“We do what we must,and call it by the best names”: Can deliberate names offset the consequences of organizational atypicality?

Research summary: This article focuses on organizational naming as a strategic choice organizations make to overcome liabilities of atypicality. We argue that, in markets presenting an “illegitimacy discount,” atypical organizations may use deliberate names—names that communicate the market categories to which organizations claim membership—to offset the consequences of atypicality. Using data from the global hedge fund industry, we show that atypical hedge funds are more likely than typical funds to have deliberate names. Importantly, the selection of a deliberate name is economically significant. First, funds with deliberate names grow faster than funds without deliberate names, especially among atypical funds. Second, while atypicality heightened the likelihood of failure during the recent financial crisis—even after controlling for fund performance—having a deliberate name mitigated this effect. Managerial summary: Differentiation is a core element of many organizations' competitive advantage. Nevertheless, as differentiation implies being atypical among one's competitors, differentiation strategies can also lead to an “illegitimacy discount” whereby differentiators are at risk of being misunderstood, miscategorized, and ignored by consumers. Here we investigate how atypical hedge funds—funds that differentiate themselves from their competitors by investing in notably unique ways—use names to offset the potential consequences associated with the “illegitimacy discount.” Our analysis of more than 12,000 hedge funds over 12 years highlighted a trend whereby atypical hedge funds were more likely to choose names that unambiguously associated them with a known investment strategy—for instance, choosing the name “Apex Global Macro Capital” over simply “Apex Capital.” Importantly, name selection proved to be economically significant. For example, among atypical hedge funds, those with unambiguous names grew faster than those without. Furthermore, while being atypical increased the level of disinvestment during the recent financial crisis, having an unambiguous name reversed this effect. Organizational names play an important communication role with consumers, which, while highly symbolic, may also help resolve the dual organizational need to both conform to consumer expectations and differentiate from market competitors. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国基金经理激励机制的现状与发展

基金经理的道德风险是一种潜在的威胁投资者利益的风险，通过法律法规、治理结构以及监管可以约束基金经理。但通过激励机制来激励基金经理努力工作并防范基金经理的道德风险却是最可行的方法。文章对中国基金经理激励机制的现状与发展进行了分析，期望为基金投资者利益的保护，乃至为中国基金业的发展提供一个新的视角。     

Agglomeration and clustering over the industry life cycle: Toward a dynamic model of geographic concentration

Research on agglomeration finds that either a higher survival rate of incumbent firms or a higher founding rate of new entrants, or both, can sustain an industry cluster. The conditioning effects of time on the two distinct mechanisms of survival and founding are, however, rarely examined. We argue that the forces driving geographic concentration vary across the industry life cycle. Data from Ontario's winery industry from 1865 to 1974 demonstrates a dynamic model of geographic concentration: agglomeration attracts more new entry in the growth stage only, whereas it contributes to firm survival in the mature stage only. The results not only establish the importance of understanding the temporal dynamics underlying agglomeration externalities, but also provide a possible explanation for the mixed empirical results found in previous studies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can Fund Managers Select Outperforming REITs? Examining Fund Holdings and Trades

Despite at least six empirical studies published since 2000 designed to assess fund managers’ Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)‐selection ability, their skill remains in question. Unlike previous studies, we examine fund holdings and trades of REITs to answer this question. This approach allows us to explicitly account for portfolio rebalancing that alters REIT‐characteristic weights of fund portfolios. Results show that fund managers, after controlling for property type, size and momentum, generated significant positive alpha with their securities‐selection ability. To understand the sources of such ability, we examine whether fund managers who followed certain trading strategies outperformed relative to other managers. The potential trading strategies are based on public information related to geographic concentration, net‐asset‐value‐to‐price ratios, income and appreciation styles and leverage of the underlying REITs. Comparative and regression analyses show that none of the strategies fully explains why fund managers were able to select REITs that outperformed. We surmise that the outperformance mainly derives from the endemic abilities of managers to uniquely process REIT‐specific information and generate private valuation beliefs that lead to profitable investment decisions.     

