AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF MARKET STRUCTURES

The concept of market structure is at the heart of economic theory. Yet the construct has been largely neglected in marketing. Part of the reason is that it has never been effectively operationalized. In examining the implications of market structure empirical researchers have tended to use single indices for an essentially multidimensional construct. Here we show how markets can be classified objectively using the three key dimensions of structure: market concentration, product differentiation and barriers to entry. The methodology proposed should provide a more reliable base for research into strategic and competitive implications of marketing structure. The purpose of this paper is to develop an operational measure of market structure. The concept of market structure is important both in marketing and economics. Yet empirical work has produced disappointing results.¹Both economists and managers have stressed the need for new definitions and measures if useful generalizations are to be developed and the concept is to provide a valuable basis for government regulation over market competition.     

LINKING CHANGES IN REVEALED CAUSAL MAPS AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

This article explores the cognitive maps of the dominant coalition of one firm over time. It begins with an overview of the cognitive mapping literature and discusses ‘revealed cognitive maps’ as one strategy for measuring managerial cognitive structures. Next, the revealed cognitive maps from one company over a 20-year period are analysed for their fit with the company's environmental context. The data suggest that the fit between cognitive structures and the environment was less than perfect, and that decision-makers both under-identified and over-identified certain environmental factors. These and other data are discussed within the context of a cognitive approach to managerial thinking.     

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND WORK GROUP BEHAVIOUR: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

This paper reports on a research study about the organizational cultures of a number of textile manufacturing plants from both the public and the private sector in Ahmedabad, India. These plants were shown to vary along one aspect of their work-group behaviour, namely the rate of ‘loitering’ among loomshed workers. The concept of ‘culture’ is defined in terms of the shared beliefs, values, norms and traditions within the organizations. Methods of observation and informal open-ended interviews were used to identify elements and/or dimensions of organizational culture, which were subsequently measured through structured interviews with loomshed workers. The study shows a definite relationship between ‘culture’ and ‘loitering’; however, the critical elements of culture influencing loitering behaviour vary from public to private sector plants. The implications of the findings of the study for the plants under reference, for production organizations in general as well as for organization theory are discussed.     

CONTINGENCIES AFFECTING STRATEGY FORMULATION AND EFFECTIVENESS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Recent attempts at clarifying the strategy formulation problem have centred around managerial perceptions of environmental uncertainty (the need for information) and perceptions of the need for internal change. This research empirically tests one such formulation, a four quadrant model incorporating these two perceptual variables. Data sources were sixty-two longitudinal case studies involving a variety of organizations and environments. Characteristics of strategy making in each quadrant and differences between successful and unsuccessful organizations were examined through quantification of nine strategic variables for each case. Results indicated each quadrant differed from the others on a number of important strategic properties including risk taking, role performance of the key policy-maker(s), degree of innovation, extent of futurity in planning, and success of the organization. Second, strategic properties which predicted differences in success within each quadrant included perception of uncertainty, maximizing versus satisficing behaviour, innovation, futurity of planning, and role performance of the policy-maker. Third, successful firms in each quadrant tended to follow a strategic mode appropriate for the conditions. The four successful modes were adaptive planning, planning, adaptive entrepreneurial, and entrepreneural or stress mode. Motivational aspects of these results and implications for future research are discussed.     

THE SUBSTITUTABILITY OF STRATEGIC CONTROL CHOICES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY*

In one stream of literature, organizational control has been observed to have two types - bureaucratic and cultural - and to be related to strategic adaptation. In another stream of literature, societal culture has been discussed as influencing the choice of organizational control types. This empirical study combines these two streams of literature. Drawing on Child (1981) we argue that the choice of organizational control types is a cultural choice. Within this context, the substitutability of one organizational control type for the other is examined using data from two culturally distinct sets of organizations - Japanese and American. The results of canonical correlation analysis suggest that the substitutability hypothesis is supported in only a very limited sense and that the relationship between the two control types may be better viewed as balanced. Implications of these results for strategic managers are discussed.     

CLASSIFYING MANAGERIAL PROBLEMS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF DEFINITIONAL CONTENT*

Problem categories play an important role in the thinking activities of many professionals. Organizational researchers have proposed that managers employ such categories as ‘threat’, ‘opportunity’ and ‘marketing problem’ in their thinking. This paper reports the results of a study of managerial problem categories, based on an analysis of managers’ verbal definitions of a variety of organizational problems. Problem categories previously proposed in the literature were rarely evidenced in these data. However, an iterative, inductive analysis led to the identification of a rich set of managerial problem categories satisfying appropriate criteria.     

