THE REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY OF U.S. BUSINESS SERVICES GROWTH, 1977–1987: EVIDENCE AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Regional analysts and policy makers have long struggled with problems arising from the uneven development of industrial systems. Most efforts have focused on manufacturing even though the business services sector continues to gain importance as a source of employment. This paper provides rigorous analyses of the regional organization of business services employment growth in the United States and discusses some implications of regionalism for the development of industrial policy. The analyses use chi-square goodness-of-fit tests and spatial statistics to examine regional structure. State-level employment data in ten business service industries for two periods, 1977–1982 and 1982–1987, are used in the analyses. The results show that although employment growth varies across the United States, it does not exhibit consistent regional organization. Instead, growth is organized more around metropolitan complexes. The lack of regional organization suggests that industrial policy should focus on the urban concentration of growth, telecommunications infrastructure and urban-rural linkages.     

How Corporate Parents Add Value to The Stand-Alone Performance of Their Businesses

Corporate parents have the potential to add value to their businesses through their influence on the stand-alone performance of the businesses, but for a variety of reasons, including what we call the 10% versus 100% paradox, they more often destroy value instead. This article examines four companies, Dover, BTR, Emerson and RTZ, which succeed in creating value through stand-alone parenting influence, and draws out the conditions necessary to do so. These are that (1) there should be a genuine parenting opportunity to improve the performance of the business, (2) the parent should have skills, management processes, and other characteristics that are suitable for realising the opportunity, and (3) the parent should have sufficient feel for the critical success factors in the business to avoid inadvertently destroying value through inappropriate influences.     

Golden Parachutes, Board and Committee Composition, and Shareholder Wealth

Takeover defense mechanisms have become common for many modern corporations. In this research, we examine one potential takeover defense mechanism, golden parachutes. In particular, the relationship between the board of directors (and the board committees) and the question of whether the parachutes are aligned with shareholder interests or are a means of entrenching management, is studied. Results show that the composition of the board of directors’ compensation committee influences the market's perceived outcome of golden parachute adoption. When insiders and affiliated outsiders dominate the board's compensation committee, negative returns are more likely to occur than when independent outsiders control the committee.     

Formal versus informal knowledge networks in R&D: a case study using social network analysis

The existence of informal social networks within organizations has long been recognized as important and the unique working relationships among scientific and technical personnel have been well documented by both academics and practitioners. The growing interest in knowledge management practices has led to increased attention being paid to social network analysis as a tool for mapping the nature and membership of informal networks. However, despite the knowledge-intensive nature of research and development (R&D) activities, social network analyses of the R&D function remain relatively rare. This paper discusses the role of informal networks in the development, exchange and dissemination of knowledge within the R&D function. A case study using social network analysis is used to compare and contrast formal and informal knowledge networks within ICI. Marked differences between the informal organization and ICI's formal structures for knowledge exchange are revealed and a series of insights into the working habits of technical staff are presented. The implications for managers are clear: through a better understanding of the informal organization of R&D staff, they can more successfully capture and exploit new ideas; more efficiently disseminate information throughout the function; and more effectively understand the working habits and activities of employees.     

CEO更替报告

每年,博斯公司都会对世界前2500家上市公司的CEO更替进行持续且透彻的研究。自2000年起,这项研究已持续了11年。每年我们都会在CEO更替研究中提出新的维度。今年的研究方向是CEO的角色以及CEO角色对任期和更替的影响。CEO及其高级管理团队在业务中亲身实践的程度如何？他们如何参与自身领导的业务？我们发现这些因素对任期和更替的影响非常明显。在这些公司中,总部参与运营决策的程度越高,CEO更替的频率可能就越高。     

Collective Choice in the Commons: Experimental Results on Proposed Allocation Rules and Votes

We analyse and empirically examine a multi-level common-pool resource (CPR) game consisting of a collective-choice level game and an operational-level game. In the collective-choice game, participants anonymously propose allocation rules to be used in the operational game and vote anonymously on the proposed rules. Majority and unanimity rules are investigated. Our major finding is that both types of voting rules substantially increase efficiency relative to a baseline with no opportunity for collective choice, but the distributional consequences of the rules differ. To understand the process by which efficiency is improved better, we examine four predictive theories related to proposals, votes, and outcomes.     

THE LOCAL EFFECTS OF LARGE DAM RESERVOIRS: U.S. EXPERIENCE, 1975–1995

Dam construction has been an important component of economic development initiatives in the United States. However, few comprehensive empirical studies examine the effects of such projects on local employment and income. This paper employs quasi-experimental control group methods to examine the effects of large dam reservoirs on county income, earnings, population and employment growth for dams opened in the U.S. during the period 1975–1984. The paper shows that large dam reservoirs have some statistically significant positive effects and tend to stimulate growth. There is considerable variation, however, with dams constructed for flood control purposes and dams further away from markets and large cities having less of an effect.