Agglomeration and the choice between acquisitions and alliances: An information economics perspective

Research summary : This research extends agglomeration theory by joining it with information economics research to better understand the determinants of firms' organizational governance choices. We argue that co‐location in a common geographic cluster fosters lower levels of information asymmetry between exchange partners and thus leads firms to employ acquisitions rather than alliances for their external corporate development activities. We further extend agglomeration theory by arguing that the impact of sharing a cluster location on acquisitions versus alliances strengthens with the level and dissimilarity of the exchange partners' knowledge‐based resources as well as with the intra‐cluster geographic proximity of the partners. Evidence from a sample of over 1,100 alliance and acquisition transactions in the U.S. semiconductor industry provides support for our hypotheses. Managerial summary : This paper investigates the role of geographical clustering for firms' external corporate development activities in acquisitions and alliances. We explain how better information is likely to be available among firms co‐located in the same cluster. This suggests that managers should have less need to use alliances over acquisitions as a means of reducing the risk of adverse selection (e.g., overpaying for acquisitions). Our investigation of over 1,100 transactions in the U.S. semiconductor industry shows that common cluster co‐location increases the probability of acquisition relative to alliance. Our arguments and evidence also indicate that the information‐related benefits of cluster co‐location are even more impactful when the parties have more divergent technology bases, possess larger stocks of knowledge‐based resources, or are located in closer geographic proximity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Blocked But Not Tackled: Who Founds New Firms When Rivals Dissolve?

Research summary: This article examines the role of competitive shocks in creating opportunities for new firm foundings. I argue that the sudden dissolution of rival firms may release resources that create opportunities for firm formation, particularly among employees facing impediments to capturing value in their current organizations. Analyzing microdata from the legal services industry, I use unexpected deaths of solo‐practicing attorneys as quasi‐exogenous sources of rival dissolution. Results indicate that these shocks increase the odds of founding by about 30%, with stronger effects among attorneys with weaker social connections or higher competition for promotion. The article thus highlights the role that founders play in reallocating dissolved rivals' resources while demonstrating that founding may be an important outlet for “blocked” employees to capture value from opportunities. Managerial summary: This article finds that the shutdown and dissolution of a rival organization may spur employees to found new firms. As a consequence, managers may find it valuable to pay attention to employees' turnover intentions following the dissolution of a rival. Findings suggest that employees who are having trouble advancing in the firm may be the most likely to found a new organization when a rival dissolves, so managers may want to focus retention efforts on these individuals. To the extent that managers wish to capture customers, employees, and other resources that were formerly attached to a dissolved rival, managers may wish to be aware that they could be in competition with their own employees for these resources and opportunities. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国快递业集聚发展时空特征研究

本文运用空间基尼系数、区位熵、产业集聚指数分析我国快递业发展的空间集聚状况,运用探索性空间数据分析（ESDA）方法分析我国快递业发展的空间关联模式,研究发现：2012~2016 年,我国快递业呈现出高水平的产业空间集聚和明显的正空间相关性;上海、浙江的快递业集聚程度高,并且集聚能力高,可以作为快递业发展的示范省份;河北、河南、湖北、四川的快递业发展存在比较优势,可以作为快递业发展的培育对象。     

The impact of competition and cooperation on the performance of a retail agglomeration and its stores

Stores in retail and other service agglomerations, such as high streets and shopping malls, compete with each other for customers. Yet they may also cooperate with each other in relation to operational and marketing matters within the agglomeration in which they are located. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of both competition and cooperation, i.e. coopetition, on agglomeration and store performance. Drawing on the network debate, this paper develops a conceptual model and tests it in three distinctive agglomerations, each in an urban setting, namely first- and second-order high streets as well as an inner-city retail and service cluster. A total of 277 store managers served as key informants in our survey. Variance-based structural equation modelling reveals that both competition and cooperation improve agglomeration performance directly. Despite competition having a negative direct effect on stores' performance, the overall effect is insignificant. Cooperation affects store performance positively but only indirectly. The contribution of this paper is to reveal and substantiate the complex nature and benefits of the effects of the coopetition of stores located within agglomerations. More widely it underlines the importance of managers of agglomerations understanding the differing effects of competition and cooperation and using this understanding in their management decision making.     

物流产业集聚对制造业劳动生产率的影响机理研究——基于空间杜宾模型

本文利用2006~2015年我国30个省份（西藏除外）的面板数据,基于空间杜宾模型分析物流产业集聚对我国制造业劳动生产率的作用及空间溢出效应。结果表明,物流产业集聚、物流劳动生产率、外商直接投资、交通基础设施、地方政府投资等影响因素的直接效应与间接效应的方向与显著性均存在差异性。从总效应来看,物流产业集聚与地方财政支出均显著为正,是制造业劳动生产率提升的重要源泉。外商直接投资显著为负,一定程度上抑制我国制造业劳动生产率的提高。     

文化创意产业的集聚效应及影响因素分析

根据产业集聚原理以及创意产业本身的特殊性，从现实角度出发，研究文化创意产业区位选择的影响因素，并通过对集聚产生的效应进行分析，从微观主体的区位选择角度以及外部性如何产生集聚规模收益的角度解释文化创意产业集聚背后的影响因素和形成机制，进而解析以文化创意产业园区为依托呈现集聚发展的必然性。     

