Selection Tournaments, Sabotage, and Participation

This paper studies sabotage in tournaments with at least three contestants, where the contestants know each other well. Every contestant has an incentive to direct sabotage specifically against his most dangerous rival. In equilibrium, contestants who choose a higher productive effort are sabotaged more heavily. This might explain findings from psychology, where victims of mobbing are sometimes found to be overachieving. Moreover, sabotage equalizes promotion chances. The effect is most pronounced if the production functions are linear in sabotage, and the cost functions depend only on the sum of all sabotage activities: in an interior equilibrium, who will win is a matter of chance, even when contestants differ a great deal in their abilities. This, in turn, has adverse consequences for who might want to participate in a tournament. Because better contestants anticipate that they will be sabotaged more strongly, it may happen that the most able stay out and the tournament selects one of the less able with probability one. I also study the case where some contestants are easy victims, that is, easier to sabotage than others.     

Compassion momentum model in supervisory relationships

Although compassion is an important social resource exchanged in supervisory relationships, I highlight the negative influence of power difference on supervisors noticing their subordinates' hardships. I posit that the negative effect of power on supervisors' compassion can be mitigated through two feedback loops: the emotional feedback loop and the social exchange feedback loop. I conclude with the discussion of how compassion is a social resource and momentum can build that resource in supervisory relationships.     

Agenda for Competitiveness with Compassion

The January issue gave Sir Geoffrey Howe space to outline the philosophy of the Liberal Conservatives and the policies that emerged. His statement was assessed by four economists, to whom he responded. Here Dr David Owen outlines his philosophy and the policies of the alternative government. He is assessed by four economists, to whose reservations be replies. An editorial leader comments on these two complementary features. (The Prime Minister has recently accepted that her true opposition is the Alliance rather than Labour.)     

Envy effects on conflict dynamics in supervised work groups

Decisions in Economics and Finance - At the end of the last century, chaos theory principles have helped organizational theorists to analyze several aspects of organizations and to account for...     

Feedback in Tournaments under Commitment Problems: Experimental Evidence

We theoretically as well as experimentally analyze tournaments in which one of the agents leads over the other before entering the tournament, that is, in which one of the competitors benefits from a head start. The principal may decide upon informing the agents about the degree of this asymmetry. She cannot commit to giving feedback ex ante or not and, thus, chooses the strategy that is optimal for her ex post. In equilibrium, the principal reveals information if the asymmetry is not too large. Our experimental findings qualitatively confirm our theoretical prediction. Moreover, behavior of the principal and the agents is well aligned to each other.     

Value Chain Envy: Explaining New Entry and Vertical Integration in Popular Music*

abstract The concepts of value creation, value capture, and value protection are employed to explain new entry and vertical integration. It is posited that if, at one stage of the value system, the share of value captured is disproportionally higher than the share of value created, value chain envy will ensue. This value chain envy will result in new entry and vertical integration towards that desirable stage provided that the means of value protection available to the incumbents can be overcome. Within the popular music industries, the value created at the stage of music publishing has diminished steadily over the course of the 20th century, but the value captured has remained high. This has triggered value chain envy both inside and outside of the value system. The data presented in this paper show high levels of vertical integration into that stage originating primarily from the stages upstream in the value system, while the level of new entry has been comparatively low. At the same time, the data indicate that the recent introduction of new information communication technologies (ICT) have not significantly affected the levels of new entry and vertical integration into music publishing.     

Tournaments and piece rates revisited: a theoretical and experimental study of output-dependent prize tournaments

Tournaments represent an increasingly important component of organizational compensation systems. While prior research focused on fixed-prize tournaments where the prize to be awarded is set in advance, we introduce ‘output-dependent prizes’ where the tournament prize is endogenously determined by agents’ output—it is high when the output is high and low when the output is low. We show that tournaments with output-dependent prizes outperform fixed-prize tournaments and piece rates. A multi-agent experiment supports the theoretical result.     

8. The Grounding of Forgiveness: Martha Nussbaum on Compassion and Mercy

Violence came to define the twentieth century. We live in fear that an even more extreme violence will characterize the twenty‐first century. The city of Hiroshima was the victim of the greatest single stroke of violence in the history of humanity. Yet it managed to arise, Phoenix‐like, as a city devoted to peace in the aftermath of nuclear horror. How was this extraordinary forgiveness possible? Is it possible that it was born out of a compassion for the victims of nuclear holocaust that extended beyond its immediate borders? In several works, but most notably in Upheavals of Thought, Martha Nussbaum has analyzed the conditions for the occurrence of compassion. She has also subjected her largely Aristotelian analysis of compassion to a Stoic‐inspired critique. This paper will reconstruct Nussbaum's analysis, critique, and defense of compassion. I will then extend Nussbaum's analysis to argue how a forgiveness rooted in compassion, rather than mercy, might be possible. The city of Hiroshima's dedication to worldwide peace in the aftermath of nuclear horror is used to illustrate a compassion‐based forgiveness.     

基于晋升博弈视角的城市群核心城市竞合行为分析

加强区域合作的呼声在地方政府的交流对话机制中日益显现,然而从地方官员晋升角度出发的合作必然离不开理性经济人和利己主义思想的影响,使得各地差异化发展难以展开。研究发现,核心城市间竞合行为对本城市经济发展水平均具有显著的影响特征,代表竞争行为的变量对本城市发展水平具有显著的正向影响而对其他城市发展水平的影响效应为负,代表合作行为的变量对本城市发展水平具有显著的正向影响而对其他城市发展水平也有一定的促进作用。为了提高政治考核绩效,地方政府必须在经济发展水平指标的提高上有所侧重,从晋升博弈角度出发的地方政府间竞争会大于合作。而区域一体化和区域间的分工协作更符合城市群及各城市间的共同利益,需从财税结构、合作机制、制度体系、配套设施等方面进行相应的改革调整。     

Compatibility and unlearning in knowledge transfer in mergers and acquisitions

Despite wide recognition of the central role of knowledge and its transfer, extant research has focused much on some important aspects of knowledge transfer and paid little attention to others. We focus on two underexplored issues in the knowledge transfer literature, namely: (a) compatibility of new knowledge with recipients’ needs, interpretations of its past experiences and its existing norms, and (b) organizational unlearning, which moderates the relationship between compatibility and extent of successful knowledge transfer. We examine different types and dimensions of knowledge compatibility and organizational unlearning within our proposed knowledge transfer process framework. We situate our discussion primarily within knowledge transfer in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Based on the proposed model, we also offer propositions future research can test.     

Worker representation and health and safety in small enterprises in Europe

The aim of this paper is to review the role that representative worker participation can play in contributing to better health and safety performance in small enterprises. The relevance of representative participation to health and safety in small enterprises is addressed and the challenges that the sector poses are discussed. Using a number of examples, including legislative approaches, trade union initiatives and joint trade union employer schemes in various countries, the paper explores some of the ways in which such challenges have been tackled.