Understanding Configuration and Transformation through a Multiple Rationalities Approach

Why are some transformational change attempts implemented while others are rejected? This study suggests that patterns of underlying multiple rationalities commitments help to explain. Data from four periods of configuration and 11 transformational change attempts spanning a 40-year organizational history are analysed using a multiple rationalities framework. The findings suggest that transformational change attempts are ubiquitous, that transformational changes are more likely to be implemented if supported primarily by value-based rationality, and that organizational members' support for an incumbent configuration increases over time. The conclusion calls for a reconceptualization of configuration, and the inclusion of rejected change attempts in future studies of change and stability.     

Learning to Build a Car: An Empirical Investigation of Organizational Learning

abstract    This study provides a longitudinal empirical examination of the basic elements of Nonaka's (1994 ) dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation. First, the data illustrate the notion that knowledge creation in organizations proceeds through an intertwined four-phase process: (1) socialization (tacit knowledge amplification); (2) externalization (tacit knowledge is transformed into explicit knowledge); (3) combination (explicit knowledge amplification); and (4) internalization (explicit knowledge is transformed into tacit knowledge). Second, the study extends Nonaka's theory by comparing the relative amount of intra-organizational knowledge transfer occurring during periods of product redesign with the amount of knowledge transfer occurring during steady-state periods. The questionnaire data suggest that the overall level of knowledge transfer is higher during periods of product redesign than it is during the steady state, whereas the interview data indicate that there were more mentions of knowledge transfer during the steady state. Third, the data suggest that there may be benefit in adding tacit error correction as a fifth phase in the learning cycle. This phase is characterized by a dual emphasis on externalization and internalization. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

C.A.E.S. Student Prize Essay-1976

Commercial marketing of hogs in Manitoba has traditionally been characterized by great variability. This paper undertakes to analyze the major determinants of Manitoba's hog supply. A model is presented and the relative effectiveness of several possible stabilization programs is considered.
L'abbattage des porcs au Manitoba a toujours été trés variable. Cet article analyse les facteurs principaux qui détermine la production des porcs au Manitoba. Un modéle est proposé, et l'on discute l'efficacité relative de plusieurs programmes de stabilisation.     

A true and fair view on a harmonious and well-balanced alliance: EAA and EIASM

Allegations of creative accounting by management of listed corporations in the UK do not abate. To the extent that these practices distort the underlying reported financial performance of firms, they conflict with the basic aims of accounting regulation – to provide consistent and comparable financial information to users. Studies have shown that accounting choices are influenced by a range of contracting, financing and operational factors. However, we still know little about what constraints exist against the practice of creative accounting and how effective these are. Issues such as the extent to which the press and analysts are successful in restraining creative accounting, and the role the ‘true and fair view’ principle and auditors play in the prevention of such practices still remain unresolved. This article explores these themes by examining the accounting practices of two UK companies which issued a creative financing instrument. Using a combination of interview, documentary, and financial statement information, the analysis shows that management took advantage of gaps in accounting standards to present a biased picture of financial performance. Auditors did not appear to restrain such practices, and the true and fair view principle, rather than unifying accounting practice, appears to tolerate a range of interpretations. Adverse media publicity appears to be a successful deterrent in the medium term, but since the press are not regulators, their reporting is not necessarily consistent or predictable. UK analysts at the time did not evaluate accounting practices in any significant detail, and thus this potential restraint was not effective. Overall, the influences and constraints on creative accounting are illuminated in this study in a way which provides new insights into our understanding of financial reporting.     

Private Benefits of Control: An International Comparison

We estimate private benefits of control in 39 countries using 393 controlling blocks sales. On average the value of control is 14 percent, but in some countries can be as low as ?4 percent, in others as high a +65 percent. As predicted by theory, higher private benefits of control are associated with less developed capital markets, more concentrated ownership, and more privately negotiated privatizations. We also analyze what institutions are most important in curbing private benefits. We find evidence for both legal and extra‐legal mechanisms. In a multivariate analysis, however, media pressure and tax enforcement seem to be the dominating factors.     

