Collusion Under Risk Aversion and Fixed Costs

We analyze collusion under demand uncertainty by risk‐averse cartels that care about the utility derived from profits. With sufficient risk aversion and non‐trivial fixed operating costs, it becomes difficult for cartels to collusively restrict output both when demand is low and marginal dollars are highly valued, and when demand is high and potential defection profits are high: output relative to monopoly levels becomes a U‐shaped function of demand. Greater risk aversion or higher fixed operating costs make collusion more difficult to support in recessions, but easier to support in booms.     

Risk Aversion and Technology Portfolios

This paper analyzes the choice of a technology portfolio by risk-averse firms. Two technologies with random marginal costs are available to produce a homogeneous good. If the risks that are associated with the technologies are correlated, then the firms might invest in a technology with a negative expected return or, conversely, might not invest in a technology with a positive expected return. If the technology with the lower expected cost is riskier than the other technology, then this “low-cost” technology will be eliminated from the firm’s portfolio if the risks are highly correlated. With imperfect competition, the portfolios of firms are different, and the difference in risk tolerance can explain the full specialization of the industry: The less risk-averse firms use the low-cost technology, and the more risk-averse firms use the less risky, higher-cost technology.     

Risk Aversion and Tacit Collusion in a Bertrand Duopoly Experiment

Recent research has found significant differences in the ability of subjects tacitly to collude, depending on the nature of the strategic interaction (e.g., Cournot vs. Bertrand or substitutes vs. complements goods). We investigate the relationship between subject-specific risk tolerance and tacit collusion in Bertrand duopoly experiments. We find that less risk-averse subjects price higher than do their more risk-averse counterparts, but this relationship is only significant when actions are strategic substitutes. When we analyze pair-level data, we find that non-risk averse subject pairs price significantly higher than do risk averse and mixed pairs in both the substitutes and complements treatments.     

低成本战略和新世纪中国石化工业的风险规避

随着亚太地区正逐渐成为新的全球能源消费中心，我国炼油、石化企业有较大的发展，我国的石油资源供需缺口和对外依存度正在逐年上升，由此带来的资源风险也在逐年提高。文章通过对国际油价变化的市场和政治因素的分析，提出了21世纪的中国石化工业在石油资源、能源消耗、氢资源利用以及资产投资等方面需要采取的低成本战略，以规避石化行业各种风险的到来，保障我国石化工业以致整个国民经济的健康发展。     

零售商的风险规避特性和公平偏好对绿色供应链运作的影响

针对市场需求的不确定性,本文通过建立风险规避型零售商与风险中性供应商的Stackelberg博弈模型,供应商为主导者,综合考虑零售商风险规避特性和公平偏好心理对该供应链运作产生的影响。研究发现,当风险规避型零售商不具有公平意识时,零售商的风险规避程度与供应商的批发价、绿色创新投入水平以及供应商和供应链整体的效用正相关;供应商的绿色成本系数的大小可影响风险规避程度对产品售价以及零售商效用的影响。当风险规避型零售商具有公平偏好时,零售商的公平偏好负向影响产品售价、批发价以及供应商绿色投入水平和供应商效用;零售商公平偏好对零售商以及供应链效用产生的影响受到零售商风险规避程度的影响。     

The Role of Competition in Natural Monopoly: Costs, Public Ownership, and Regulation

Conventional policy for industries with very high economies of scale is to permit monopoly but to subject it to regulation or public ownership. Since the latter may not result in cost minimization, however, it is possible that competition, by forcing firms to operate at the cost frontier, may be less costly despite sacrificing some scale economies. The paper sets out the relevant analytical considerations, estimates a cost function for electric distribution utilities in the U.S., and tests for the relative costs of monopoly and duopoly utilities. Among other notable findings, it concludes that competition does indeed lower net costs.     

企业人力资源外包动因及风险规避策略浅析

企业人力资源管理外包日益受到广泛关注,将企业中"非核心"业务外包给专业的服务商,为企业人力资源管理的科学化、专业化提供了有效途径,而这一外包过程必然会给企业带来一定的风险.文章对企业人力资源外包的动因以及可能会遇到的风险进行了探讨,并提出了基于风险控制的人力资源管理外包策略.     

