Dominant designs and the survival of firms

The economic, population ecology and strategic perspectives on firm survival are here complemented by viewing the same phenomenon from the viewpoint of technology evolution as well. The hypothesis tested is that the competitive environment of an industry, and therefore the survival of firms in it, is substantially affected by the evolution of the technology on which it is based. Survival analysis is applied to data from six industries. The results show that by explicitly including technology as a dynamic and strategic variable our understanding of firms' survival potential and success can be enhanced.     

转型期中国宏观产权制度的形成机理

中国地方政府围绕资本形成展开竞争,导致产权改革的非均衡推进,从而演进出政府对各生产要素利益保护不一致的宏观产权制度,这种宏观产权制度在过去的30年里是极具效率的。但随着资本日益丰富以至于不再稀缺,我们有必要在进一步产权改革的基础上建立政府适度退出机制,以使政府对各生产要素的利益保护都趋于正常值水平。     

Firms' Growth,Size and Age: A Nonparametric Approach

This paper offers empirical evidence of firm failurerates as well as the mean of the distribution ofrealized growth rates, distinguishing between thesample of non-failing firms and the sample of allfirms, failing and non-failing. Attention is directedat identifying a set of characteristics, in particularthe size and age of firms, systematically related tothe patterns of firm growth and exit, using a panel ofSpanish manufacturing firms. The two maincontributions of the paper are the use ofnonparametric techniques and the analysis of issuesignored in other studies like theregression-to-the-mean bias and the measurement oflearning effects. We find evidence that failure ratesand the mean growth rate of successful firms declinewith size and age. When failing firms are integrated,there are no significant differences in the meangrowth rate across the age and size of firms.Regression-to-the-mean does not prove to be asubstantial factor behind the negative relationshipbetween size and growth of surviving firms.     

权力视角下的企业契约分解与变迁

本文以权力为逻辑起点,分析了企业契约中控制权的来源及其在不同企业成员之间的配置,本文认为企业控制权倾向于配置给企业成员中有权力的一方,企业契约的签订是双方权力结构的形式化过程。根据契约剩余和控制权配置的不同,可以将企业契约分解为市场契约、科层制契约和关系契约三种不同性质的契约,这一结论在理论上解释了企业契约与市场契约的不同。企业契约的剩余给契约调整提供了空间,在持续交易的过程中权力结构的变化则为契约调整和变迁提供了原动力。但是企业契约变迁具有路径依赖的性质,并且企业制度并不是效率演进的。     

The impact of modes of entry and resource fit on modes of exit by multibusiness firms

This study examines the choices of modes of entry and exit in the process of new business exploration. We find that exit mode choices are determined by a different set of factors from those that are important for the entry mode decision and the exit decision per se. Our study indicates that when the resource profiles of a parent firm and the business unit are more dissimilar, and there has been less development of firm‐specific idiosyncratic assets, firms are more likely to sell businesses than dissolve them. Further, the study reports a strong relationship between the mode of exit from a line of business (sell‐off vs. dissolution) and the original mode of entry (acquisition versus internal development). Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Industry Component of Regional New Firm Formation Processes

We demonstrate that the link between geographic specific factors and the propensity for entrepreneurs to start new firms varies from industry to industry. Linking regional startup rates in Germany during the late 1980s to geographic-specific factors for disaggregated manufacturing industries, we find that the impact of geographic specific factors of startup activity varies substantially across industries. In addition, the evidence suggests that it is factors specific to each industry, such as capital intensity, that shape the link between geographic-specific factors and new-firm startup activity.     

On the anti-competitive effects of quantity discounts

We analyze the competitive effects of quantity discounts in an asymmetric duopoly. We find that for a sizeable set of parameter values, quantity discounts harm the smaller firm and reduce consumers' surplus. They can even decrease social welfare, i.e. the sum of producers' and consumers' surpluses. However, the circumstances in which quantity discounts may decrease social welfare are limited and difficult to identify in practice.     

