Technological competence and the influence of networks: a comparative analysis of new biotechnology firms in france and britain

The objective of this paper is to examine the role of external networks not only as a resource but also as a constraint for the evolution ofthe technological competence of twenty new biotechnology firms (NBFs) in France and Britain. The analysis is bared on extensive interviews conducted with the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of twenty NBFs, ten in France and ten in Britain. The paper identifies the network structures ofthe tweng NBFs and the impact of netmorks on the evolution of their technologial competence. The paper also attempts to identify the differences between NBFs in France and Britain in terms of the framework developed. It clearly illustrates that the capacity of NBFs to construct appropriate external linkages with other firms andfinanckrs is crucial to their success.     

No Pain, No Gain: Rethinking the Telecoms Crash

This paper reflects upon the boom and bust of the telecommunications industry from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. Unlike the conspicuous burst of the dotcom bubble, the telecoms crash came quietly, but turned out to be bigger and more catastrophic. This paper argues that bounded rationality, decision making under uncertainty and the focus on short-term individual interest all played a significant role in the telecoms crash. However, this painful crash also had its positive effects. Executives, specialists, regulators and government policy makers should pay more attention to the fundamentals and balance the need for both short-term and long-term interests in approaching the coming challenges in the fast-changing telecoms industry.     

Changes in Wages,Wage Inequality and the Return to Human Capital Skills in Kenya: 1977–2005

The conventional literature on wage inequality in Kenya has two drawbacks: first, by focusing on manufacturing sector wages, overlooking wages in other sectors, the results may be biased. Second, previous studies emphasize wage determination solely at the conditional mean rather than resort to wage determination across the entire earnings distribution. We remedy these weaknesses and add a new layer of research previously unexamined. Particularly, we consider wage changes during periods of wide GDP fluctuations from 1977 to 1986, 1986 to 1999, and 1999 to 2005 and explore if prices of measured human capital skills moved in tandem with changes in the dispersion of unmeasured human capital skills as is postulated by human capital theory. Our results support human capital theory: we find higher wages and higher residual wage dispersion during periods of rising GDP (1999–2005) but find lower wages and lower residual wage dispersion during periods of falling GDP (1977–86 and 1986–99).     

Asymptotical behavior of finite and possible discontinuous economies

We consider a finite economy in which the data are depending on an exogenous parameter and the utilities satisfy a condition, previously introduced by the authors and called sequential pseudocontinuity, weaker than sequential lower semicontinuity and than sequential upper semicontinuity. We show that the economy has a nice asymptotical behavior, that is: for any sequence (x _n ) _n of exogenous parameters converging to x _o , any convergent subsequence of a sequence of approximate competitive equilibria of converges to an exact equilibrium of .      

A historically significant case of labor-management problems: The newport torpedo plant before world war II

This study argues that the failure of submarine torpedoes during the early years of World War II were partially the result of the unique labor-management problems in the only arsenal producing this weapon before the war. Declassified National Archives material obtained by the authors records the continuous friction between unionized workers, local and federal politicians, and U.S. Navy administrators which led to morale and productivity problems at the Newport, Rhode Island torpedo arsenal. These problems resulted in inadequate production, enforced conservation of torpedoes, and a consequent lack of torpedo testing before World War II.     

Sources of the Persistent Gender Wage Gap along the Unconditional Earnings Distribution: Findings from Kenya

Past studies on gender wage inequality in Africa typically attribute the gender pay gap either to gender differences in characteristics or in the return to characteristics. The authors suggest, however, that this understanding of the two sources may be far too general and possibly overlook the underlying covariates that drive the gender wage gap. Moreover, past studies focus on the gender wage gap exclusively at the conditional mean. The authors go further to evaluate the partial contribution of each wage-determining covariate to the magnitude of the gender pay gap along the unconditional earnings distribution. The authors' data are from Kenya, and their empirical technique mirrors re-centered influence function regressions. The authors' results are novel and suggest that while gender differences in characteristics and the return to characteristics widen the gender pay gap at the lower end of the wage distributions, gender differences in characteristics widen the gender wage gap at the upper end of the wage distributions. Importantly, the authors find that the underlying covariates driving gender differences in characteristics and the return to characteristics are the industry, occupation, higher education and region covariates. In the middle of the distributions, however, the authors find that gender differences in the return to characteristics, fueled by education and experience covariates, exert the strongest influence on the magnitude of the gender pay gap.     

Social values and female fashion leadership: A cross-cultural study

As international marketing activities grow in importance, researchers are paying increased attention to cultural differences in market segments. The present study examined the relative importance placed on social values by women fashion leaders compared with nonleaders in two samples, one from the U.S. and one from the United Kingdom. A self-report scale of fashion leadership was carefully validated for both samples and used to identify fashion leaders. As hypothesized, these consumers reported the value of excitement to be more important than nonleaders. This finding suggests that, at least where value appeals are used in fashion advertising, similar appeals stressing the excitement of new fashions may be suitable in both countries. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Audits of Complex Estimates as Verification of Management Numbers: How Institutional Pressures Shape Practice

Auditors and regulators have invested heavily in improving audits of estimates in recent years, but problems in this area persist. We examine the causes of these problems and why they persist. To do so, we interview 24 very experienced auditors about how they audit complex accounting estimates such as fair values and impairments and what problems they experience in the process. We find that auditors overwhelmingly choose to audit the details of management's estimate rather than use other allowable approaches. The steps auditors describe and the language they use to describe those steps indicate that they follow a process of verifying individual elements of management's assertions on a piecemeal basis, resulting in overreliance on management's process, rather than engaging in a critical analysis of the overall estimate. The problems that auditors identify are consistent with this view, and include failures to notice inconsistencies among the estimate and other internal data or external conditions and overreliance on specialists to identify, evaluate, and challenge critical assumptions. We interpret these processes and problems using institutional theory and identify two root causes: standards' and firm policies' emphasis on verifying management's model, and audit firms' division of knowledge between auditors and specialists. Institutional theory proposes these conventions arise from firms extending use of procedures that are legitimate in one area (i.e., auditing accounts without significant uncertainty) to a new area (i.e., auditing complex estimates), even though they are likely less effective in the new area. These conventions are reinforced by regulators' method of inspection and by firms' reluctance to change methods without a prompt to change to a clearly better method. We argue that these institutionalized conventions thwart auditors' good‐faith attempts to engage in skeptical analysis of estimates. Thus, audit quality problems are likely to persist.     

Underwriter Compensation Structure: Can It Really Bond Underwriters?

Underwriter compensation can be structured as all cash or a combination of cash and warrants. Using a sample of small initial public offerings (IPOs), we find that underwriter compensation contracts that include warrants in exchange for cash can serve as certification for IPO firms by substituting for reputation capital. When underwriters accept warrants when they could have received more cash compensation, the IPOs avoid the well documented long‐run underperformance. However, when underwriters receive warrants after maximizing cash compensation, the IPO experiences higher underpricing and poorer long‐run performance. The findings are consistent with a motivation by the underwriters to circumvent regulatory constraints.