Information Use and New Product Outcomes: The Contingent Role of Strategy Type

Information is an important resource for firms to develop new products successfully, and firms must rely on their ability to use information effectively. This research builds on information processing and contingency theories to explore the effect of firm strategy type and the conceptual and instrumental use of information on new product outcomes. Firms operating in high-tech industries are faced with high levels of uncertainty caused by rapidly evolving technologies. Consequently, creating innovative and successful products becomes particularly challenging. Past research examining organizational use of information points to the presence of strategic contingencies that may impact the new product outcomes that accrue to a firm. A cross-sectional study was conducted to examine how the impact of information use on new product outcomes varies by strategy type. Using data from 150 software development firms based in a developing economy, the theoretical hypotheses proposed are tested. After controlling for environmental turbulence, the research results demonstrate that firms focusing on specific types of information use innovate successfully only when that information use is congruent with an appropriate strategic orientation. Specifically, the present study finds that prospector firms focusing on conceptual information use enhance both their new product performance and new product creativity outcomes, whereas analyzer firms enhance only their new product performance outcomes. A focus on instrumental information use has different effects for firms. Defender firms enhance both their new product performance and creativity outcomes only when focusing on instrumental information use. In contrast, prospector firms detract from their new product creativity outcomes, and analyzer firms reduce their new product performance outcomes when focusing on instrumental information use.     

考虑渠道权力结构和风险规避的闭环供应链差异定价机制研究

本文研究了渠道权力结构和参与者的风险规避态度对闭环供应链差异定价机制的影响.假设制造商为风险中性者而零售商是风险规避者,利用均值——方差理论得到了制造商的期望利润函数和零售商的期望效用函数,在此基础上探讨制造商主导、零售商主导和垂直纳什均衡3种渠道权力结构下的闭环供应链差异定价策略与利润分配问题.本文还分别比较了不同权力结构下新制造产品和再制造产品的最优批发价格、最优零售价格、制造商的最优期望利润以及零售商的最优期望效用,推导了零售商的风险规避系数对最优价格和最优产量的影响,最后结合算例仿真了渠道成员利润(效用)随风险规避系数和消费者偏好系数等参数的变化规律,结果表明:制造商和零售商形成垂直纳什均衡时的闭环供应链绩效最优,其次是制造商主导的闭环供应链,最差的是零售商主导的闭环供应链.     

The Effect of Family Involvement on Innovation Outcomes: The Moderating Role of Board Social Capital

Innovation is an essential and yet puzzling part of family firms’ strategic focus. While family firms are generally characterized as conservative regarding their research and development (R&D) activities, researchers have recently argued that family firms can still achieve innovation-based competitive advantages. Seeking to understand the link between family influence and the outcomes of innovation, we suggest that it is necessary not only to observe the depth of family involvement, but also to differentiate between technological inventions and market innovations. We further posit that the board members’ social capital constitutes an important contingency for this link. We, therefore, investigate the relationship between family involvement and two different outcomes: the number of the firm’s inventions and the market relevance of innovations. Our analysis of S&P 500 firms comprises 1.85 million patents and manual evaluations of 1774 product announcements. The results of our estimations suggest that family involvement is negatively related to the number of inventions and positively related to the market relevance of innovations. They further show that internal and external board social capital moderate the relationship between family involvement and the number of inventions. This study adds to the discussion about family firm innovation by using socioemotional wealth to explain heterogeneity in innovation patterns and revealing that relational resources derived from board social capital are crucial boundary conditions for families’ influence on technological inventions. Taken together, it works toward a more holistic view of innovation in family-influenced firms.     

The Dual Transformation of Workplace Dispute Resolution

This study examines the impact on grievance rates of variation in the structure of nonunion dispute resolution procedures and in systems of work organization. Nonunion dispute resolution procedures that feature nonmanagerial decision makers had higher grievance rates than nonunion procedures with managerial decision makers. Grievance rates also were lower in workplaces that had adopted self-managed teams.     

Decision Making in Employment and Labor Arbitration

This experimental study examined the labor and employment arbitration decisions of four groups of arbitrators: (1) employment arbitrators who resolve disputes involving nonunion employees, (2) labor arbitrators who arbitrate cases in which an employee is represented by a union, (3) arbitrators in the National Academy of Arbitrators (NAA), and (4) students as a comparison of nonarbitrator decision makers with experienced arbitrators. A 2 ×2 ×4 factorial design was used, crossing arbitrator group with discipline standard and sex of the grievant. Results indicate that employment artibrators reinstate the grievant significantly less frequently than other arbitrators; however, the findings also reveal that all arbitrators make more favorable decisions under a just‐cause standard than under the newer META standard of discipline.