Industry Update: Airlines

Recent developments in the airline industry are notable in three respects. A rising tide of concentration, which is accelerating and expanding through a proliferation of alliances among major carriers at home and abroad; a recurring resort to predatory pricing by the majors which continues to subvert competition by low-cost independents; and an intensification of the tacitly collusive, noncompetitive pricing behavior expected to emerge in such a highly concentrated structural milieu.     

Competition‐driven repositioning

We study competition as an impetus for firms to reposition—to abandon their current positioning strategy and adopt a new one. We predict that as a strong firm moves closer, competition erodes the profitability of situated firms and prompts them to reposition. We expect this effect is pronounced the greater difference in competitive strength. However, we expect that countervailing forces exist such that the viability of alternative positions and the opportunity cost of abandoning a current position mitigate this effect. Evidence from a natural experiment in China's satellite television industry supports our hypotheses. This research adds to the existing literature on repositioning, which emphasizes the phenomenon as opportunity‐driven, and to the competitive interaction literature, which typically does not distinguish between noncounterattack strategies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Industry Dynamics in the Swedish Textile and Wearing Apparel Sector

This paper analyses the adjustment process within the Swedish textile and wearing apparel sector and finds results that support the notion of Schumpeters creative destruction. The turnover of plants and jobs seems to improve the industries from within due to an exit (entry) of less (more) productive plants, exit (entry) of old (new) incumbents, a destruction (creation) of less (more) human-capital intensive jobs, and a supply of new products on the world market. The econometric analysis of the probability of exit with plant, firm and industry characteristics supports the idea of a rationalisation from within.     

浙江国有工业企业退出绩效实证分析

本文通过对浙江省1996－1999年度国有工业企业及各行业的绩效数据,用“参与度”及“退出度”两个指标量化国有企业在各行业介入程度;采用财政部国有企业绩效评估准则量化行业的绩效水平。分析浙江省国有工业企业在各行业介入程度的变化,研究国有企业行业参与度与绩效水平的关系,实证浙江省国有工业企业的退出绩效。     

Industry learning environments and the heterogeneity of firm performance

This paper characterizes interindustry heterogeneity in rates of learning‐by‐doing, and examines how industry learning rates are connected with firm performance. Using plant‐level data from the U.S. manufacturing sector, we measure the industry learning rate as the coefficient on cumulative output in a production function. We find that learning rates vary considerably among industries and are higher in industries with greater R&D, advertising, and capital intensity. More importantly, we find that higher rates of learning are associated with wider dispersion of Tobin's q and profitability among firms in the industry. These findings suggest that learning intensity represents an important characteristic of the industry environment that affects the range of firm performance. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effect of Industry, Region, and Time on New Business Survival – A Multi-Dimensional Analysis

We analyze the effect of industry, region, and time on new business survival rates by means of a multi-dimensional approach. The data relate to West German districts in the 1983–2000 period. The survival chances of start-ups tend to be relatively low in industries characterized by a high minimum efficient size and high numbers of entries. We find that regional characteristics play a rather important role and that introducing the regional dimension leads to considerable improvements of the estimation results. The significance of the regional dimension is also reflected in a remarkably high level of neighborhood effects.     

Incubation of an industry: Heterogeneous knowledge bases and modes of value capture

Research summary : We examine firms' technological investments during an industry's incubation stage—the period between a technological breakthrough and the first instance of its commercialization. Using the agricultural biotechnology context, we develop stylized findings regarding the understudied knowledge evolution preceding product evolution in an industry's life cycle, the trend and diversity of firms undertaking technological investments in anticipation of industry emergence, their leverage of markets for technology and corporate control, and their use of alternative modes of value capture. We juxtapose these stylized findings with existing literature to identify new theoretical insights, and set the stage for future scholarly work to develop and test new theories for the incubation period, examine its existence in other industries, and study its impact on subsequent firm and industry evolution. M anagerial summary : New technological breakthroughs present managers of existing firms and aspiring entrepreneurs with opportunities to create altogether new industries. During the vibrant incubation period, we find that multiple firms capitalize on diverse knowledge bases to shape the industry's knowledge evolution and also capture economic value in diverse ways. Existing firms in the obsolescing industry are more likely to become targets in acquisitions given their complementary knowledge. Science‐based start‐ups are more likely to engage in acquisitions and collaborations with established firms. Diversifying firms are more likely to commercialize products after leveraging of internal development, acquisitions, and alliances. Our study highlights the importance for managers to think about “success” and “failure” across multiple yardsticks of performance, rather than only as product commercialization as the sole goal. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sunk costs,contestability and airline monopoly power

