Appropriability,services and reputation

The appropriability regime (Teece 1986) that innovating service firms face is generally weaker than what firms in manufacturing sectors face. An important means to appropriate benefits from innovation that service firms can use is their reputation. This conceptual paper offers insights into how a firm’s reputation helps in appropriating value from innovation. Depending on the nature of a service, different kinds of third parties come into play in establishing reputation. In helping firms establish a reputation, such third parties influence customer decisions to acquire a service. While ‘to produce a service is to organise a solution to a problem’, and thus does not involve a third party, is true for pure services in particular, for a service firm to benefit from innovation such others are involved.     

Are corporate social responsibility and advertising complements or substitutes in producing firm reputation?

A firm’s reputation is one of the critical drivers of success, and two of the key levers firms use to influence their perceived reputation are corporate social responsibility (CSR) and advertising. The relationship between CSR and advertising is important because whether they are complements or substitutes has different implications for how firms use these activities. Using a unique panel dataset of US-listed companies between 2005 and 2014, we estimate flexible production functions to identify whether CSR and advertising act as complements or substitutes in the production of firm reputation. A secondary motivation of this paper is to examine whether the use of different stakeholder ratings of firm reputation matters. We find evidence consistent with advertising and CSR being substitutes toward the production of firm reputation. Our results also show that advertising, own-firm CSR activities, and industry-level CSR spillovers contribute positively to firm reputation. Lastly, we find that the effects of CSR and advertising vary across the stakeholder groups (general public, business executives, or CSR experts) used in the analysis.     

Is Corporate Social Responsibility Associated with Lower Wages?

Firms with a reputation as socially responsible may have an important cost advantage: If workers prefer their employer to be socially responsible, equilibrium wages may be lower in such firms. We explore this hypothesis, combining Norwegian register data with data on firm reputation collected by an employer branding firm. Adjusting for a large set of background variables, we find that the firm’s social responsibility reputation is significantly associated with lower wages.     

投资银行声誉、IPO质量分布与发行制度创新

本文通过构建投资银行声誉的静、动态分析模型,对投资银行、IPO质量与新股发行抑价之间的关系进行了探讨,并运用统计分析技术和方法,对有关推论进行了实证检验。结果表明:(1)对投资银行的声誉与其承销的IPO质量之间的关系来说,1999年是一个分水岭;(2)影响投资银行声誉的主要因素是其综合竞争力;(3)IPO上市五日抑价与公司业绩缺乏统计上的显著性,而主要受企业规模、发行比例、中签率、新股定价的管制程度、上市地点与时间等因素的影响。     

可信性、价值认证和投资银行声誉机制

文章认为由于"机会主义"和"善意错误"的存在,致使投资银行在价值认证中面临"可信性"问题。文章利用C-F模型,探讨了投资银行声誉对解决"可信性"问题的意义,并通过分析投资银行声誉与发行企业质量、IPO抑价和承销费用之间的关系,发现投资银行声誉机制具有"信号显示"、"价值发现"和"补偿激励"等重要功能。由于没有很好地解决可信性问题,投资银行声誉机制的这些功能在我国基本不存在,因此我国投资银行很难发挥价值认证作用,这是我国证券发行市场有效性不足的一个重要原因。     

风险投资机构声誉对其投资决策的影响

从私募通数据库搜集2000-2015年相关数据，研究风险投资机构（简称VC）声誉对其投资决策的影响。实证检验结果表明：声誉越高的VC越有可能投资高风险的新兴行业；在投资新兴行业时，声誉越高的VC越可能采取联合投资、后期投资等降低风险的策略；声誉会使VC产生追求更高绩效和保持原有绩效的双重压力；行业合法化会增强声誉对VC投资新兴行业的影响。     

Security analyst firm reputation and investors’ response to forecasted stocks in the biotechnology sector

ABSTRACT

Stock analyst reputation bridges the gap between technical knowledge of the high-technology and the investor's response to its stock, implying that the reputation of the stand-alone analyst serves this purpose. However, global firms have a stronger influence on their stock analysts than do small firms with 2 personnel. Does firm reputation affect the individual analyst and attract investor attention to forecasted stocks? Evidence from SAFs (security analyst firms) in the biotechnology sector supports this question and proposition. Four moderators (interactive predictors of organisational reputation) show positive correlations. They are the SAF's age, size, performance, and media coverage. These organisational level measures contribute to the institutional theory compared to the literature that focuses on the individual analyst without their organisations. In line with institutional theory, we make three explicit points. First, high uncertainty in the biotechnology sector turns investors to the organisational legitimacy and reputation of the analyst. Second, the organisational age, size, performance and media coverage of the security firm reduces uncertainty of the investor in the biotechnology sector. Third, the reputation of security firm flow to its individual analysts as well as from the individual analyst to the security firm. Thus, the organisational context matters in a social setting.     