Canada’s Stem Cell Corporation: Aggregate Concerns and the Question of Public Trust

This paper examines one nascent entrepreneurial endeavour intended by Canada’s Stem Cell Network to catalyze the commercialization of stem cell research: the creation of a company called “Aggregate Therapeutics”. We argue that this initiative, in its current configuration, is likely to result in a breach of public trust owing to three inter-related concerns: conflicts of interest; corporate influence on the university research agenda; and the failure to provide some form of direct return for the public’s substantial tax dollar investment. These concerns are common to many efforts to commercialize academic science but are rendered particularly acute in this case given the therapeutic promise of stem cell research and the considerable number of resources related to stem cell research in Canada, which Aggregate Therapeutics is expected to pool. We do, however, believe that the company can be altered to guard against a violation of the public’s trust, and so we present concrete modifications to its structure, which we contend should be given immediate consideration. Matthew Herder is a candidate for the Master of the Science of Law (JSM) degree at Stanford University. Prior to undertaking his studies at Stanford, Matthew completed LLM and LLB degrees at Dalhousie University, clerked at the Federal Court of Canada and articled at McCarthy Tetrault LLP in Toronto, Ontario. Matthew is also a member of the Novel Tech Ethics research team at Dalhousie University. Jennifer Dyck Brian is a Ph.D. student in the Bioethics, Policy, and Law program at the Center for Biology & Society at Arizona State University. Previously, Jennifer worked as research assistant at the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes at ASU, Wellesley College, and with the Novel Tech Ethics research team at Dalhousie University. Jennifer completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario.     

Recipes for Successful Sustainability: Empirical Organizational Configurations for Strong Corporate Environmental Performance

We examine 45 existing case studies of firms with strong corporate environmental performance (CEP) to empirically identify four organizational configurations for successful sustainability. These four configurations represent different combinations of variables describing a firm's external environment, organizational structure, and its strategy‐related activities. More specifically, these configurations vary in having a benign or challenging external environment, a mechanistic or organic structure, a low‐cost or differentiation strategy, hands‐on or hands‐off participation by the top management team, high or low consideration given to stakeholders, and a short‐ or long‐term time orientation. Taken together the four organizational configurations introduce an understanding of equifinality for achieving CEP. In other words, given an adequate variety of ingredients, there are multiple recipes for successful sustainability. Implications for scholars, practitioners and policy‐makers and other stakeholders are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Privatization and Management Incentives: Evidence from the United Kingdom

This article examines whether privatization affects managementincentives and provides an estimate of the magnitude of thechange. Using data from large firms in the United Kingdom, wefind no relationship between compensation and financial performancein state-owned firms, both before and after corporate governancereforms. In contrast, we find a strong sensitivity in privatizedfirms both immediately and in more mature privatized firms drivenlargely by stock options and shareholding. For more mature privatizedfirms, compensation and dismissal sensitivities are complementarywith our estimates, suggesting a £443,000 increase inmanagement returns for a one standard deviation improvementin firm performance. This estimated incentive intensity is higherthan in established publicly traded firms. Our results supportthe theoretical focus on incentives in the dominant theoriesof state and private ownership.     

The Government As Venture Capitalist: Organisational Structure and Contract Design in Germany's Privatisation Process

This paper examines the role that organisation structure and contract design played in resolving economic and political problems that arose during Germany's privatisation process. We find that German officials structured organizations and contracts in a way that made credible the government's commitment to rapid privatisation. This credibility served to protect the process from political and social opposition. In addition, it enabled Germany to attract talented private sector managers to its privatisation effort. This began with the establishment of an independent privatisation agency, the Treuhand. It culminated with the creation of another set of independent organisations called Management KGs, to which the Treuhand outsourced part of its restructuring, management and privatisation work. The Treuhand provided funding to this effort, thus serving as a kind of venture capitalist.     

Theft and taxes

This paper analyzes the interaction between corporate taxes and corporate governance. We show that the design of the corporate tax system affects the amount of private benefits extracted by company insiders and that the quality of the corporate governance system affects the sensitivity of tax revenues to tax changes. Analyses of a tax enforcement crackdown in Russia and cross-country data on tax changes support this two-way interaction between corporate governance and corporate taxation.