Reputation Without Repeated Interaction: A Role for Public Disclosures

This paper conductsan experiment to investigate the economic effect of public disclosureswithin a multi-move adaptation of the Prisoner's Dilemma game.The game, which has multiple equilibria, is characterized by:(1) a stochastic endpoint, (2) random, repeated pairings withanonymous partners, and (3) public disclosures concerning thecurrent partner's previous strategies. In the experiment, cooperationis improved by the disclosures. In addition, subjects cooperatemore frequently when encountering a player who has tended tocooperate in the past, and less frequently when encounteringa player who has tended to defect in the past. Delayed disclosureleads to levels of cooperation only slightly less than thoseobtained with timely disclosure.     

Artistic consumption and well-being: A song of two countries

Efforts are being made to examine how the arts help people reach their full potential and contribute to subjective well-being. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between artistic consumption and consumer well-being. Specifically, consumer motives, represented as emotion regulation, and arts engagement are examined to assess the relationship between arts participation and life satisfaction. This assessment is carried out in 2 countries, the United States and Croatia. Findings from both countries indicate that emotion regulation is positively related to arts engagement. In turn, arts engagement is positively related to arts participation for consumers in both countries. Results, however, diverge for both countries with respect to the influence that artistic consumption has on global life satisfaction. For U.S. consumers, arts participation is positively related to life satisfaction; yet arts participation is not related to satisfaction for Croatian consumers. Implications for the role the arts play in contributing to consumer well-being are discussed.     

Delegation in Multi‐Establishment Firms: Evidence from I.T. Purchasing

Recent contributions to a growing theory literature have focused on the tradeoff between adaptation and coordination in determining delegation within firms. Empirical evidence, however, is limited. Using establishment‐level data on decision rights over information technology investments, I find that a high net value of adaptation is strongly associated with delegation, as are local information advantages and firm‐wide diversification; in contrast, a high net value of within‐firm coordination is correlated with centralization. Variation across establishments within firms is widespread: most firms are neither fully centralized nor fully decentralized. Delegation patterns are largely consistent with standard team‐theory predictions; however, certain findings, such as a negative correlation between delegation and firm size, call for a consideration of agency costs as well.     

Bargaining and inequity aversion: On the efficiency of the double auction

In a bargaining setting with asymmetrically informed, inequity-averse parties, a fully efficient mechanism (i.e., the double auction) exists if and only if compassion is strong. Less compassionate parties do not trade in the double auction in the limit of strong envy.     

Firm survival in the German automobile industry

In this paper, methods of duration analysis are applied to investigate determinants of firm survival in the German automobile industry during the period 1886–1939. A new comprehensive data set has been assembled in order to secure data comparable to that for the US automobile industry. Our results show that the forces shaping the survival pattern of firms over the life cycle are quite similar in both countries, i.e. early entry in the life cycle and prior experience are associated with a lower risk of exit. This finding holds equally when parametric, semiparametric and nonparametric methods are applied.We thank the participants of the 10th conference of the International Schumpeter Society in Milan, June 2004, and the 31st EARIE conference in Berlin, September 2004, for helpful discussion. We also thank two anonymous referees for their comments. All remaining errors are in our responsibility.     

“She did what? There is no way I would do that!” The Potential Interpersonal Harm Caused by Mispredicting One’s Behavior

When forecasting their own behavior, people are often inaccurate and tend to predict that they will engage in more socially desirable behavior than they actually do. The problem with inaccurate behavioral forecasts is that they can lead to negative consequences both for the self and for others. One particularly negative consequence may be that such errors can produce overly harsh evaluations and condemnation of others who do not act in a way that most people predict they themselves would act. This paper identifies these common behavioral forecasting errors, why they occur, and the negative interpersonal and unintended, unethical consequences they can have.     

Clinical burden and healthcare resource utilization among patients with chronic hypoparathyroidism,overall and by adequately vs not adequately controlled disease: a multi-country chart review

Abstract

Aims: To assess the real-world clinical burden and healthcare resource utilization (HRU) among patients with chronic hypoparathyroidism, overall and by adequately controlled (AC) vs not adequately controlled (NAC) disease, informed by guideline-recommended clinical management targets, including biochemistry and symptoms.