Predation,reputation, and entry deterrence

Economists often argue that predatory practices are irrational, since there exist cheaper or more certain means to gain or maintain a monopoly. Our gametheoretic, equilibrium analysis suggests that if a firm is threatened by several potential entrants, then predation may be rational against early entrants, even if it is costly when viewed in isolation, because it yields a reputation which deters other entrants. Asymmetric information plays a crucial role in our analysis, since it provides the rationale for entrants to base their expectations of the firm's future behavior on its past actions. The analysis also suggests methods to treat general reputational phenomena.     

ENTRANTS' REPUTATION AND INDUSTRY DYNAMICS

This article analyzes entry–exit decisions in a market where reputation determines the price that firms may charge, within a rational‐expectation model of competition in a nonatomic market under heterogeneous reputations. The analysis focuses on the class of name‐switching reputational equilibria, in which a firm discards its name if and only if its reputation falls below the entrants' reputation. The main technical result is the existence of a unique steady‐state equilibrium within this class, in which the entrants' reputation is endogenous. The resulting industry dynamics is largely on agreement with the findings in the empirical literature.     

Matthew effect,capabilities and innovation policy: the Argentinean case

The purpose of this paper is to test the presence of Matthew effects in different types of public funding for innovation – non-refundable grants, subsidized loans and tax credits. According to the literature, Matthew effect refers to the impact of past accessing to public funds on reputation, which increases the probability of accessing in the present. The dataset is made of 966 firms that accessed the Technological Argentinean Fund (FONTAR), main instrument to foster innovation in Argentina, during 2007–2013 – 3300 observations. Results confirm the existence of Matthew effects: past accessing to FONTAR increases the probability of accessing in the present, but only when different instruments are taken altogether. Then, Matthew effect is positively associated with the diversification of access to promotional instruments rather than the repeated access to one type of funding tool. Additionally, results show that firm’s innovation investments, R&D activities, and human resources, explain the increase in probability of accessing, which provides evidence regarding the presence of capability effects. All of this suggests that once the firm enters the system of public funding, it remains with an active innovative behaviour, not just because of reputation effects, but because it has accumulated capabilities in the pursuit of a technological advantage.     

公司丑闻、声誉机制与高管变更

本文以2003～2008年发生丑闻的公司高管为研究样本,实证检验了作为非正式制度约束的声誉机制对高管变更的影响。模型的回归结果显示,公司业绩、董事会特征以及股权集中度并不能有效解释丑闻公司高管变更的原因。相反,声誉惩罚却显著提高了丑闻公司高管变更概率,并分别将这些公司董事长和总经理变更的概率至少提高了8.02个百分点和2.46个百分点。进一步研究还表明,声誉惩罚显著降低了丑闻公司董事长变更后继续担任公司其他职位的概率。研究结论证实,在转型期的中国,作为非正式制度约束的声誉机制能够在改善公司治理方面发挥作用。     

进入权、声誉与服务外包组织治理——一个非对称信息的不完全契约模型

服务外包作为一种介于市场和企业之间的中间组织形态,在人力资本密集型的服务交易治理中有其独到的优势。本文基于进入权和声誉两种治理机制,从静态和动态两个层面为服务外包组织治理搭建了一个框架模型。在静态模型中,通过对市场、外包和企业三种组织的比较制度分析得出,虽然三种组织形式都不可能达到社会最优的专用性人力资本投资激励水平,但基于进入权治理的服务外包组织可以得到次优的激励效果。在动态模型中,通过引入不对称信息和声誉机制,证明了在长期合作条件下,服务外包组织可获得社会最优的专用性人力资本投资激励水平。     

Who Wants a Good Reputation?

We examine a market in which long-lived firms face a short-term incentive to exert low effort, but could earn higher profits if it were possible to commit to high effort. There are two types of firms, "inept" firms who can only exert low effort, and "competent" firms who have a choice between high and low effort. There is occasional exit, and competent and inept potential entrants compete for the right to inherit the departing firm's reputation. Consumers receive noisy signals of effort choice, and so competent firms choose high effort in an attempt to distinguish themselves from inept firms. A competent firm is most likely to enter the market by purchasing an average reputation, in the hopes of building it into a good reputation, than either a very low reputation or a very high reputation. Inept firms, in contrast, find it more profitable to either buy high reputations and deplete them or buy low reputations.     

