Productivity effects of worker participation in management,profit-sharing,worker ownership of assets and unionization in U.S. firms

In this paper we provide our first econometric estimates of the effect of worker participation in decision-making, ownership and profits on productive efficiency. Participation has the potential for exerting several conflicting influences on firm performance simultaneously. As a result both the direction and magnitude of its impact are empirical issues. Previous studies have empirically measured the impact of each of these forms of participation; however, no prior study has controlled for the influence of the other forms. Because of the potential for correlation among these forms of participation, it is possible that omitted variables bias has affected the previous results. Using a new panel data set with simultaneous measures of all four types of participation in U.S. manufacturing establishments, we model participation as disembodied technical change, and estimate production function coefficients for each type while controlling for the others. We use both OLS and instrumental variables in order to guard against potential simultaneity. The IV results indicate that participation in decision-making has a large positive productivity effect while the impacts of unionization and profit-sharing depend upon regression specification. Moderate amounts of indirect worker ownership affect productivity positively, while the estimated effect of direct worker ownership is negative. However, this last result may reflect the industrial concentration of the direct ownership firms in our sample.     

A new lot-sizing heuristic for manufacturing systems with product recovery

We consider a deterministic model of the manufacturing system with product recovery. Two types of policies for the problem had been proposed in literature, namely the (1,R) policy, in which one manufacturing setup is followed by R remanufacturing setups and the (P,1) policy, which has P manufacturing setups, following every remanufacturing setup. Teunter (2004) developed heuristics to evaluate the cost for both policies and recommended choosing the better one among them. In this paper, we develop a new class of general (P,R) policies, where the long-run ratio of the number of manufacturing setups to the number of remanufacturing setups is P/R. Rather than have P manufacturing setups followed by R remanufacturing setups, we interleave (or intersperse) the setups of the manufacturing lots and the remanufacturing lots in such a way that the buildup of the recoverable inventory is minimized. We develop interleaving based (P,R) policy heuristics for the problem. Numerical results presented in the paper show that the proposed heuristic outperforms or performs as well as the best of the Teunter (2004) policies for all the problems tested.     

Revenue management for make-to-order manufacturing systems with a real-life application

Abstract

Due to successful applications of revenue management in the airline industry, in recent years, there has been a growing interest to adopt revenue management in make-to-order (MTO) manufacturing systems. Several interrelated decision problems such as order acceptance/rejection, short-term capacity planning, due date assignment, and order scheduling need to be studied simultaneously in order to manage revenues effectively in MTO manufacturing systems. Both the producer’s and customer’s requirements need to be taken into account through some negotiation mechanisms that are sensitive to the service-level reputation of the manufacturing companies. In this article, we propose a new dynamic bid price–based revenue management model that considers all of the aforementioned decision problems simultaneously. A simulation optimization approach is utilized in order to determine the best possible values of control parameters for bid price, due date assignment, and price increment/reduction mechanisms. The performance of the proposed integrated revenue management model is tested on both a hypothetical example and a real problem of a bridal gown company. The computational results show that the proposed model provides significant improvements in total revenue compared to other static and dynamic bid price policies.     

Worker Information and Firm Disclosure Analysis on French Linked Employer–Employee Data

Information disclosure requirements significantly increased in French listed companies in the early 2000s, converging toward the U.S./U.K. stock market standards. We investigate the consequences of this process regarding worker information: does more information for shareholders mean more information for workers? Our empirical analysis takes advantage of a French establishment survey that generates linked “employer–employee” data at two points in time, 1998 and 2004. Our results show that worker information has improved in listed companies as an externality of the financialization process. We find, however, that this extra information is only partially correlated with greater employee satisfaction.     

Unobserved Worker Quality and Inter-Industry Wage Differentials*

This study quantitatively assesses two alternative explanations for inter-industry wage differentials: worker heterogeneity in the form of unobserved quality and firm heterogeneity in the form of a firm's willingness to pay (WTP) for workers' productive attributes. Building on hedonic models of differentiated product demand, we develop an empirical hedonic model of labor demand and apply a two-stage nonparametric procedure to recover worker and firm heterogeneities. In the first stage we recover unmeasured worker quality by estimating market-specific hedonic wage functions nonparametrically. In the second stage we infer each firm's WTP parameters for worker attributes by using first-order conditions from the demand model. We apply our approach to quantify inter-industry wage differentials on the basis of individual data from the NLSY79 and find that worker quality accounts for approximately two thirds of the inter-industry wage differentials.     

