Additivity in minimum cost spanning tree problems

We characterize a rule in minimum cost spanning tree problems using an additivity property and some basic properties. If the set of possible agents has at least three agents, these basic properties are symmetry and separability. If the set of possible agents has two agents, we must add positivity.     

Category Divergence,Straddling, and Currency: Open Innovation and the Legitimation of Illegitimate Categories

The organizational literature is increasingly interested in the origins and consequences of category emergence. We examine the effects of being affiliated with categories initially considered illegitimate (‘divergence’), and of organizational attempts to blur the boundaries between categories (‘straddling’), on capital market reactions to firm announcements. We develop arguments for how these effects likely vary with increasing legitimation (‘currency’) of the category. We apply event study methodology to the complete population of firms' announcements of open source activities, an open innovation model for software development that is novel and defies the extant dominant logic of software production and valorization. Over a ten‐year period, we find negative effects of divergence, positive effects of straddling, and that the magnitude of both these effects diminishes with increasing category currency. The implications for theories of organization and open innovation in the context of category emergence are discussed.     

The British Accounting Review: The Global Financial Crisis and Accounting (submission date 16 December 2012)

Recently, a growing literature in accounting history has provided sociological interpretations of historical facts in which accounting was involved. Foucault's governmentality concept has contributed to such analysis, specifically in 19th and 20th century's cases. However, the analysis of 18th century and, specially, colonial organizations has not been made yet. Thus, this work is devoted to analyse how accounting is implicated in the control of a Spanish colonial project. The relationships between accounting and the enlightened discourses that improved the colonies are clear. Conversely, the role of the resistance in this case allows questioning the refereed accounting literature in governmentality.     

The Use of Collateral in Gross and Net Payment Systems

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to make a comparative analysis of modern gross and net payment systems, emphasizing the implications of the availability of intraday liquidity in the former, and of collateral requirements in the latter. In contrast to previous models, an economy with two assets is described: eligible as collateral and not eligible, with the aim of being able to determine the implications of the requirement of these guarantees on banks' portfolio decisions—which affects their return—and on the probability and the consequences of a systemic crisis. This allows for comparison of the effects on social welfare of each of the two systems for different sets of parameters that characterize social risk aversion, opportunity set of banks, and the functioning of each settlement model. In a calibration exercise, it is shown how it would be legitimate for a benevolent authority to have a preference for a gross system, like TARGET, over a net system, like EURO1, for relatively high values, although plausible, of risk aversion.     

The effect of intrapreneurial experience on corporate venturing: Evidence from developed economies

This paper examines a specific, yet unexplored, dimension of human capital; namely, intrapreneurial experience. Intrapreneurial experience is defined as a human capital attribute of employees who have a leading role in the development and implementation of re-generation activities within an organization under a proactive, innovative, and risk-oriented focus. The effect of individuals’ intrapreneurial experiences on firm creation from an organization (i.e., corporate venturing) is tested by using data collected from different countries. Using a binomial logistic regression analysis and data from the 2011 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), results show that intrapreneurial experience is positively associated with corporate venturing. Moreover, the effect on corporate venturing seems to be higher than that exerted by other human capital variables of employees.     

Witty invention or dubious fad? Using argument mapping to examine the contours of management fashion

This paper examines management fashion discourse based on the premise that management fashions are not neutral, but problematic. It grounds this premise on Abrahamson and Fairchild's (1999) observation that attributes the upswings of management fashion discourse to “emotionally charged, enthusiastic and unreasoned discourse”. Adopting this critical perspective, the paper conducts a careful analysis of faddish discourse in an attempt to understand the discursive ailments that would justify ascribing a diagnosis of “unreasoned” to this discourse. To achieve this goal, the paper employs the technique of argument mapping to examine and compare the structures of early discourse surrounding: (1) Business Process Reengineering (BPR) – typically now considered a fad; (2) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) – an enduring, non-faddish IS discourse; and (3) Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) – a more recent discourse that is evaluated based on insights derived from comparisons of BPR and ERP. Findings from the resultant argument maps show conspicuous differences between BPR and ERP argumentation, which suggests an association between early argument structure and the faddish trajectory of discourse. Similarly, insights derived from ERP and BPR argument comparisons suggest that SOA is more likely to follow the faddish course of its BPR predecessor rather than the enduring track of ERP.     

Can Defaults Save the Climate? Evidence from a Field Experiment on Carbon Offsetting Programs

Individual preferences for environmental policies can be influenced by the frame in which choices and decisions are presented. In this paper we present results of a field experiment on the contributions to carbon offsetting programs under two alternative treatments for the default option. The opt-in treatment asked subjects to pay for the policy proposal while the opt-out treatment asked subjects if they wanted to be excluded from payment for the policy proposal. The results show that the frame of the default option had a significant effect on the amount of money paid for the policy proposal. Subjects were more likely to accept the policy proposal if the default option was the opt-out treatment. The results have implications for the design of environmental policies.