Managerial Incentives and Durable Goods Monopoly

In many cases durable goods monopolists who sell out output do not appear to act in the competitive fashion suggested by Coase (1972). This indicates the firm‘s owners mitigate their commitment problem with buyers in some manner. This paper shows that managerial incentives provide a natural mechanism for the owner to mitigate its commitment problem without explicitly contracting with buyers. Owners will optimally shift their managers from the singular goal of profit maximization by penalizing them for sales. Additionally, the paper demonstrates that the degree to which managerial incentives and compensation diverge from pure profit maximization is in large part a function of the durability or quality of the product.     

Managerial Buyouts, Incentives And Performance

The managerial buyout (MBO) is a means of motivating senior managers and institutional investors to increase their monitoring efforts and so raise the performance of the firm. This paper suggests that the typical MBO contains a mix of incentives which motivate managers by raising the rewards for success and increasing the penalties for failure. At the same time, the relationship between the new company and its institutional backers encourage the latter to monitor the efforts and achievements of the management team. Such a structure appears useful in raising the performance of divested divisions, particularly in mature industries.     

Managerial and Organizational Learning in Chinese Firms

This investigation has thrown light on ways in which international joint ventures (IJVs) are addressing the issues of balance between the need to learn the knowledge and management practices introduced by the other partners and the need for the partners to maintain that level of control which enables them to secure appropriate returns from their equity investment. The results from the investigation of 67 IJVs show equity can be used as an appropriate indicator for examining both the process and the outcome of learning embedded in the organization. They also suggest that the control leveraged from a majority equity share can be used to safeguard knowledge and competencies whilst simultaneously responding to the necessity to incorporate the knowledge and management practices of its partner. Learning achieved in an IJV may not necessarily relate only to the control mechanisms exercised as there are many other variables that may have an impact including attitudes, cultural capital building, or even government policy. This study thus highlights the relationship between the impact derived from the ways of committing the resources onto an IJV and its contribution to the learning achieved in an IJV.     

Managerial Firms,Entry, and Switching Costs

Empirical evidence shows that switching costs are important in many industries. We analyze the welfare effects of entry into markets with switching costs when firms can be run by managers and the entrant may be partially foreign-owned. We find that with profit-maximizing firms, the welfare effect of entry depends crucially on the ownership of the entrant firm. We also show that entry is less likely with managerial firms than it is with profit-maximizing firms. In the latter case, entry always reduces welfare if the share of the entrant firm owned by foreign investors is high. However, with managerial firms, entry always increases welfare.     

Managing Channel Profits: The Role of Managerial Incentives

The existing literature has examined how manufacturers can enhance profits by employing specific channel structures and channel coordination mechanisms. In this paper, we examine the implications of strategically designed managerial incentives for channel performance in a duopoly. We first analyze how equilibrium outcomes (especially manufacturer profits) are altered when the manufacturers provide their channel managers with strategically designed incentives. Following that, we examine how optimal channel structure decisions are altered when manufacturers provide their managers with strategic incentives, i.e., we examine how strategic incentives moderate optimal channel structure decisions. In contrast with the existing literature, we find that an asymmetric channel structure with one manufacturer employing a profit-maximizing retailer and the other integrated manufacturer providing strategic incentives for the channel manager in charge of pricing, is an equilibrium outcome under certain conditions. We then compare how the implications of strategic incentives differ from those of channel structure decisions and channel coordination initiatives, and discuss when and why strategic incentives yield superior outcomes from the manufacturer’s perspective. Our results shed light on the sparsely researched role of managerial incentives in the channel context.     

Heterogeneous Firms,Globalisation and the Distance Puzzle

Despite the strong pace of globalisation, the distance effect on trade is persistent or even growing over time (Disdier and Head, 2008). To solve this distance puzzle, we use the recently developed gravity equation estimator from Helpman et al. (2008) (HMR henceforth). Using three different data sets, we find that the distance coefficient increases over time when ordinary least squares (OLS) is used, while the non‐linear estimation of HMR leads to a decline in the distance coefficient over time. The distance puzzle, thus, arises from a growing bias of OLS estimates. The latter is explained by an increase in the importance of the bias from omitting the number of heterogeneous exporting firms relative to the bias from omitting zero trade flows. Furthermore, we show that including zero trade flows cannot solve the distance puzzle when using HMR. The HMR estimates are strongly correlated with the time pattern in freight costs reported by Hummels (2007).     

