Pay dispersion and workforce performance: moderating effects of incentives and interdependence

The compensation literature is replete with arguments, but lacking in empirical tests, regarding the effects of pay dispersion on organizational outcomes. Pay dispersion may increase effort and provide incentives for high workforce performance levels, but may also inhibit cooperation and goal orientation among employees. Drawing on several theoretical perspectives (individual motivation, institutional theory, organizational justice, and neoclassical economics), this study predicts that pay dispersion will be associated with higher levels of workforce performance when accompanied by formal individual incentive systems and independent work, while pay compression is desirable in the absence of individual incentive systems and when work is interdependent. Survey research studies in two industrial sectors (the motor carrier and concrete pipe industries) were conducted to address these issues. Interactive regression results were generally supportive of the predictions across several measures of workforce performance (accident rates, safety violations, and productivity). Implications of these studies for strategy implementation in terms of compensation theory and practice are addressed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The intertemporal behavior of economic profits

The intertemporal behavior of economic profits is examined. Tests show that profit rates are not independent of their initial level. A set of tests for the nature of the profit adjustment mechanism is proposed and a stock market-based profit measure is employed. Despite intertemporal dependence, we find evidence of profit rate adjustment patterns roughly consistent with neoclassical theory for negative profits. In some, but not all cases, the probability of maintaining positive profits appears less than the probability of moving toward zero profits.     

Testing theories of regulatory behavior

Many decisions by regulators have been analyzed over the last two decades in an effort to test regulatory behavioral theories. As a result, the interest group theory of behavior has gained a considerable following and the public interest theory has been largely dismissed. However, many of these tests are inadequate; with the regulatory decisions analyzed, both the interest group and public interest theories lead to the same predictions. To properly distinguish between these theories, a set of necessary conditions that a regulatory decision must satisfy is developed. Based on these conditions and the extant empirical literature, public interest concerns of regulators cannot be dismissed, and a more general theory of regulatory behavior is suggested.     

Why do firms both make and buy? An investigation of concurrent sourcing

Transaction cost economics, neoclassical economics, and the firm capabilities literatures propose theories of the firm that typically depict firm boundaries determined by a dichotomous choice: the make or buy decision. However, none of these theories presents a satisfying explanation as to why firms would concurrently source, i.e., simultaneously make and buy the same good. This study combines these organizational economics theories and compares when firms make, buy, and concurrently source through surveying small manufacturing firms. Support was shown for aspects of all three theories, with evidence indicating that concurrent sourcing is a distinctly different choice, rather existing along a make/buy continuum. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

PROFITABILITY,TRANSACTIONAL ALIGNMENT,AND ORGANIZATIONAL MORTALITY IN THE U.S. TRUCKING INDUSTRY

The winds of creative destruction rarely blow more fiercely than in a newly deregulated environment. Managers simultaneously face a novel focus on operating efficiency and an onslaught of new competitors. What must managers do to enable their firms to survive in such an environment? What factors bear on firms’ survival? This paper presents an analysis of mortality of large motor carriers in the U.S. interstate for-hire trucking industry after deregulation. It examines this phenomenon through a multidisciplinary lens that encompasses organizational ecology, neoclassical economics, and transaction cost economics. The paper posits that carrier mortality is a function of both firm-level and industry-level attributes, which are drawn from both ecological and economic theories. While each of these theories separately informs motor carrier mortality, the inclusion of predictions derived from both disciplines in one model significantly increases explanatory power over either theory evaluated alone. The empirical analysis is among the first to show increased mortality when firms do not adhere to operating policies consistent with transaction cost minimization principles. In sum, managers are well advised to adopt a multidisciplinary approach to strategy to ensure their firms’ survival. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The search for asterisks: Compromised statistical tests and flawed theories

This paper discusses repeated tests and the resultant reporting of statistical significance when it is actually not present. These errors interact with professional norms such as biases against both replication studies and ‘non‐results’ to undermine the efficacy of our base of empirically tested theory. This raises serious issues for the future of strategic management research. Suggestions are made for dealing with these issues substantively and in terms of professional norms. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The takeover market in Europe: Control structures and the performance of large companies compared

This paper describes a number of significant differences which exist between countries with respect to the freedom of the take-over market of corporations. The basic division is that between, on the one hand, the oligarchically structured Germanic (and Japanese) firms, which are virtually impossible to take over against the will of the leadership of the company, backed up by various control structures. The Anglo-Saxon type of firm, on the other hand, is—save for some exceptions—democratically structured and subject to bids, even if these displace management. The third type—the one found in Latinic countries—lies in between these two, for various institutionalist reasons.The second part of the paper discusses whether theory can throw any light on the behavioural and performance consequences of these structural/institutional differences. The derivation from such considerations is that, indeed, important and systematic divergencies in corporate behaviour and performance are to be expected.     

