Inter-firm collaboration in new product development in Chinese pharmaceutical companies

High-tech firms increasingly rely on inter-firm collaboration (IFC) in new product development (NPD). While there is a growing research interest in exploring the economic rationale of IFC through the transaction cost economics (TCE) and the resource synergy of IFC through the resource-based view of the firm (RBV), little attention has been given to the institution-based view (IBV) that also has important implications for firms’ choice of IFC. In particular, how national institutional environment affects IFC in the NPD process remains under-researched. This study aims to contribute to the literature by extending our understanding of the role of IFC in firms’ NPD process, taking into account transactional, resource, and institutional factors. Based on a case study of two firms: a state-owned and a private pharmaceutical firm in China, our research identifies three key forms of IFC, which are dynamic at different stages of NPD and contingent upon an array of institutional, resource, and transactional rationales underpinning firms’ choice of different forms of IFC. Our study is the first one that investigates the role of IFC in the NPD process bringing together the IBV, RBV, and TCE perspectives.     

Who's in the driving seat? Managing human resources in a franchise firm

This article reports on the findings of a study within the automotive franchise retail sector which shows how employees' experiences of HRM can, under some circumstances, be influenced both directly and indirectly by third‐party organisations. A model that describes these patterns of influence is put forward. These findings point to the way in which inter‐firm relationships influence the employment relationship from the perspective of both the employer and the employee, and raise questions about the limits of control exercised by HR department policies and activities. The article also contributes to the relatively limited literature on the operation of franchising systems, in particular concerning the role played by HR policies and practices as a mechanism for inter‐organisational control.     

Subsidizing Charitable Giving with Rebates or Matching: Further Laboratory Evidence

We examine two different ways to subsidize charitable giving: by a rebate (returning a portion of the donation to the giver) or by a match (adding additional donations to the giver's donation). In previous experimental research, we have shown that participants give more to charity under the match than under an equivalent rebate. The previous within-subject experimental design required participants to make a series of decisions under both types of subsidy. Each decision consisted of an allocation of an endowment between the subject and a charity chosen by the subject from a specified list. This article examines whether that result is an artifact of the previous within-subjects design: subjects may have failed to fully distinguish the two types of subsidy. In the current article, we report results from a between-subjects design, where participants are required to make only one type of decision—involving rebates or involving matching subsidies. Our results confirm previous findings.     

The influence of the financial press on stockholder wealth: the case of corporate governance

This study examines the impact that the publication of ratings of boards of directors by the business press has on stockholder wealth. We report findings from an event study of price reactions to the publication of Business Week's 1996 and 1997 ratings of boards of directors of U.S. corporations. As hypothesized, favorable ratings resulted in significant positive abnormal returns after controlling for market effects and confounding events, with only novel information explaining statistical variance. Contrary to expectations, unfavorable ratings also resulted in positive abnormal returns. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender Differences in Managerial Careers: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

This longitudinal study of mid-career managers compared the career progression of men and women during the 1990's. Unlike the subjects of many earlier studies, these men and women had similar education and experience profiles. Womens income changes were less than men's and reflected the greater financial strides and greater returns from promotions for men prior to 1995. The income gaps between men and women were explained by gender differences in career determinants, such as work hours, career interruptions, and having a nonemployed spouse. There was evidence of subtle forms of workplace discrimination against women in the past but not over the most recent four-year period. Women's family situations, however, continued to present obstacles to progression. In addition, a recent decline in women's priorities for promotion, a predictor of actual promotions, signalled an impending decrease in their rate of promotion relative to men's.