Managerial Tenure and Recovery Following M-Form Reorganization in Diversified Firms

We identify two factors that affect how quickly highly interdependent diversified firms recover from the performance disruptions that typically accompany M-form reorganizations: (1) organizational tenure and (2) the tenure of top management teams. We find that top management teams with a rare combination of long organizational tenure and relatively short team tenure are associated with faster performance recovery in diversified firms with extensive business unit interdependencies. The effects of managerial tenure on recovery time were found to be inconsequential in unrelated diversified firms where the reorganization task is less complex.     

Taxation of Foreign Profits with Heterogeneous Multinational Firms

This paper analyses optimal taxation of foreign profits using a model with heterogeneous multinational firms that serve a foreign market through exports or foreign direct investment (FDI). If a firm switches from exporting to FDI, domestic activity and tax payments may decrease, stay constant or even rise because of intra‐firm trade. It turns out that, in contrast to recent claims, in all three cases, the optimal tax system implies full taxation after deduction of foreign tax payments. If the country accounts for the effects of its policy on the foreign price level, the case for taxing foreign income becomes even stronger. However, the globally optimal tax system may require exemption of foreign income from tax.     

中国国企高管人员的薪酬与激励:总结与思考

从制度成本的角度出发,关注中国国企高管人员薪酬制度的效率问题,并认为好的薪酬制度有助于实现国有企业剩余索取权的顺利复归。在这个基础上,着重探讨高管人员薪酬决定因素、过度投资与在职消费、年薪制及股权激励等重要题域,并对新的激励制度保持审慎乐观的态度。     

Institutional Environment, Managerial Attitudes and Environmental Sustainability Orientation of Small Firms

This study examines the direct impact of three dimensions of the institutional environment on managerial attitudes toward the natural environment and the direct influence of the latter on the environmental sustainability orientation (ESO) of small firms. We contend that when the institutional environment is perceived by owner?Cmanagers as supportive of sound natural environment management practices, they are more likely to develop a positive attitude toward natural environment issues and concerns. Such owner?Cmanager attitudes are likely to lead to a positive and proactive orientation of their firms toward environmental sustainability. The study uses survey data from 166 small manufacturing firms located in three Philippine cities. First, the study develops and tests the measurement models to examine the validity of the constructs representing the firm??s institutional environment, managerial attitudes toward the natural environment and the ESO of firms. Second, the study develops and tests the structural models examining the institutional environment?Cmanagerial attitudes?CESO linkages. Multi-sample invariance structural model analysis shows the mediating role of managerial attitudes in the institutional environment?CESO nexus. The findings show that ESO is a construct comprising three dimensions: knowledge of environmental issues, sustainable practices and commitment toward environmental sustainability. The cognitive, regulatory and normative elements of the institutional environment are strongly linked to positive managerial attitudes toward environmental sustainability, which in turn, positively influences the firm??s overall ESO. Managerial attitudes play a mediating role in the institutional environment?CESO linkages. The managerial, practical, research and policy implications of the research findings are discussed.     

产品市场竞争度与公司治理效应的实证分析:基于经理人激励视角

近年来,产品市场竞争作为公司治理的一种外部机制正受到重视。本文取2006年中国上市公司数据,以产品市场竞争为出发点,将公司治理绩效、经理人薪酬、经理人市场竞争度与企业研发联系起来进行实证分析。研究结果表明,这四项与HHI都呈正向相关关系,说明提高产品市场竞争度不仅有利于改善公司治理绩效,而且能够通过较高的薪酬选拔合乎企业的优秀人才。实证分析显示,研发与HHI间的关系最为显著,但其受控制权性质、资产与债务规模的控制较为明显。     

异质性OFDI企业序贯投资存在区位选择的“路径依赖”吗

本文基于2000-2010年《中国工业企业数据库》与《境外投资企业(机构)名录》的匹配数据,以中国464家进行序贯投资的OFDI企业为研究对象,利用条件Logit模型考察其在区位选择中对以往投资经验的动态依赖情况。结果发现,中国OFDI企业在序贯投资时确实存在对以往经验的路径依赖特征,且依赖程度依次为相同市场投资经验、相似市场投资经验与同行业企业投资经验。但是,根据企业在规模、生产率和所有权属性的异质性进行分组检验后,发现不同类型企业对不同投资经验的依赖情况亦有所差异:大规模和高生产率企业对自身投资经验的路径依赖较强,并倾向于选择相同和相似市场进行序贯投资;国有企业对相似市场与同行业企业投资经验的路径依赖程度明显高于三资企业和私营企业。     