Product Emulation Strategies in The Presence of Reputation Effects And Network Externalities: Some Evidence From The Minicomputer Industry

A model of firm performance in the minicomputer industry is developed and estimated. We use an hedonic price formulation to analyze product design and pricing issues and a market share model to assess the demand effects of price-performance characteristics, installed base advantages and manufacturer reputation. The results, which are based on 1976–1983 data, demonstrate the importance of network externalities, price-performance competition and reputation. We utilize the estimated models to quantify the implications of several emulation strategies and several defensive strategies of incumbent manufacturers.     

Fund Portfolio Holdings and Affiliated Analyst's Objectivity: Do Equity and Employment Relationship Matter?

The author investigates how the equity relationship between fund company and brokerage firm as well as employment relationship between analyst and brokerage firm affect affiliated fund stock portfolio holding and the affiliated analyst's objectivity. By using the specific data of such equity and employment relationship, the author finds that equity and employment relationship do matter in fund portfolio holdings and analyst objectivity. Specifically, analysts tend to release more optimal ratings on stocks that have been hold by the funds, and the funds tend to significantly reduce the stocks in their portfolio once the analysts have announced high ratings on the stocks. Moreover, the analysts in employment relationships with majority shareholders of funds and with a low reputation reveal worse objectivity. In addition, from the point of abnormal return, analysts in employment relationships with majority shareholders of funds and with a low reputation damage the interests of common investors.     

中国产品质量监管的声誉模型分析

当前中国商品市场上假冒伪劣现象严重,损害消费者权益的事件层出不穷.在两阶段声誉模型中,消费者运用贝叶斯法则推断企业诚信状况并决定下期的购买行为,此时声誉力量可以约束企业的投机主义倾向,将造假企业驱逐出市场.而对重点行业加强监管、加大处罚力度、鼓励消费者投诉,可以促进市场净化,加快诚信社会的建设步伐.     

OBSERVABLE REPUTATION TRADING*

Is the reputation of a firm tradable when the change in ownership is observable? We consider a competitive market in which a share of owners must retire in each period. New owners bid for the firms that are for sale. Customers learn the owner's type, which reflects the quality of the good or service provided, through experience. After observing an ownership change they may want to switch firms. However, in equilibrium, good new owners buy from good old owners and retain high‐value customers. Hence reputation is a tradable intangible asset, although ownership change is observable.     

Reputation from nested activities

Principals usually try to elicit the quality and behavior of agents from their performance. While sometimes success or failure in production does not provide accurate information about the agents, there may be activities not directly related to production that constitute a more precise signal. I show that, when agents face reputation concerns, introducing these activities after a success improves efficiency, while introducing them after a failure reduces efficiency. Hence, nesting activities in the right way may offer a cheap toolbox to provide incentives. As an illustration, I consider a model where reputation concerns drive the hiring decisions of managers in a firm and I show how scapegoating, an activity “nested” after failures in production, generates inefficiencies. While hiring efficient workers increases the probability of success, hiring less efficient workers provides a buffer against reputation loses from failures, since managers can blame them more easily.     

VAPORWARE*

It is a widely adopted practice for firms to announce new products well in advance of actual market availability, especially in the computer industry. In this article, a firm makes pre‐announcements on its product, which are “cheap talk.” We develop a reputation model of “vaporware” where the product pre‐announcement can partially convey information about the product's quality. We discuss its implications for social welfare.     

Are environmentally responsible firms less vulnerable when investing abroad? The role of reputation

Globalization allows multinational firms to locate strategically the polluting activities in lax countries. This paper revisits the empirical evidence by exploiting heterogeneity in firms’ environmental image. While locating in countries with weak environmental standards is likely to be detrimental for a firm’s image and reputation, investing in corporate environmental responsibility can help firms to convince consumers that they have good environmental practices, even when investing in the “dirty” countries. Exploiting an original database that records an index of environmental responsibility for large European firms, we find that the firms viewed as environment-friendly are more often than others located in countries with weak environmental regulations. We show that our findings are not likely to be driven by omitted variables bias, specific sectors nor particular countries. Interestingly, this relationship is observed only among the firms with a well-established reputation for environmental responsibility.