Line and HR executives' perceptions of HR effectiveness in firms in the People's Republic of China

This paper examines the differences in perceptions of the importance and effectiveness of human resources (HR) practices in firms operating in the People's Republic of China. The major finding is that while there are no significant differences between HR and line executives' perceptions of the importance of each functional area in human resource management (HRM), there are significant differences between line and HR executives' perceptions of the effectiveness of these areas. Line and HR executives both view the issue of securing, developing and maintaining human resources as a critical issue for the execution of daily operations and long-term strategic plans. However, line executives perceive HR performance effectiveness as significantly lower in these functional areas than HR executives do. Therefore, HR departments are not meeting the performance expectations of line executives. There are three possible reasons for the poor performance of HR departments. First, government intervention may limit HR departments' ability to act strategically. Second, HR departments may not have enough power to act strategically. Third, HR departments may have few capabilities to respond to line executives' demands.     

Attributive change in top management teams as a driver of strategic change

This study examines the role of top management team (TMT) member succession in breaking organizational inertia. We compare the impact of two types of change in TMTs—in member number and demographic heterogeneity—on subsequent strategic reorientation using data on the diversification activities of firms in the Japanese textile industry. Our findings suggest that executive succession does not trigger strategic change unless succession entails change in the values and interests of executives embedded in their demographic traits.

Organization governance form in franchising: efficient contracting or organizational momentum?

We examine firms' choice of organizational governance form. Using longitudinal data on a sample of business format franchisors operating in North America, we show that the cross‐sectional evidence commonly used to demonstrate support for efficient contracting explanations for organizational governance form is not robust to the year of investigation, firm effects, or selection effects. We theorize that this outcome may result from dynamic processes through which a firm's organizational governance form evolves. We develop and test two hypotheses for the effects of organizational momentum on organizational governance form, and find that organizational momentum is a robust predictor. Our results suggest that researchers consider the dynamics of momentum in explaining the form of firm governance. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of telecommuting on mass transit congestion: the Tokyo case

Telecommuting, a dispersed style of commuting enabled by developments in info-communication technology, is becoming increasingly popular among Japanese white-collar employees. According to our estimates, 9–14 million employees will telecommute by 2010, which will result in a 6.9–10.9% reduction in congestion in Tokyo, Japan. Associated cost savings are equivalent to 7.9–26.4% of annual spending on public transportation. Due to the considerable size of these positive external effects, some degree of policy support will be necessary to achieve a socially optimal level of penetration by telecommuting.     

A note on “raising the mandatory retirement age and its effect on long‐run income and Pay As You Go (PAYG) pensions”

Fanti (2014, Metroeconomica, 65, 619–645) showed that raising the mandatory retirement age always reduces capital accumulation and may lower per young income and pension benefit, under the assumption that old labor and young labor are perfect substitutes (or equivalently, the elasticity of substitution is infinite). We reexamine his analysis by assuming that the two labors are imperfect substitutes (the elasticity of substitution is finite), and prove that his results no longer hold when the elasticity of substitution is not sufficiently high.     

Mechanism design with side payments: Individual rationality and iterative dominance

We investigate the collective decision with incomplete information and side payments. We show that a direct mechanism associated with the social choice function that satisfies budget balancing, incentive compatibility, and interim individual rationality exists for generic prior distributions. We consider the possibility that a risk-averse principal extracts full surplus in agency problems with adverse selection. With regard to generic prior distributions, we show that there exists a modified direct mechanism associated with the virtual social choice function, which satisfies budget balancing and interim individual rationality, such that truth telling is the unique three times iteratively undominated message rule profile.     

Interlinkage and Generous Tit‐for‐Tat Strategy

We investigate an infinitely‐repeated prisoners' dilemma with imperfect monitoring and consider the possibility that the interlinkage of the players' distinct activities enhances implicit collusion. We show a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a generous tit‐for‐tat Nash equilibrium. Such an equilibrium, if it exists, is unique. This equilibrium achieves approximate efficiency when monitoring is almost perfect, where the discount factors are fixed.     

Employment tenure,job expectancy,and earnings profile in Japan

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between employment tenure and earnings profile in Japan. Since the Japanese labour market has recently experienced substantial changes, it is natural for the Japanese employment and compensation system to be influenced by such changes. In this study, the changes that have happened to the Japanese employment and compensation system in recent years have been considered empirically by focusing on the relationships between employment tenure and earnings profiles. To do this, a forward-looking variable called ‘expected job tenure (or job expectancy)’ is introduced and the effects of it on earnings profile.     

The theory of effective protection in general equilibrium with interindustrial flows

The purpose of the present note is to demonstrate that the sufficiency condition of Bruno (1973) and Sendo (1974) on tariff changes is valid as an ERP index in the sense defined by Bhagwati and Srinivasan (1973), within the framework of the Bhagwati-Srinivasan general equilibrium model with two industries, even if we admit interindustrial flows.     

Dissemination of Accruals Information,Role of Semi‐Annual Reporting,and Analysts' Earnings Forecasts: Evidence from Japan

Our study investigates the effects of dissemination of accounting accruals information on stock prices using Japanese annual reports as our sample. We conduct month‐by‐month detailed analyses of price adjustment behavior with a particular focus on revisions of analysts' earnings forecasts and changes in trading volume around the period of upcoming semi‐annual reports. We find that analysts' forecasts are often revised around this time, and analysts use this as auxiliary information. In addition, an accompanying re‐adjustment of abnormal returns and an increase in trading volume are observed. Our findings demonstrate that informational uncertainty initially triggered by the announcement of annual reports decreases as semi‐annual reports are disclosed and analysts change their earnings forecasts, and confirms the importance of semi‐annual reporting.