This paper examines the effects of sunk costs and potential competition on pricing behavior in monopoly airline markets. We find little evidence to support the proposition from contestable markets theory that the level of sunk costs influences pricing by monopolists. Rather, the results support the view, consistent with numerous game theoretic oligopoly models, that the costs and the price-cutting reputation of potential entrants influence incumbent behavior. These results suggest that contestability theory may not be robust. Even in the markets characterized by increasing returns to scale, the perfectly contestable market may not be a useful welfare standard.I am grateful to Richard Levin, Merton J. Peck, Sharon Oster, Paul MacAvoy, Dan Kaplan, Michael Levine, David Sappington, Andrea Shepard, and Diana Strassman for their advice. Participants at numerous workshops also made useful comments. Steven Davis, Tadas Osmolshis, and Maeve O'Higgins provided help with the data and technical assistance. I acknowledge financial support from Yale University and the Eno Foundation for Transportation. The usual disclaimer, of course, applies.     

衰退产业中企业创新的方向与路径

产业创新是企业对付产业衰退的基本战略。文章首先分析了衰退产业中企业创新的目标层次；然后探讨了衰退产业中企业创新的方向，提出衰退产业的信息化到新、绿色化创新和生命技术创新是其基本方向；最后阐述了衰退产业中企业创新的路径，具体分析了产业竞争规则创新、产业延伸和创造全新产业等路径。     

Identifying Participants in a Price-fixing Conspiracy: Output & Market Share Tests Reexamined

If there is a cartel agreement among a subset of firms in an industry, it should be predicted that all firms in that industry will increase prices. Nevertheless, industry prices alone should not indicate that a particular firm is guilty of that conspiracy. According to the output test and its market share variant – proposed by Blair and Romano – if the output or the market share of the firm that claims to be innocent in the collusive activity rises in response to the price increase, that firm's claim should be accepted as true. Using a collusive variant of the dominant firm model, this paper shows that these are not robust tests to reveal either innocence or guilt, and characterizes cases where they may pardon a guilty firm (Type I error) or indict an innocent firm (Type II error). This paper also shows that a market share test can not be used to prove a dominant firm's intent for predatory pricing.     

List pricing and discounting in a Bertrand–Edgeworth duopoly

List, or retail, pricing is a widely used trading institution where firms announce a price that may be discounted at a later stage. Competition authorities view list pricing and discounting as a procompetitive practice. We modify the standard Bertrand–Edgeworth duopoly model to include list pricing and a subsequent discounting stage. Both firms first simultaneously choose a maximum list price and then decide whether to discount, or not, in a subsequent stage. We show that list pricing works as a credible commitment device that induces a pure strategy outcome. This is true for a general class of rationing rules. Further unlike the dominant firm interpretation of a price leader, the low capacity firm may have incentives to commit to a low price and in this sense assume the role of a leader.     

The survival of new domestic and foreign‐owned firms

We compare the survival of new domestic and foreign‐owned firms. We analyze the determinants of the survival of new firms and investigate whether foreignness accounts for significant differences in the survival of new foreign and new domestic firms. We find survival to be determined by ownership advantages, size and growth strategies, the internal organization of firms, and by industry characteristics such as economies of scale, and industry entry and growth. After controlling for these characteristics, we find that domestic and foreign firms do not exhibit different chances of survival, that they respond in similar fashions to the determinants of survival and display identical time patterns of exit. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.