Behavioral models of managerial decision-making

This paper reviews the literature that applies behavioral economic models to managerial decisions. It organizes the literature into research that focuses on alternative utility functions and research that focuses on non-equilibrium models. Generally, behavioral models have seen less application to manager decisions than to consumer decisions and therefore there are many opportunities to develop new theoretical models, new laboratory experiments, and new field applications. The application of these models to field data is particularly underdeveloped.     

Expense preference behavior and management “outsourcing”: a comparison of adopters and non-adopters of contract management in U.S. hospitals

Specialized managerial expertise, coupled with the threat of non-renewal should improve efficiency in firms that opt for contract management arrangements. To examine this we apply a generalized version of tests for expense preference behavior to U.S. hospitals in the 1990s. Extending prior literature, we create a quasi-experimental design for a comparison of adopters and non-adopters of contracts using propensity score methods. We generate the distribution of ‘expense preference’ parameters for all contract adopters in both the pre- and post-adoption states, and for a matched control group of non-adopters over the same period. Our results show that contract adoption leads to reduced expense preference behavior, but that this result depends critically on the input being examined.

Welfare Consequences of Alternative Insurance Contracts in the Mixed For-Profit/Nonprofit Hospital Market

With the advent of managed competition, contingent insurance contracts are replacing traditional fee-for-service plans that were based on pooling principles. Under contingent contracts, insurance is tied to particular providers, while under pooling contracts, insurance is provided for services rendered by all competing providers. To examine the implications of such contracts in hospital care, we model two competing hospitals, a for-profit and a nonprofit, within the framework of a two-stage game. With various assumptions concerning the objectives of the nonprofit, we are able to explore the welfare implications of different insurance contracts and the overprovision problem.     

The Economics of Karl Marx: Analysis and Applications

Abstract

Controversy focuses on three questions: Is capital a distinct factor of production? Is capital quantifiable in a theoretically consistent manner? Are process stories necessary around convergence to, or changes in, equilibrium interest rates? To all, Kaldor answers ‘yes’ to Knight's ‘no’. The controversy is historically important in: 1) shifting issues in recurring twentieth century capital theory controversies from periods of production to production functions, from roundaboutness to diminishing returns; 2) revealing Knight's position on increasing knowledge offsetting diminishing returns over time as an unacknowledged ‘precursor’ of new growth theory; 3) marking the turning point for Kaldor's attachment to Austrian theory.     

Expense Preference Behavior and Contract-Management: Evidence from U.S. Hospitals

This paper reports on a study of expense preference behavior in a conditional sample of hospitals (before and after adoption of contract-management arrangements) using an extension of Mester's (1989) test. To identify expense preference parameters, input demand equations are considered in addition to the cost function and are estimated jointly with the cost function as a system of nonlinear equations. Based on this test, contract managers do not appear to be cost minimizers, although they tend to exhibit lower expense preference behavior than salaried managers. The importance of our results, however, goes beyond a single industry because we have shown that estimates of expense preference depend critically upon the particular input demand being studied. Studies that hitherto have relied on single input demand equations or on the cost function alone may have to be reinterpreted in this light.     

Two Closed-Form Formulas for the Futures Price in the Presence of a Quality Option

The paper derives closed-form formulas for the futures price in the presence of a multi-asset quality option. This is done for two cases: In the first one the underlying assets are zero coupon bonds with different maturities in the single-factor Vasicek model. In the second one these are commodities in a multi-factor setting, again with Vasicek interest rate uncertainty.     

Experiential Education In New Product Design And Business Development

We describe an experiential approach to teaching new product design and business development in a year‐long course that combines intensive project work with classroom education. Our course puts together up to six teams of graduate students from management and engineering who work on projects sponsored by individual companies. Student teams work with faculty from multiple disciplines and personnel from the sponsoring companies. The year‐long format and involvement with company personnel provide opportunities for students to gain hands‐on experience in a real product development project. Time constraints, coupled with students' determination to demonstrate what they can accomplish, stimulate teams to learn how to compress the design and development cycle. To help students generalize from their own projects to a wider universe of product design and business development phenomena, students participate continuously in constructive critiques of others' projects; and in presentations, case discussions and workshops that help them learn about the product and business development process itself. This article describes course objectives, syllabus, projects, sponsors, faculty, students and our course administration. In an effort to move towards a “paperless” course, we have put as much of the course material as possible on the World Wide Web; relevant websites are referred to in the article. At the end of the course each team presents a prototype and a protoplan to the sponsoring company in a final report, which in many cases includes suggestions for the sponsor on how to improve its design and development process. Students' positive evaluations, along with their comments, indicate that they are attaining their educational goals. Course projects have resulted in commercialized products, patents, continuing development projects in sponsoring companies, and placements for students. The course has generated public relations value for the units involved and for the university as a whole. © 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.     

INDUSTRY AND STRATEGIC GROUP DYNAMICS: COMPETITIVE STRATEGY IN THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY, 1970–84

This article focuses upon dynamic aspects of strategic groups in the context of the US insurance industry from 1970–84. It examines the longitudinal structure of industry strategic groups and identifies the strategic patterns followed by these strategic groups over time. the mobility rates of firms between strategic groups are also assessed. It appears that three dominant groups are present throughout the period of the study while other group positions emerge and disappear over time. the evidence suggests that the quantum theory of strategic adaptation (i.e. dramatic and concerted change) satisfactorily models the processes of strategic group change. And, a low level of firm mobility is found to exist between strategic groups consistent with the presence of inertia and mobility barriers.     

Expatriate stress and burnout

With rapid globalization, multinational firms are sending a growing number of employees on foreign assignments. A growing body of research attests to the interest in the stress experienced by these expatriates. The current study focused on a subject rarely addressed in expatriate stress research, namely burnout. Its goals were to demonstrate: (1) the relevance of burnout to expatriates; (2) the difference between stress and burnout; (3) the role played by the perceived importance of expatriates' work; (4) the relevance of existential theory as a theoretical backdrop. The study included 233 Israeli expatriates who responded to a questionnaire. Findings revealed high level of stress, low level of burnout and very high perceived work importance. Hierarchical regression showed that importance moderated the effect of stress on burnout. There were differences between the correlates of stress and burnout, especially work importance, which was negatively correlated with burnout and positively correlated with stress.