Machine repairing models for production systems

In this paper we consider manufacturing systems of m identical unreliable machines producing one type of product. The operating time of each machine is exponentially distributed. The repairing process of a machine requires more than one phase. In each phase, the repair time is exponentially distributed and more than one operator may be required for fixing a broken machine. Here we consider two models of manufacturing systems. In the first model, there are r operators assigned in one server to repair a broken machine. The repairing rate in each phase depends on the number of operators there. This is a generalized model discussed in Buzacott and Shanthikumar [11]. We then consider a two-phase repairing model. Two groups of operators are assigned in the two phases. Each operator can handle one broken machine in each phase individually. This model is a generalization of Eben–Chaime's model [8]. Average profits are derived for both models and can be optimized by suitable allocation of the number of machines and operators in the systems.     

Product and Process Modularity's Effects on Manufacturing Agility and Firm Growth Performance

Modularity in product design has been hailed as a way to speed new product development (NPD), to reduce NPD cost, and to enhance customization possibilities for consumers. Modularity in process design may speed new product manufacturing setup times, reduce costs, and enhance the profitability of the lower volumes that customization often entails. However, empirical evidence is scarce that either product or process modularity—individually, jointly, or sequentially—actually produce these or other proposed benefits (e.g., performance growth). This study builds on general modular systems theory (GMST) by examining the theoretical relationship between product and process modularity and the effects of each on firm growth performance. Using structural equation modeling, partial versus complete mediation by manufacturing agility is also scrutinized. In one pair of models, product modularity and process modularity are separate direct antecedents to manufacturing agility, which is modeled to affect firm growth performance; in a second pair of models, product and process modularity are related antecedents to manufacturing agility, with product modularity preceding process modularity. Results from the best‐fitting model show that product modularity directly and positively affects process modularity, manufacturing agility, and firm growth performance. Process modularity was unrelated to manufacturing agility, and neither process modularity nor manufacturing agility predicted growth performance. Consistent with GMST, the study provides empirical evidence of the power of one element of a modular system to orchestrate a fit between a firm's product and manufacturing strategies and to directly drive system performance. Thus, modularity in product design is revealed as the key to understanding GMST effects concerning how changes in one system generate changes in other systems.     

The Influence of Stock Market Listing on Human Resource Management: Evidence for France and Britain

We use data from the Relations Professionnelles et Négociations d'Entreprise survey of 2004 and the Workplace Employment Relations Survey of 2004 to analyse how far approaches to human resource management differ according to whether an establishment is part of a company with a stock exchange listing. In both countries we find that listing is positively associated with teamworking and performance‐related pay, while in France, but not in Britain, it is also linked to worker autonomy and training. Our findings are inconsistent with the claim that shareholder pressure operates as a constraint on the adoption of high‐performance workplace practices. The pattern is similar in the two countries, but with a slightly stronger tendency for listing to be associated with high‐performance workplace practices in France.     

Factors facilitating and impeding the development of export market-oriented behavior: A study of Hong Kong manufacturing exporters

We test a model of the antecedents to market-oriented behavior in firms' export operations (i.e., export market-oriented [EMO] behavior). Using data from Hong Kong-based industrial manufacturing exporters, we explain 73% of the variance in EMO activity. Our findings confirm the importance of variables such as export coordination, export experience, and the export environment in determining EMO behavior levels. However, several hypotheses are refuted, contradicting previous research findings. For instance, in our sample, centralized decision-making generally is positively related to EMO activity—particularly under conditions of high environmental turbulence: this contradicts findings of studies in Western exporting businesses where centralization generally inhibits EMO behavior. Furthermore, unlike their Western counterparts, market-based reward and training systems and managers' export commitment and emphasis on market orientation do not predict EMO behavior. We suggest that these unexpected findings may be due to differences in culture between Asian and Western businesses.     

Mobilizing Protest: Insights from Two Factory Closures

This article draws on investigations of worker response to two factory closures to develop recent discussions around mobilization theory. With many shared characteristics between the factories, both located in the garment manufacturing sector, and with similar workforces and union organization, certain key distinguishing features between the two provide insights into why worker protest became effectively mobilized and sustained in one case but failed to materialize in the other. The findings point to the value of assigning greater weight in studies of worker mobilization to the impact of prior existing social structures within a population, and the interaction between that population, its leaders and wider society.     

