The relationship between robots and labour productivity: Does business scale matter?

Abstract

Scholarly literature on the economic consequences of robotisation at the microeconomic level often does not take into account the pronounced digital gap between small and medium-sized businesses and large ones. In this regard, theoretical and real estimates may differ for companies of different sizes. The article studies the relationship between robotisation and labour productivity in the Russian industry in the context of size groups of companies. Methodologically, the study relies on the theory of the firm and economic theories explaining the essence of labour productivity and methods for evaluating it. The research analyses the data about 725 Russian industrial enterprises for 2017 using the methods of regression modeling. The data was obtained in the course of the fundamental research programme at the HSE University. According to the results, only small and medium-sized enterprises have a significant and reliable relationship between the introduction of robots and labour productivity. Probably due to the complexity of business processes, large businesses need deeper and more elaborate robotisation to gain labour productivity benefits. The calculations also demonstrate a negative relationship between exports and labour productivity in large companies, which contradicts the ‘classical’ ideas about the impact of export activities on the efficiency indicators. This may indicate that the high labour productivity of a considerable part of large Russian enterprises proceeds from their monopoly position in domestic markets, while formally less productive companies, which do not occupy dominant positions, appear to be competitive and motivated enough to enter foreign markets. The findings can be useful for the leadership of enterprises, especially that of SMEs, for the managerial decision-making in terms of increasing productivity, in particular, through robotisation of production.