ORGANIZATIONS AS COORDINATING DEVICES

The purpose of this paper is to offer a complex view of organizations as coordinating devices. In Section I, I briefly discuss the contractual interpretation, and I point out the inadequacy of contracts alone to coordinate organizational activities. In Section II, I explore the nature and characteristics of coordination through command, and I suggest making a distinction between authority and hierarchy. In Section III, I compare these two forms of coordination and show how they both operate. I conclude that it is the capacity of organizations to combine contract and command that determines their efficiency.     

Heterogeneity of plural forms: A revised transaction cost approach

Strategies pushing firms to adopt plural forms and the heterogeneity of solutions they endorse have attracted increasing attention. This paper proposes a theoretical framework that combines asset specificity and uncertainty to explain why there are plural forms and focuses on the key role of uncertainty, within a given range of asset specificity, to predict what and when specific types of plural forms should be observed. Propositions derived from this model are tested on an extensive set of cases from the agribusiness sector. The empirical richness of these cases allows going beyond the existing literature, which has essentially focused on franchising.     

Ethics,Diversity Management,and Financial Reporting Quality

This article proposes and empirically tests a theoretical framework incorporating Reidenbach and Robin’s (J Bus Ethics 10(4):273–284, 1991) conceptual model of corporate moral development. The framework is used to examine the relation between governance and business ethics, as proxied by diversity management (DM), and financial reporting quality, as proxied by the magnitude of earnings management (EM). The level of DM and governance quality are measured in accordance with the ratings of Jantzi Research (JR), a leading provider of social and governance research for institutional investors. This DM score is part of an index developed by JR that investment managers use to integrate DM criteria into their investment decisions. As expected, a negative relation between corporate DM development and financial reporting quality is found while controlling for other factors known in the literatures on governance and accounting choices to affect earnings quality. Despite some caveats presented in conclusion, this study contributes to the ethics, governance, and financial reporting literatures by studying the dynamics between governance and ethics in the prevention of EM.     

THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTING SYSTEM AND THE PREPARATION OF THE FIFTH FRENCH PLAN

This paper describes the process of development of the Fifth French Plan, and the role of the national income accounts in this process. Part I discusses methodological considerations relating to medium-term projections. Part II outlines the methods actually used in projecting growth outlines in the Fifth Plan, and discusses the considerations that proved critical. Part III discusses the applications of the projections to the planning apparatus.     

How do politicians shape and use budgets to govern public sector organizations? A position-practice approach

This paper examines politicians’ influence on budgets in governing public sector organizations. Theoretical reasoning is based on the position-practice concept applied in structuration theory. Research took place in a hospital district in Finland from 2009 to 2015. The findings show that politicians set coercive budgetary policies, but there was no direct relationship between budgets and actual medical practices. As a result, the budget was simply a ‘ceremonial’ tool of political governance, as medical professionals concentrate on delivering healthcare services.     

Pleasure in decision‐making situations: politics and gambling

This work investigates whether pleasure influences political and gambling decisions. Participants received two questionnaires. On Questionnaire 1, they rated the pleasure/displeasure of a series of items: social and political issues in Experiment 1, winning bets in Experiment 2, and losing bets in Experiment 3. On Questionnaire 2, they indicated the items that they would actually choose in real life. Their choices were then compared with their hedonic ratings on Questionnaire 1. Results showed that participants tended to choose those items they had most highly rated for pleasure on Questionnaire 1. In all cases, the selected outcomes were higher than chance, and thus tended to maximize pleasure, but were significantly lower than the maximum possible, indicating the presence of non‐hedonic criteria. The tendency to maximize pleasure was independent of age, gender, political opinions, and gambling propensity in real life. The results of all three experiments support the hypothesis that decisions are made predominantly, though not exclusively, in the hedonic dimension of conscious experience. A fourth experiment was set to answer a methodological question: a delay of 77 ± 3 days was placed between Questionnaires 1 and 2. The results were similar to those of Experiments 1–3, thus answering the concern.     

THE IMPACT OF POLITICAL CONNECTIONS ON FIRMS’ OPERATING PERFORMANCE AND FINANCING DECISIONS

We investigate the impact that the political connections of publicly traded firms have on their performance and financing decisions. Using a long‐term event study covering a sample of 234 politically connected firms headquartered in 12 developed and 11 developing countries from 1989 to 2003, we find that firms increase their performance and indebtedness after the establishment of a political connection. We also find that the political connection is more strongly associated with changes in leverage and operating performance for firms with closer ties to political power. Overall, our study confirms that politically connected firms gain easier access to credit and reap benefits in terms of performance from their ties with politicians.     

Anti‐dumping Reform: Time to Go Back to Basics

This paper traces and analyses both the legal and economic history of the US anti‐dumping regime, and sets forth the shortcomings of the current system, both in regards to efficiency and equity. It then presents and explains a series of proposals for reform of the system, ranging from abolition of anti‐dumping laws and regulations and their replacement with competition laws, down to less drastic but specific changes within the existing system to render it less onerous to consumers and exporters. The paper finally details the case for substituting safeguards actions for anti‐dumping actions.