Are new economy companies really different? This papers aims at investigating the structure of variability in the financial performance of information technology (IT) companies in Brazil, and also at determining the relation between financial performance and two factors specific to companies, namely economies of scale and productivity. Secondary data of the 200 biggest IT companies of Brazil, referring to years 2000 to 2004, was used. The analysis used the techniques of components of variance and multiple regression. The structure of variability of performance was very similar to companies of other sectors, indicating the predominance of the individual firm effect and limited sector and year effects. These findings might raise a question over the "distinction" of the new economy. The results also indicated a significative effect of producitvity on performance, but the same could not be observed on scale. The practical significance of the relation between productivity and performance is discussed.
New economy; Information technology; Productivity; Scale; Financial performance