基于资本治理理论的企业所有权安排--股东至上理论与利益相关者理论的逻辑统一

企业所有权安排有两种不同的理论流派：“股东至上”理论和利益相关者理论。公司中的利益相关者应分为资本所有者和其他利益相关者两类,只有资本所有者才是企业所有权的主体。因此,两大理论并不是绝对对立和冲突的,在企业所有权安排上,都统一于“资本”这个概念,都是基于资本治理理论下的企业所有权安排问题。物质资本和人力资本所有者在企业所有权中的最优配置份额,取决于各个资本的谈判力。物质资本和人力资本都应纳入“企业治理”范畴,不能强调一方而忽视另一方,并根据资本作用的不同．对不同企业实施分类治理,合理地安排企业所有权,以实现资本所有者利益最大化。     

The determinants of merger waves: An international perspective

One of the most conspicuous features of mergers is that they come in waves that are correlated with increases in share prices and price/earnings ratios. We use a natural way to discriminate between pure stock market influences on firm decisions and other influences by examining merger patterns for both listed and unlisted firms. If “real” changes in the economy drive merger waves, as some neoclassical theories of mergers predict, both listed and unlisted firms should experience waves. We find significant differences between listed and unlisted firms as predicted by behavioral theories of merger waves.     

经济自由与可持续经济增长:中国的检验(1978—2008)

本文在新古典增长理论的模型框架内,诠释了中国改革开放以来经济自由与经济增长的关系。研究结果表明,经济自由及其增量对我国经济增长具有重要的作用,经济越自由,越有利于经济增长率的提高。经济自由不仅直接对经济增长率产生影响,同时也通过物质资本和人力资本的途径产生间接的影响。分指标检验结果发现,贸易自由、城乡人口流动自由、金融自由和非国有化都有利于提升经济增长率,而通货膨胀、税收负担和地方政府干预则不利于经济增长率的提高。同时,基于动态面板数据的GMM估计方法表明,中国的经济自由与经济增长互为因果关系。这使我们认识到推进经济自由并不是单纯的制度建设,经济自由与经济增长两者之间可能存在一种内在耦合的演进逻辑。     

An Analysis of REIT Security Issuance Decisions

This article tests the ability of traditional capital structure theories to explain the issuance decisions of real estate investment trusts (REITs). For issuances made between 1997 and 2006, we find strong support for the market timing theory of capital structure. Controlling for past returns and growth, a REIT is more likely to issue equity when its price-to–net asset value ratio is high. This suggests that REITs issue equity in public markets when the cost of equity capital is lower in the public market than in the private market. Consistent with traditional market timing, REITs are more likely to issue equity after experiencing large price increases. We also find some support for REITs following the trade-off theory of capital structure. REITs are less likely to issue debt when proxies for expected bankruptcy costs are high.     

Optimal cartel trigger strategies and the number of firms

Recent empirical papers have analyzed collusion in the Joint Executive Committee in an attempt to determine which of several theories of cartel behavior is supported by the behavior of this 19th century railroad cartel. Non-parametric tests of whether high and low profit regimes followed a first-order Markov process when one controls for the number of firms support the theory of optimal collusion given by Abreu, Pearce, and Stachetti. Results on whether transition probabilities depend on the number of firms are inconclusive.     

Interests, Institutions and Industrial Relations

In the comparative politics literature there are two main approaches to the impact of international economic change on national policy patterns. The first — new institutionalism — has been very influential in comparative industrial relations scholarship. The second, which focuses on the role of interests, has been less prominent. Comparing industrial relations reform in Australia and New Zealand during the 1980s and 1990s, this paper argues that there are a number of limitations to an institutionalist approach and outlines a framework for the comparative study of the impact of international economic change on national patterns of industrial relations which integrates both institutionalist and interest‐based approaches.     