Manufacturing strategy-technology relationship among auto suppliers

Each manufacturing plant has to develop its own path to success based on contingencies and on manufacturing practices links. On the basis of the latter, this paper tests the link between two of the most important manufacturing practices areas, manufacturing strategy (MS) and technology, without addressing causality or their combined effect on performance. This is done by selection fit, i.e. congruency adjustment. However, this paper goes beyond grouping both sets of practices in pairs, by using a more general selection view version, with practices from both sets related multidimensionally and subordinated by regression analysis to test for any congruent pattern. Regression results from a wide-ranging survey of auto supplier plants show that, in general, MS seems to have some kind of impact on technology, and that technology has some kind of influence on MS. In addition, a strong congruency between both practices areas is observed when using correlation. This suggests that when implementing or adjusting MS or technology, the other should also be considered; otherwise they may not operate effectively.     

The Ethnographic Contribution to Understanding Co‐worker Relations

Relations among co‐workers are becoming both more important and more complex in modern workplaces as authority over job decisions is shifted from supervisors to quasi‐independent teams. The author develops a model of co‐worker relations that recognizes these changes and evaluates this model using data content coded from the full population of published book‐length workplace ethnographies (N = 204). Confirmatory factor analysis techniques support the existence of three distinct aspects of co‐worker relations: cohesiveness, conflict and peer supervision. The most important determinants of co‐worker relations are employee involvement programmes and management behaviour. Returning to specific case studies allows a theoretical elaboration of how employee involvement and management behaviour condition co‐worker relations. The author concludes by noting the importance of intellectual exchanges between qualitative and quantitative methods for generating new advances in the study of work and employment relations.     

Inter-organizational relationships and strategy quality in green supply chains — Moderated by opportunistic behavior and dysfunctional conflict

This paper presents a new research model to examine the factors influencing the quality of strategies developed and implementation in inter-organizational relationships in a green supply chain. In this study, we examine how attitude toward relationship orientation affects inter-organizational strategy quality, and how this association is affected by the opportunistic behavior and dysfunctional conflict. Relationship orientation, measured by relational benefits, relational proclivity, and connectedness, refers to the desire to develop and maintain relationships with green supply chain partners. Data are collected from 451 manufacturing firms that are among the top 1000 Taiwanese manufacturing firms of 2010 listed by Business Weekly. Relationship orientation, or the desire to develop and maintain relationships with collaborative partners, was found to be positively associated with the strategy quality. Our results show that opportunistic behavior and dysfunctional conflict decrease the willingness and damage efforts to establish relationships to enhance the strategy quality for the green supply chain.     

产业转移特征及其与企业亏损、劳动力转移关系研究

本文采用比较分析方法,基于纺织业,纺织服装、鞋帽制造业和化学纤维制造业2001～2010年统计数据,分析产业转移特征与趋势,并进一步探讨与企业亏损及劳动力转移的关系。研究结论表明:(1)从2001～2010年10年来看,纺织业和纺织服装、鞋帽制造业由东部向中西部转移,而化学纤维制造业由中部向东西部转移;(2)从2001～2010年10年内不同时间阶段来看,纺织业等三大产业在2001～2004年间都由中西部向东部转移,2004年后纺织业和纺织服装、鞋帽制造业转为由东部向中西部转移,而化学纤维制造业2004年后由中部向东西部转移;(3)纺织业等三大产业转移特征与产业内企业亏损数量及劳动力转移是紧密相联系的。这些对于我们正确认识产业转移是我国工业化过程中的客观现象,以及只有加快产业有序转移,才有利于促进区域经济协调可持续发展,具有重要的现实意义。     

External knowledge search,innovative performance and productivity in the Korean ICT sector

In recent years, Korea’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry has grown rapidly. The prosperity of the ICT industry has brought growing recognition that rising productivity and innovative performance have made major contributions to ensuring competitive advantage in international markets. In this context, recent studies stress the importance of external knowledge for improving both innovative performance and productivity. This paper empirically investigates the effects of firms’ external knowledge search behavior on their productivity as well as their innovative performance in the Korean ICT manufacturing sector. Based on firm-level data from the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), this study indicates that incremental innovation and productivity are both related to external knowledge search.     

