Market entry of firms with different legal forms: an empirical test of the influence of institutional factors

Drawing upon institutional theory we develop a conceptual model and investigate the determinants of market entry for worker cooperatives, publicly traded and limited-liability companies. Our results show that formal institutional conditions (i.e., mercantile legislation) influence the start-up choice of entrepreneurs regarding the legal form of their new venture. In addition, we take into account the influence of informal institutional conditions (i.e., local corporate culture) on the market entry rate of firms with different legal structures. Findings show that, while market entry is sensitive to the general economic climate, entry rates of firms with a different legal structure respond differently to the same economic conditions.

Informal Sector and Manufacturing Location: In Search of the Missing Links

Abstract

Although the informal sector is very large and unevenly distributed within developing countries, its relative size and location have not been investigated from the perspective of location models. This paper builds a modified Core–Periphery model where formal and informal firms compete in consumer markets. The model suggests that in a peripheral region, where informal goods constitute a competitive alternative to formal goods, a larger critical mass of workers is needed for the formal sector to become profitable. Informal sector competitiveness, however, also increases formal firms' sensitivity to home market effects. Thus, indirectly, a competitive informal sector can foster formal manufacturing agglomeration.

RÉSUMÉ Bien que le secteur informel soit très étendu et distribué de façon irrégulière dans les pays en voie de développement, son envergure et sa distribution relatives n'ont fait l'objet d'aucune étude sur le plan de modèles de localisation. La présente communication crée un modèle « centre–périphérie » modifié, dans lequel des entreprises officielles et non officielles rivalisent sur des marchés de consommation. D'après ce modèle, dans une zone périphérique où les produits informels constituent une alternative à des produits officiels, une masse critique de travailleurs plus importante est nécessaire afin que le secteur officiel devienne rentable. Toutefois, la compétitivité du secteur informel accro??t également la sensibilité des entreprises officielles à des effets sur le marché interne. En conséquence, un secteur informel compétitif peut, indirectement, encourager une agglomération de fabrication officielle.

EXTRACTO Aunque el sector informal es muy amplio y está irregularmente distribuido dentro de los países en desarrollo, su tamaño relativo y localización no se han investigado desde la perspectiva de modelos de localización. Este estudio construye un modelo modificado de centro–periferia donde empresas formales e informales compiten en mercados de consumo. El modelo sugiere que, en una región periférica donde las mercancías informales constituyen una alternativa competitiva a las mercancías formales, el sector formal necesita una mayor masa crítica de trabajadores para ser rentable. No obstante, la competitividad del sector informal también aumenta la sensibilidad de las empresas formales a los efectos del mercado doméstico. Por lo tanto, indirectamente, un sector informal competitivo puede fomentar la aglomeración de la industria manufacturera formal.

     

DETERMINANTS OF PUBLIC PENSION PLAN INVESTMENT RETURN. The role of fund value maximization and public choice theory

Public pension plans are a major type of institutional owner during the new era of investor capitalism, yet little is known about them. Based upon fund value maximization (FVM) and public choice theory (PCT), we develop hypotheses on the determinants of plan performance as measured by plan annual investment return. FVM espouses that the plan's fund or investment portfolio will be invested to maximize return for a given level of risk, while PCT holds that agency costs are significant in the public sector, and will have a negative effect on plan return. Using biennial pension plan data for 1992–96 for several hundred plans, we found that fund value maximization has a much greater influence on plan performance, but that plan performance is also subject to agency costs associated with public choice theory.     

Local Government Modernization: UK and Comparative Analysis from an Organizational Perspective

This article analyses three strands of local government modernization. The first takes an overview of the development of 'modernization' and 'improvement' of local government in the UK under the Labour government since 1997 and the overall programme of reform. We discuss both the shifts and the continuities with the previous decade and a half of the 'new public management' of Conservative administrations. We examine the implicit assumptions about how to achieve organizational and cultural change, arguing that much modernization is premised on a mechanistic metaphor of organizational change. The second section of the article examines other metaphors and theories of organizational change, arguing for the need to consider institutional and organizational perspectives in analysing local government modernization. The third section of the article then applies some organizational concepts to the comparative analysis of local government modernization.     

