Taking Chances: The Effect that Growing Up on Welfare Has on the Risky Behavior of Young People*

In this paper, we analyze the effect that growing up in a family with a history of welfare receipt has on young people's engagement in a variety of social and health risks. Unique administrative data matched to survey data for 18‐year‐olds and their mothers allow us to evaluate the effect of welfare receipt over the course of a young person's childhood. Much of the apparent link between family welfare history and risk taking disappears once we control for the effects of family structure, mothers’ own risk taking, and mothers’ investments in their children. We find no evidence that growing up on welfare causes young people to engage in risky behavior.     

中、印两国企业家到底有多大不同？

中国创业者认为商业上的成功有赖于知晓并利用外部市场环境,而印度创业者认为成功源于适应不断变化环境的内在能力。     

The process of embedding new information technology artifacts into innovative design practices

The design and creation of anything innovative requires knowledge creation, which in turn often depends upon the introduction of innovative information technology (IT). Since design-related practices are deeply integrated with particular IT artifacts, it is no trivial task to migrate practice-based knowledge to unfamiliar IT artifacts. To explore the challenges associated with such migration, we develop the concept of embeddedness of IT artifacts by drawing on research that highlights the critical role of representational artifacts in knowledge, design, and distributed cognition. We then inductively analyze interview data from an in-depth case study of Frank Gehry, a world-renowned and radically innovative architect known for his use of sophisticated 3D computer-aided design (CAD) technology. By studying construction firms' transition from 2D CAD to 3D CAD, we identify four relevant themes associated with embedding new artifacts into knowledge-creating practice: (1) motivating the new artifact; (2) anchoring the new artifact in the old; (3) experimenting with the new artifact; and (4) confidence in using the new artifact. Through the generation of a process theory of embedding, we elaborate on how this perspective complements and extends research on IT adaptation and assimilation, and discuss the relevance of continuing to develop the IT embeddedness perspective given the continuing need for increased levels of IT-enabled innovation.     

Firm heterogeneity,foreign market entry mode and ownership choice

We study the relationship between firm productivity, foreign market entry mode and affiliate ownership choice using Kolmogorov–Smirnov stochastic dominance tests on Japanese firm-level productivity and horizontal FDI data into 20 OECD countries during the period 1985–2001. We devote particular attention to different types of joint ventures to find that affiliate ownership increases with the parent firm's TFP.     

Visitors to Litchfield National Park,Australia: A Typology Based on Behaviours

Litchfield Park is located in the Northern Territory, Australia, and attracts over 280,000 visitors a year. The paper reports results derived from a visitor monitoring system established by the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory in 1997. Specific attention is paid to the development of clusters of visitors. Five such clusters were identified and the paper reports not simply the results of a cluster analysis, but additionally provides an importance–satisfaction matrix for the total sample. These five clusters were described as 'day visitors', 'hedonists', 'generalists', 'four-wheeldrive enthusiasts' and 'information seekers'. It was found that there was a desire to limit commercial activities within the park. It is suggested that the Parks and Wildlife Commission might have to view advertising parks as a series of complementary attractions linked to specific usage patterns rather than simply regard each park as an isolated unit. The paper also provides background data about the park, and the activities undertaken by visitors.     

Firm Productivity and the Foreign‐Market Entry Decision

We use Japanese firm‐level data to examine how a firm’s productivity affects its foreign‐market entry strategy. The firm faces a choice between exporting and foreign direct investment (FDI). In the case of FDI, the firm has two options: greenfield investment or acquisition of an existing plant (M&A). If it selects greenfield investment, it has two ownership choices: whole ownership or a joint venture with a local company. Controlling for industry‐ and country‐specific characteristics, we find that the more productive a firm is, the more likely it is to choose FDI rather than exporting and greenfield investment rather than M&A.     

Tournament incentives, firm risk, and corporate policies

This paper tests the proposition that higher tournament incentives will result in greater risk-taking by senior managers in order to increase their chance of promotion to the rank of CEO. Measuring tournament incentives as the pay gap between the CEO and the next layer of senior managers, we find a significantly positive relation between firm risk and tournament incentives. Further, we find that greater tournament incentives lead to higher R&D intensity, firm focus, and leverage, but lower capital expenditures intensity. Our results support the hypothesis that option-like features of intra-organizational CEO promotion tournaments provide incentives to senior executives to increase firm risk by following riskier policies. Finally, the compensation levels and structures of executives of financial institutions have received a great deal of scrutiny after the financial crisis. In a separate examination of financial firms, we again find a significantly positive relation between firm risk and tournament incentives.     

Internationalization in the Reinsurance Industry: An Analysis of the Net Financial Position of U.S. Reinsurers

In today's global marketplace, the extent of internationalization has become increasingly relevant. We use the framework of the eclectic paradigm to empirically investigate internationalization by U.S. reinsurers using the net financial position in foreign markets to proxy for the level of internationalization. Our sample includes both developed and developing nations to provide a more complete analysis of internationalization of U.S. reinsurers. We find that the factors related to reinsurers’ net financial positions vary based on the characteristics of the countries, the reinsurers, and the industry.     

Gilt Groupe's CEO on building a team of A players

Ryan believes that a CEO should spend more time on recruiting and managing people than on any other activity, and that the head of HR is one of the most important people in the company. He insists on his freedom to bypass managers and speak with any employee at any time. And he espouses certain talent-management principles, such as that your best people are usually underpaid (reward them with performance pay) and that people leave jobs mainly because they don't like their managers. Recruiting at Gilt Groupe focuses on references more than on résumés and interviews because, Ryan says, resumes only establish basic qualifications for a job, and interviewers can't help being influenced by well-spoken or attractive people. But reference checks need to go beyond the names supplied by a candidate: Employers should dig up people in their networks who are willing to speak candidly.