异质性服务企业、风险承担与开放经济下二元市场结构演变

本文将服务企业特性和风险承担因素引入异质性企业贸易理论的分析框架中,考察了发展中国家不同风险承担的服务企业在国内与国外二元市场结构上的演变机制及效应。结果表明:风险承担较高的服务企业呈现出由国内转向国外的二元市场结构演变效应,而风险承担较低的服务企业呈现出相反效应;演变机制是生产环节资本性支出的增加和营销环节贸易成本及风险的有效克服;与制造业企业的比较显示,由于外资型加工贸易企业和小型外贸企业的存在,使得不同风险承担的制造业企业在二元市场结构上的演变效应与服务企业截然相反,但演变机制与服务企业是一致的。本文研究为发展中国家促进服务业发展和扩大服务出口提供了企业风险承担视角下的政策启示。     

投资经验是否影响了中国异质性企业的OFDI模式选择

本文研究了中国异质性企业在特定目的国①市场的前期投资经验与其后续OFDI模式选择的动态关系,并提出相关假说,然后使用2003—2011年中国企业OFDI数据进行了实证检验与分析。研究发现:对特定目的国市场前期投资经验越丰富,或者中国其他企业对目的国对行业投资经验越丰富,中国OFDI企业越倾向于跨境并购;从企业异质性影响看,当中国企业生产率越高时,该企业在目的国投资经验对其OFDI模式选择的影响也越大;企业前期投资经验与目的国制度、风险环境之间呈显著的逆向调节效应,差异性地作用于该企业后期OFDI模式选择;当然,中国OFDI企业在同一国前期的投资经验对其后期OFDI模式选择的影响强于相似国家,而非相似国家的投资经验则不具有显著影响。     

贸易成本、技术选择和外资出口企业转型——基于异质性企业贸易理论的视角

外资企业在我国加工贸易企业中占大多数.通过将异质性外资企业的转型决策引入标准异质性企业贸易模型,本文从贸易成本角度阐释了异质性外商投资企业技术选择的理论机制,模型表明:过度的可变贸易成本补贴会减小低效率企业转型激励,而适度的研发补贴却能鼓励外资企业转型升级.利用中国工业企业层面数据,研究发现,在控制了企业资本劳动比的情形下,外资出口企业中出口密集度较大的企业、加工贸易出口企业以及投资于劳动密集型行业的企业技术水平较低.通过支付更多的固定成本,外资企业能够通过使用高端技术进行出口转型.该检验结果与模型预测保持一致.本文的政策含义在于,政府应该控制对外资出口企业的可变成本优惠,补贴外资出口企业的固定研发成本,培育高质量的人力资本以提高利用外资的综合优势,辅助外资出口企业转型.     

Managerial ownership and performance

This study revisits the classical debate about the nature of the relationship between managerial ownership and corporate performance by using a semi-parametric estimation approach. The semi-parametric approach helps sidestep concerns associated with the potential misspecification of parametric models (e.g., the arbitrary choice of a fixed number and/or location of turning points) and enables the consideration of a wider range of non-linear behaviors. The empirical results support the existence of the initial alignment effect of managerial ownership at levels lower than 15%, while they do not lead to a strong inference on the relationship between managerial ownership and corporate performance for intermediate and high levels of managerial ownership. The results cast doubt on the findings of recent studies on the subject, which critically rely on fully parametric methods, and instead suggest the use of semi-parametric methods in estimating the shape of the ownership-performance curve.     

出口退税如何影响异质性产品的出口——来自企业、产品和目的国三维数据的证据

本文将出口退税引入产品异质性理论分析出口退税对异质性产品出口的影响,并采用2002-2006年企业、产品和目的国三个维度的出口数据,从中国出口增长的集约边际和扩展边际两个角度检验该影响机制。实证检验发现,面对出口产品退税率的提高,企业通过降低出口价格达到出口数量的增长;同时,出口退税率的提高增加了企业出口某产品的目的国数量。进一步研究发现,出口退税对企业核心产品的价格和出口国数目有显著影响,而对边缘产品影响不显著。核心产品的需求相对缺乏弹性,因此出口退税对核心产品的数量影响较小。基于不同生产率、样本和退税率度量方法,以上结论均较为稳健。