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURING: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIPS AND DIMENSIONS OF STRUCTURES IN CERTAIN FINNISH COMPANIES

The relationships of structure and structural factors at a general level are examined on the basis of data from a Finnish sample of mostly small and medium-sized industrial organizations. the sample, which consists of shoe and clothing firms, is homogeneous in terms of basic technology and industrial environment. the structural relationships are analysed from the point of view of size so that the interaction or concurrence of size and specialization is seen as a primary determinant of the systems of structural relationships. Some additional contextual variables are included in the analysis. Further, the factors or dimensions of structure reported are built on the basic variables of coordination and control. the factors are managerial supervision, the administrative component in general, including the clerical component, which is of particular importance, and impersonal mechanisms.     

AN EMPIRICAL STUDY INTO THE LEARNING TRANSFER PROCESS IN MANAGEMENT TRAINING

Two management technique courses with very specific objectives were compared. Participants completed a series of pre-and post-course questionnaires to establish whether they intended to transfer their training to their work and whether they had in fact done so. A number of characteristics were found to distinguish the learning 'experimentors' from the 'non-experimentors'. More of the experimentors had attended the course on their own initiative, more of them believed the course would be beneficial to them on the job prior to attending it, and a greater proportion had had pre-course discussions with their boss. It was found that transfer attempts were more likely to be successful and beneficial where the boss 'sponsored' the new idea. Organizational factors found to inhibit training transfer included 'overload of work', 'crisis work' and 'failure to convince older workers'. The main facilitating factors were related to the preparedness of the superior to listen to new ideas and allow experimentation with them. The management style and attitudes of the trainee's boss were found to be the single most important factor in management training transfer.     

LEADERSHIP DECISION-MAKING: AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF THE VROOM AND YETTON MODEL

Despite the common belief that greater worker participation in decision-making in industry will increase productivity and worker job satisfaction, the empirical evidence has been most contradictory. As a result, theories have been developed which now suggest that the degree of participation should depend on the particular problem or situation facing the leader. For the practising manager the problem has been the identification of the situation and the subsequent selection of an appropriate decision method. One answer to this problem is the Vroom and Yetton model which gives explicit directions to the leader as to how to categorize the problem and select the appropriate decision method. This paper describes our research to examine the external validity of this model. The sites chosen for the research were forty-seven owner-operated, small, non-unionized, franchised firms, where the leaders had the power and authority to effect organizational outcomes. On these various sites, there was relatively high similarity with regard to the technology employed, tasks performed, number of levels of hierarchy and the external environments. It was found that those leaders who were in high agreement with the Vroom and Yetton model had workers with higher productivity and higher satisfaction with supervision than those leaders who were in low agreement with the model. These findings give strong support for the Vroom and Yetton model. The implication of these findings on the training and selection of managers, and on further research, are discussed.     

PRIVATISATION AND EFFICIENCY IN THE UK WATER INDUSTRY: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS*

ABSTRACTS The post-privatisation structure of the UK water industry involves the separation of environmental services from other outputs previously produced under an integrated system by the publicly-owned water authorities. This paper examines the extent to which the integrated authorities benefitted from joint production. Estimating a dynamic multi-product cost function from pooled cross-section, time-series quality adjusted data drawn from the accounts of the water authorities for the period 1979/80–1987/88, prior to privatisation, significant elements of joint production are found. Divestiture of the industry, arguably justified on other criteria, implies the loss of substantial areas of cost complimentary.     

RISK‐COPING,LAND TENURE AND LAND MARKETS: AN OVERVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Over the last decades, a significant amount of literature has been published on informal risk‐coping in developing countries. In this paper, we review how informal risk‐coping has been addressed in the land tenure literature from two main perspectives: a first stream of research looks at how customary tenure and communal property perform key informal risk‐coping functions. A second subset of this literature analyses how informal risk‐coping creates land market imperfections through sharecropping or distress sales. The segmentation of the literature results from the Demsetzian property rights framework. Further research on risk‐coping and land tenure would benefit from examining recent work on property regimes.