Who needs experts most? Board industry expertise and strategic change—a contingency perspective

Research summary: We analyze the effects of board industry expertise on corporate strategic change and the moderating role of institutional quality. We suggest that country‐level contingency factors mitigate the effect of experienced boards on strategy formation by providing alternative sources of information and control in strategic matters. We develop institutional quality as institutional information provision and institutional control provision to test our hypotheses on a sample of firms from MSCI Europe and the S&P 500. Our findings confirm that industry expertise is a salient driver of strategic change across countries. The strength of the effect, however, depends on the institutional quality. We submit that weak institutions require greater board industry expertise as an alternative channel of information and control. Management summary: This study provides new empirical evidence that experience in the firms' industries enables directors to increase strategic change. Our findings show that this effect is even stronger in countries with weak regulatory environments. We hereby provide guidance for multiple stakeholders. First, shareholders seeking a more active adjustment of their firms' strategies may want to compose boards that leverage such experienced directors. Second, directors can use their industry experience to control and to challenge managers better to move beyond the status quo. Third, managers lacking access to information on potential strategic change can use such experienced directors for strategic advice and as a source of information. Overall, we add to the understanding of the corporate board's role in shaping strategy and the influence of weak regulations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How middle managers manage the political environment to achieve market goals: Insights from China's state‐owned enterprises

Research summary: Although the middle management literature has identified various bridging roles performed by middle managers in the market environment, it is relatively vague about whether and how they manage the political environment to achieve market‐related goals. In an inductive field study of four large state‐owned enterprises based in mainland Communist China, operational middle managers were found to take an active role in dealing with political actors to achieve market efficiency in their local environments, performing two distinct bridging strategies. Our field study suggests that middle managers are better equipped than their bosses (top executives) as well as their subordinates (frontline employees) to perform the bridging function between competing market and political imperatives in various local settings. Managerial summary: For firms that operate in diverse geographies, it is challenging for a handful of top executives to deal with numerous political actors. This burden could be shared with operational middle managers, who play a bridging role by drawing on their operational knowledge and local networks. Our research on middle managers who work under the scrutiny of political actors in China found that they bridge market and political ideology by conveying common features that seem legitimate to both. They also bridge market goals and political actors with personal affect. Compared to top executives and frontline employees, middle managers have unique advantages in performing these bridging functions. Firms can enhance their strategy execution ability by training middle managers in dealing with political actors in diverse contexts. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characteristics and diffusion of technological innovations

The paper examines fourteen post war innovations; five in the flour milling industry, four in the malting industry, and five in the dairy industry. The major work has been carried out in the flour milling industry, with supportive studies in the malting and dairy industries. Examination is made of the characteristics of the innovations as perceived by technical managers who are in a position to influence adoption or non-adoption. The research sets out to study the relationship between the perceived characteristics of the innovations and their diffusion times. It is hoped that the results will be of value to engineering designers and marketing managers in the capital equipment manufacturing industries by enabling them to develop a clearer understanding of adoptors and non-adoptors of innovations and also to study the inter-relationships between different sectors of the industries which they serve. Two forms of profiles of the characteristics of innovations are presented.     

Real Estate Fund Openings and Cannibalization

This article examines the trade‐offs in launching new real estate funds, specifically open‐end, direct‐property funds. This investment vehicle, which is designed to provide the risk‐return benefits of private market real estate, is available to retail investors in a number of countries. At the same time, these funds are also subject to liquidity risk, because they hold an inherently illiquid asset in an open‐end structure. This format presents fund‐family managers with unique challenges, particularly with the decision to open new funds. The data consist of 2,127 German fund openings across 76 fund families in 12 asset classes over the 1992–2010 period. Including a wide range of asset classes allows for a comparison between real estate and other investment objectives. We find a substantial cannibalization effect across the existing real estate funds of a family, while we note the opposite effect—i.e., flows into existing funds increase following a fund opening within the same objective—for all other asset classes. Our analysis of fund opening determinants shows that inflows mitigate the cannibalization risk for new real estate funds. Additional evidence highlights the role of scale and scope economies in real estate fund openings. Overall, the results provide new insights into the relatively large size and small number of real estate funds when compared to mutual funds dedicated to other investment objectives.     