Materials and methods: In this retrospective online chart review, endocrinologists in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain were randomly selected to review the medical charts of adult patients with chronic hypoparathyroidism receiving calcium and activated vitamin D. Patients’ demographics, disease characteristics, symptoms, comorbidities, and hypoparathyroidism-related HRU during the 1 year before the review date were assessed. Clinical burden and HRU were compared between patients with NAC and AC hypoparathyroidism.

Results: Of 614 patients with hypoparathyroidism (AC, N?=?442; NAC, N?=?172), the mean age was 43.6?years, and the majority were female (61.6%), Caucasian (78.8%), and had post-surgical hypoparathyroidism (74.4%). Mean duration of hypoparathyroidism was 46.0?months. Hypoparathyroidism-related symptoms and comorbidities were reported in 59.4% and 46.7% of patients, respectively; 90.7% of patients had ≥1 hypoparathyroidism-related HRU event. More patients with NAC (57.6%) vs AC (42.5%) hypoparathyroidism experienced ≥1 comorbidity including calcium/phosphate imbalances, and brain, cardiovascular, metabolic, and renal disorders (all p?<?0.01). More patients with NAC vs AC hypoparathyroidism incurred ≥1 hypoparathyroidism-related hospitalization (27.9% vs 16.3%) and emergency room visits (47.7% vs 38.5%), and patients with NAC vs AC hypoparathyroidism had a higher number of outpatient visits (3.6 vs 2.6; all p?<?0.05), in the 1-year observation period.

Limitations and conclusions: Limitations of this online chart review include possible under-estimation of disease burden, limited sample size, and the inability to rule out selection bias. Findings indicate that patients with chronic hypoparathyroidism experience substantial symptomatic and comorbid burdens resulting in frequent HRU, suggesting an unmet need, particularly in NAC disease.     

Exploring Portfolio Decision‐Making Processes*

Portfolio management is the set of activities that allows a firm to select, develop, and commercialize a pipeline of new products aligned with the firm's strategy that will enable it to continue to grow profitably over the long term. To appropriately manage the firm's new product portfolio, decisions must be made about which projects to fund, to what levels, at what point in time. Previous research has investigated portfolio management decisions as individually discrete decisions. Significant streams of research have investigated both project selection and project termination decisions. This research project shows, however, that portfolio decision making may be better understood if it is considered as an integrated system of processes that considers these decisions simultaneously, along with other decisions such as those to continue a project with reduced funding. Using in‐depth data from four diverse case studies, we use a grounded theory approach to develop a general model of how firms make new product portfolio decisions. According to the findings from these cases, effective portfolio decision‐making processes produce a portfolio mindset, focus effort on the right projects, and allow agile decision making across the portfolio's set of projects. Effective portfolio decision making is the result of the interaction between three types of decision‐making processes that managers use in making decisions: evidence‐, power‐, and opinion‐based. Being able to use each of these types of processes to make decisions depends upon having the data inputs that they require. Three domain‐based decision input‐generating processes (i.e., cross‐functional collaboration, practices of critical thinking, and practices of market immersion) are associated with making evidence‐based portfolio decisions. In addition, organizational politics produces the inputs that are associated with power‐based portfolio decision making, while managerial intuition is associated with opinion‐based portfolio decision making. Firm cultural factors, including trust, collective ambition, and leadership style, are associated with how these evidence‐, power‐ and opinion‐based processes are combined into an overall portfolio decision making process, and whether the firm's processes are more rational and objectively made, or more politically and intuitively made. The article presents propositions for how the decision‐making processes interact in their associations with decision‐making effectiveness.     

Board gender diversity and acquisition choices

We investigate the influence of gender diversity on the acquisition choices of bidding firms and find that firms with greater gender diversity are more likely to acquire nonlisted targets, use cash as the method of payment, and purchase firms in similar industries. Results show that these preferences are significantly influenced by female directors' financial expertise, target industry experience, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) experience, academic and professional qualifications, and networks. The percentage of female directors on boards is positively correlated with the market response to the announcement of acquisition choices preferred by female directors. Furthermore, bidders improve efficiency and accumulate long-term value gains through the contributions made by their female directors to these acquisition choices.