Strategy in emerging economies and the theory of the firm

Indigenous emerging economy (EE) firms are increasingly competing in global markets or against multinational corporations (MNCs) in their home markets. But their institutional context at the national and local levels often suffers from what has been termed “institutional weakness” which is believed to put them at a competitive disadvantage on the global playing field. Yet little is known about how EE institutional weakness at the national level translates into competitive disadvantage at the firm level. In this perspectives paper, we examine this shortcoming in the literature. We utilize three popular theories of the firm—neoclassical economics, the resource-based view, and the nexus of contracts view—to examine how EE institutional weakness at the national level affects strategic choices at the firm level. We then explain how these strategic choices affect firm boundaries, internal organization, and the nature of competitive advantage for firms in EEs.     

连锁董事理论:来自中国企业的实证检验

本文对散见于国内外的连锁董事文献进行了梳理，将之归纳为四种理论体系，即互惠理论、资源依赖理论、金融控制理论和管理控制理论。并依据每一种理论提出了相关假定。指出了数据来源，并选取了被解释变量、解释变量和其他变量。对相关理论进行检验，其结果证实了资源依赖理论，部分证实了金融控制理论和管理控制理论。这些结论表明现有的连锁董事理论对我国上市公司连锁董事的解释能力还待于深入研究。     

Competition vs. monopoly in Greek large-scale manufacturing industries

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that affect the process of capital accumulation in large-scale Greek manufacturing industries for the period 1963–1989, and at the same time to test whether or not the structure of Greek manufacturing is competitive. The empirical results lend support to the classical and neoclassical economic theories that in the long run capital tends to flow from the less profitable to more profitable industries resulting in a tendential equalization of the rate of profit and the rate of capital accumulation.We wish to thank Ioannis Kaskarelis and two anonymous referees of this journal of helpful comments.     

The relationship between legitimacy,reputation, sustainability and branding for companies and their supply chains

This paper aims at filling a gap that we perceive to exist in the scientific literature as to legitimacy, reputation and sustainability and their interrelationship to corporate and supply chain branding. A series of innovative theoretical frameworks are provided interrelating companies and their value (supply) chains with legitimacy, reputation, and branding which are essential conditions to achieve sustainability and competitive advantage based on dyadic and social context consonance to the benefit of society and all stakeholders involved. An urgently required better understanding of the concepts and their interrelations is enhanced by a synthesized explanatory basis entailing an eclectic mosaic of interdisciplinary theories (institutionalist, neo-institutionalist theories, the viable system approach, isomorphism and identity) to improve corporate and supply chain performance. To better inform managerial practice the theoretical considerations are spiced with case studies among which especially the currently debated supply chain case of the European horse meat scandal is illuminated suggesting concrete managerial cross-functional implications in the food industry. The paper culminates in the call for a newly to-be-established marketing stream we call ‘Sustainable and Curative Marketing’.     

Individual differences, psychological contract breach, and organizational citizenship behavior: A moderated mediation study

This study examines two competing theories. Self-enhancement theory predicts that self-esteem and equity sensitivity (narrow traits) increase the perception of psychological contract breach and engage less in organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), whereas self-consistency theory predicts that these two traits attenuate the perception of psychological contract breach and engage more in OCB. Agreeableness and Conscientiousness (broad traits) are expected to moderate the mediation. This study employs moderated mediation analysis to test a sample of 204 supervisor–subordinate dyads from two theme parks in northern and central Taiwan. The results show that employees high in self-esteem are less likely to perceive psychological contract breach and engage more in OCB, confirming self-consistency theory. The results also show that this mediation is observed when Agreeableness and Conscientiousness are higher than when they are lower. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

A sociological view on why firms differ

Much theory and research that apparently seeks to explain why firms differ actually addresses the question of why successful firms differ. This article explains why the two questions are different and explores some of the implications of this difference for the field of strategic management. A wide variety of organizational and economic theories are reviewed in this context, including contingency theory, resource dependence theory, process models, dispositional models, transaction cost economics, organizational ecology and institutional theory. Further discussion considers why heterogeneity persists at the firm level when it becomes apparent that only certain types of firms will succeed.