长三角资本密集型制造业集聚与FDI的互动关系研究

结合长三角资本密集型制造业集聚与FDI分布的现状,以产业竞争力为关键切入点,逐次分析长三角资本密集型制造业集聚对FDI的影响路径以及FDI对长三角资本密集型制造业集聚的影响路径,并以日企在苏州电子信息产业的投资为例,对长三角资本密集型制造业集聚与FDI互动关系进行分析,研究结果表明,长三角资本密集型制造业集聚程度较高的行业,外资分布也较多;在长三角资本密集型制造业发展的成长阶段,FDI的进入对于产业集聚的形成起到了关键作用;随着该产业的发展进入成熟阶段,产业集聚效应进一步吸引了FDI的进入,长三角资本密集型制造业集聚与FDI之间通过产业竞争力这一间接导体产生了一种"良性循环"。     

Development of educational program for production manager leading new perspectives on manufacturing technology

In this paper, we consider the problems associated with the development and management of an educational program for manufacturing managers in leadership roles who are making contributions towards the creation of customer delight as well as customer satisfaction using manufacturing technology. The basic concept combines an intelligent knowledge-based approach with the kaizen activity program within the framework of value creation and comparative advantage models based on a network referred to as Academia, Business, Consultancy, and Government (ABC-G). This educational program, which reflects the characteristics of manufacturing technologies and practices in the Hokuriku District of Japan, was developed in 2005–2006 and the trial education was developed in 2005 and 2006, and a trial run of this program was conducted in 2006 and 2007 in close collaboration with local manufacturing companies and their employees. The results are informative of the effects of educating manufacturing managers in Japan and the problems that will have to be overcome for the continuous improvement of the program.     

Resource orchestration in practice: CEO emphasis on SHRM,commitment‐based HR systems,and firm performance

In order to be effective, managers at all levels of the firm must engage in resource management activities, and these efforts are synchronized and orchestrated by top management. Using a specific type of strategic resource, commitment‐based human resource systems, we examine the effect of CEO resource orchestration in a multi‐industry sample of 190 Korean firms. Our results demonstrate that CEO emphasis on strategic HRM is a significant antecedent to commitment‐based HR systems. Furthermore, our results also suggest that CEO emphasis on strategic HRM has its primary effects on firm performance through commitment‐based HR systems. This finding underscores the importance of middle managers in operationalizing top management's strategic emphasis, lending empirical support to a fundamental tenet of resource orchestration arguments. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nested identities as cognitive drivers of strategy

Research Summary: Organizations face tensions to conform to industry norms for legitimacy yet differentiate for competitive advantage when implementing strategies. We suggest this tension is due to and resolved through organizations’ cognitive negotiations of multiple levels of identity. Through an inductive study in the recreational vehicle industry, we find that organizations concurrently draw on identities at the organizational, industry, and strategic group levels to formulate and enact specific competitive actions. Specifically, we find that organizational identity relates to decisions on product offerings; industry identity relates to downstream strategy; and strategic group identity relates to upstream strategy, firm boundaries, and expansion mode. Our findings highlight the importance of strategic group identity and inform a grounded model describing how organizations draw upon different levels of identity to influence strategy. Managerial Summary: Many managers experience tensions of differentiating their firms’ competitive actions from rivals, while conforming with industry norms and practices. In this article, we argue that a manager can navigate these tensions by understanding their firm, strategic group, and industry identities and how these identities interrelate. Through a qualitative case study of the U.S. recreational vehicle industry, we show that each level of identity influences different competitive actions, with firm identity connected to product offerings, industry identity related to managing downstream distribution, and strategic group identity related to firm boundary and acquisition strategies. Overall, strategic group identity is the most critical for managers as this level filters how they view competitors and provides the rules of competition.     

Interfirm differences in scale economies and the evolution of market shares

Evolutionary and resource‐based theories imply that firms in an industry with different resources and capabilities may differ in critical characteristics of their production functions, such as economies of scale. This paper measures these inter‐firm differences in economies of scale and examines how they affect the subsequent evolution of the market share distribution in the money market mutual fund industry. The findings indicate that fund families with larger marginal benefits to increasing their scale do subsequently gain market share at the expense of their rivals, but that this effect diminishes as the fund family ages, perhaps as a consequence of imitation. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Role of Principal-Agent Conflicts in the 1980s Thrift Crisis

Agency theory suggests that many of the costs incurred by the taxpayer during the 1980s thrift crisis were the result of conflicts between principals and their agents. This study models the costs associated with three distinct types of agency conflicts involved in closing an insolvent thrift—conflicts between creditors and owners, between owners and managers, and between taxpayers and government officials. Using a model that controls for sample-selection bias, the study presents strong evidence that thrift owners effected wealth transfers from creditors by undertaking high-risk investments, and that government officials pursued policies that increased losses to the thrift deposit insurance fund which ultimately were funded by the taxpayer. The results do not show that managers effected wealth transfers from owners through expense-preference behavior, but rather that inefficient management increased the losses of the deposit insurance fund.