我国新能源上市公司技术效率及其影响因素分析——基于随机前沿方法的实证研究

文章运用随机前沿分析方法对我国新能源上市公司2004~2010年间的技术效率及其影响因素进行了实证研究。结果显示:自2004年以来,我国新能源上市公司的技术效率显著提升,但整体依然偏低;企业超额获利能力、员工素质对技术效率有显著的正向影响;企业规模对技术效率也存在正向影响,但影响不大;第一大股东的国有股性质对技术效率的影响显著为负;企业成立时间长短、技术人员比重、所处地理位置等因素对技术效率没有显著影响。最后,根据实证结果对我国新能源行业的发展提出了针对性的建议。     

产业外部性对全要素生产率及其分解的实证研究

本文构建关于MAR外部性、Jacobs外部性与Porter外部性与全要素生产率的空间计量模型,实证检验了以2004年为基期的2005~2015年中国省域制造业的产业外部性对于全要素生产率的影响,同时将产业细分为劳动密集型、资源密集型以及技术密集型进行探讨研究 。通过构建空间计量模型,发现雅各布斯外部性与波特外部性对于制造业整体以及3个细分产业的全要素生产率的影响非常显著,都对全要素生产率的增长具有促进作用。针对生产率分解后的技术进步与技术效率的实证证明,产业多样化可以促进制造业技术效率改善而对技术进步具有抑制作用,市场竞争可以促进制造业技术进步,与波特外部性不谋而合。提高产业专业化以及保持产业的区域垄断更能促进劳动密集型产业技术进步,支持了MAR外部性的观点。劳动密集型产业技术效率的变动则主要是通过区域的竞争来影响;资源密集型产业的技术进步与技术效率只有波特外部性在发挥正向效应;技术密集型产业的技术进步需要保持产业的专业化,而提高产业的多样化与有效的市场竞争更利于技术效率的改善。     

How Relevant Is Government Championing Behavior in Technology Development?

Many studies emphasize the importance of government support in technology development. However, this study is among the first to provide empirical findings of the relevance of government roles for the performance of technology development projects. Based on earlier research and the strategic management literature, a theoretical model and hypotheses are developed to study the relevance of government roles and project teams' strategic behavior for technology development projects. Our results show that government championship is an important positive factor for the performance of technology development projects. Government championing behavior overcomes regulatory barriers, enthusiastically promotes the technology's advantages, and gets key decision makers involved. As such, government championship has more impact than government financial/technical assistance on both project performance and benefits to customers. The findings also show that both the proactiveness and defensiveness dimensions of project teams' strategic behavior contribute positively to project performance and benefits to customers. The paper concludes with implications for practice: From a policy perspective, government should extend its technology policies by taking on the role as a champion, while companies should invest in building professional relations with champions in government.     

Incentives and management styles

In a principal-agent framework, we explain different managing styles. In our model, there are two vertical tasks — an upstream task for improving the project's potential environment, and a downstream task for implementing the project. The downstream task must be done by the worker, but the upstream task can be done by either the manager or the worker. An effort for the upstream task is a hidden action of the party in charge of the task. The realized project environment is the manager's private information. We show that, when the upstream task is easy, the manager may assign the task to herself, even if her opportunity cost is larger than the worker's (a bias in favor of micro-management). When the upstream task is hard, by contrast, the manager may assign the task to the worker, even if her opportunity cost is smaller than the worker's (a bias in favor of macro-management). We also discuss distortions in the project output schedules in each case to show that the central trade-off is efficiency in task allocation versus efficiency in project output.     

Organizational leadership: How much does it matter?

I study the influence of leadership on organizational performance and worker wellbeing using data from the 2004 and 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS). Our most conservative estimates from fixed effects regressions on a panel of organizations reveal that virtuous leadership is significantly and positively linked to an upbeat assessment of organizational performance, and an increase in worker wellbeing. Specifically, the estimates reveal that an increase in leadership quality by one standard deviation increases organizational performance and worker job satisfaction by 0.27 and 0.73 standard deviations, respectively, while it leads to a fall in worker job anxiety by 0.13 standard deviations. The results support the hypothesis that good leadership is vital for the success of business, including worker wellbeing, which organizational policymakers ought to heed. There is a dearth of empirical evidence on organizational leadership as an institution and its influence on organizational outcomes, which this article aims to address.