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Abstract

Within public administration and policy sciences the concept of policy networks nowadays is well accepted. Not much attention has been paid so far to strategies aimed at institutional design. Therefore, in this article, we develop a conceptual framework to study institutional design more thoroughly. We do this by specifying the nature and variety of institutional rules that guide the behaviour of actors within networks. Given this categorization of rules, we identify possible strategies to change network rules. Next, we focus on the strategic context of attempts to influence the nature of institutional rules: the process of institutional design. We conclude with suggestions to apply the conceptual framework to empirical research into the forms, impacts and implications of attempts to change the institutional features of policy networks.     

Managing Competing Institutional Logics in Public–Private Joint Ventures

Abstract

Cross-sector inter-organizational partnerships, alliances and networks have become extremely popular. Yet, we may expect competing societal-level institutional logics to play an important role in cross-sector alliances, hence making their management central to alliance success. This article responds to the general research question: How do participants of public–private joint ventures manage competing institutional logics? Based on in-depth interviews we empirically characterize two competing logics in a cross-sector collaborative and identify two practices used to cope with them.     

Examining human resource management outsourcing in Hong Kong

This study explored the state of human resource (HR) outsourcing in the Asian context, a particularly important subject given its rapid proliferation in Europe and North America, the inconsistent and limited evidence from prior research, and its strategic importance to the human resource management (HRM) function. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data and the transaction cost, resource-based, and institutional perspectives, we found that although respondents were generally favourable towards outsourcing, that in practice its adoption and diffusion were in a nascent stage in Hong Kong. Decisions to outsource were, by and large, incremental and experimental and influenced by a range of contextual factors (e.g., availability of in-house expertise, skills and creativity, strategic priorities, legislation (coercive), availability of external service providers, and industry and peer (mimetic) influence). Despite considerable pressure to cut costs, instead of outsourcing in the first instance, firms placed greater emphasis on maximising internal resource utilization (insourcing). Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are also provided.     

A theory of the firm's demand for HRM practices

Empirical data are presented that reveal a large variation in the pattern of HRM practice adoption across firms. The paper then develops an economics-based theory that explains this pattern. The model broadens the HRM concept; models the linkage between HRM practices and firm performance (the ‘black box’); generates an HRM input demand function and demand curve; formalizes the concept of strategic HRM; suggests a new empirical tool for HRM research; generates new hypotheses and insights on the nature of the HRM–firm performance relationship; suggests that existing theories of the HRM–firm performance relationship are seriously mis-specified; and posits that on theoretical grounds the effect of more HRM on firm performance in long-run competitive equilibrium is not positive but zero.     

奥地利学派对理论经济学前提的追问——论米塞斯的经济认识论

奥地利经济学有着坚实的哲学认识论基础.在社会科学的定位上,奥地利经济学反对逻辑上的心理学要素,反对本能主义、行为主义和整体主义,主张有机的自由主义;在经济学的定位上,奥地利经济学反对笼统地划分理性与非理性,反对对经济学作表面层次的物质主义的定义,强调稀缺性由其引致的自由选择才是经济学的根本前提.     

Conditional Cooperation and Voluntary Contributions to Public Goods

We compare a partners condition , where the same small group of subjects plays a repeated public good game, to a strangers condition , where subjects play this game in changing group formations. From the first period onward, subjects in the partners condition contribute significantly more to the public good than subjects in the strangers condition. Strangers' contributions show continual decay, while partners' contributions fluctuate on a high level prior to decreasing in the final periods. We interpret subjects' behaviour in terms of conditional cooperation which is characterized by both future-oriented and reactive behaviour.
JEL classifications: C 91; C 92; H 41