trade costs which will benefit SMEs and
developing countries particularly, and more generally will increase trade, with more services available
and more mass customisation.

Harry Lee, Deputy Director Trade and International, Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
(United Kingdom) highlighted that it is an exciting time to be working on digital trade, with the scale
of global opportunities dramatically increasing. He noted that the United Kingdom hosts a dynamic
and vibrant digital sector and that the benefits of digital trade can be widespread and inclusive, in terms
of both nations and businesses. The United Kingdom continues to support this growth,

Tilmann Kupfer, Vice President, Trade and International Affairs, BT Group underscored the
importance of data at all stages of the value chain and highlighted that many networks are