Knowledge diversity and coordination: The effect of intrafirm inventor task networks on absorption speed

Research Summary: We combine the absorptive capacity and social network theory approaches to predict how intrafirm “whole” network characteristics affect the firm's speed of absorption of external knowledge to produce inventions. We start from the widely accepted view that distant, externally‐developed knowledge is difficult to absorb into the focal firm's own knowledge production. We suggest that high levels of intrafirm inventor task network diversity and task network density are essential for a diversity of knowledge inputs and coordinated actions regarding knowledge transfer, which in turn, reduces problems related to the absorption of knowledge—especially in the case of knowledge that is distant from the focal firm. The results of an event history study of 113 pharmaceutical firms that engaged in technology in‐licensing from 1986 to 2003 provide general support for our hypotheses. Managerial Summary: Firms keen to keep up with an uncertain and ever‐changing industry environment, can benefit from the speedy introduction of inventions. We examine how firms absorb licensed‐in technologies to nurture the rapid development of own related inventions. We show that a firm's absorption speed depends on the characteristics of the internal collaboration networks among the firm's inventor employees. More specifically, technologically diverse and well‐connected inventor networks improve the firm's ability to absorb external technologies quickly. This applies especially to externally acquired technologies that are unfamiliar to the firm. Depending on the distance of the acquired technology from the focal firm combined with speed‐inducing inventor network characteristics, our estimates suggest that firms can reduce the time needed for absorption by several months.     

A simple microeconomic foundation for a Tobit model of consumer demand

A simple microeconomic foundation is provided for a Tobit model of consumer demand subject to corner solutions.     

Pushing on a String: How policy might encourage private doctors to compete with the public sector on the basis of quality

Results from the Philippine Quality Improvement Demonstration Study show that a policy that expands insurance coverage improves quality of care, as measured by clinical performance vignettes, among public physicians, and induces a spillover effect that improves quality among private physicians.     

Investigating the link between managers' green knowledge and leadership style,and their firms' environmental performance: The mediation role of green creativity

Despite extensive literature on green hotel management and sustainability, scant attention has been given on the role of managers to solve environmental related issues. This study's aim is to assess the effects of managers' green knowledge and green transformational leadership on firms' environmental performance with the mediating effect of green creativity. The study analyzes the perceptions of 363 employees in different managerial positions of the hotel industry employing Partial Last Square Structural Equation Modeling. The findings of the study show a positive effect of green knowledge and green transformational leadership on green creativity and green transformational leadership on environmental performance. Furthermore, green creativity is also found to have significant mediating effect between green knowledge and environmental performance, and green transformational leadership and environmental performance relations. The main implication of the current research is that managers' green concerns might help the stakeholders in the hotel industry to respond through appropriate green initiatives for their organizations. Further suggestions for literature and practice are discussed.     

Virtuous circle: Human capital and human resource management in social enterprises

The majority of the extant research on human resource management (HRM) draws conclusions based on evidence from for-profit organizations. In response to calls for the exploration of HRM in different contexts, this study focuses on understanding HRM in the context of social enterprises. The unique context of social enterprises and their unique workforce raise questions about the direct applicability of frameworks developed from examining HRM in for-profit organizations. The narratives provided by 20 CEOs, HR directors, and managers of social enterprises in the United Kingdom highlight the importance of “ethics of care” as the core of the HRM-related decisions in the “third sector.” In addition, we identify five distinct workforce categories and propose a typology of differentiated HRM systems that enable social enterprises to achieve their dual mission. Finally, we propose a “virtuous circle” model, highlighting “ethics of care” as the main driver for organizational outcomes, using differentiated HRM systems that better serve their needs.     

Errors in variables and reverse regression in the measurement of wage discrimination

Several recent articles have proposed ‘reverse regression’ as a solution to errors-in-variables problems in wage discrimination regressions. This note demonstrates that the reverse regression approach is biased against finding evidence of discrimination.     

Burgers for tourists who give a damn! Driving disruptive social change upstream and downstream in the tourist food supply chain

Using the theoretical lens of social capital, this paper examines the role of small tourist food businesses and their impact on the sustainability of the destination and local food supply chains. The paper analyses the experiences of small business owner-managers highlighting the complex and subtle nature of the socially responsible strategies used to progress sustainability in a tourist destination. The findings show that authentic lifestyles, motivated by intrinsic not just extrinsic rewards, are driving disruptive social change upstream and downstream in the tourist food supply chain. Small food business owner-managers are catalysts for “common” good, and as supporters for ethical and sustainable food chains have considerable local tourism influence and impact. Social capital strengthens their sense of destination ownership and fuels an obligation to protect their fragile tourist resources. The intersection between social capital, authenticity and responsibility among small food businesses in the tourist industry is demonstrated.     

Individual responses to competing institutional logics in emerging markets

In this paper, we study individual responses to competing institutional market and community logics. We argue that when individuals experience strong pressures both from market and community logics in hybrid contexts, they are unlikely to choose one logic over another. Instead, they combine both logics act as hybridizers. We identified three roles of local (Kazakhstani and Turkish) managers as hybridizers: bridging between competing logics, boundary spanning and cultural buffering.     

NEW EVIDENCE ON REAL WAGE CYCLICALITY WITHIN EMPLOYER–EMPLOYEE MATCHES

In the most thorough study to date on wage cyclicality among job stayers, Devereux's (2001) analysis of men in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) produced two puzzling findings: (1) the real wages of salaried workers are noncyclical, and (2) wage cyclicality among hourly workers differs between two alternative wage measures. We examine these puzzles with additional evidence from other sources. Devereux's finding of noncyclical real wages among salaried job stayers is not replicated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) data. The NLSY data, however, do corroborate his finding of a discrepancy for hourly workers between the cyclicality of the two alternative wage measures. Evidence from the PSID Validation Study contradicts Devereux's conjecture that the discrepancy might be due to a procyclical bias from measurement error in average hourly earnings. Evidence from the Bureau of Labor Statistics establishment survey supports his hypothesis that overtime work accounts for part (but not all) of the discrepancy. We conclude that job stayers' real average hourly earnings are substantially procyclical and that an important portion of that procyclicality probably is due to compensation beyond base wages.     

Economic value of narrow band imaging versus white light endoscopy for the characterization of diminutive polyps in the colon: systematic literature review and cost-consequence model

Aims: To demonstrate the economic implication of adopting narrow-band imaging (NBI) for the characterization of diminutive polyps in the colon from an English payer perspective.

Materials and methods: A decision-tree model was undertaken to perform a cost-consequence and budget impact analysis from the NHS England perspective in the UK, over a 7-year time horizon. Clinical inputs came from the published literature (both randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses) identified through a systematic literature review, and cost inputs came from national list prices and unpublished internal market data. Deterministic sensitivity analysis (DSA) was conducted on the budget impact results to assess their robustness.

Results: Optical diagnosis with NBI offered cost savings vs white light endoscopy (WLE) over 7 years due to reductions in histological exams, resections, and associated adverse events, while having minimal impact on health outcomes. Budget impact analysis demonstrated annual cost savings of £141 192 057 over 7 years, with histological exams being the biggest cost driver. DSA showed these results to be robust, but most sensitive to the cost of tariff with and without biopsy, and the cost of histological exam. Break-even analysis to explore how changing the unit cost and number of biopsies per patient would change the budget impact found NBI consistently offered net savings, even if the cost of biopsy was £0.

Limitations: Although every effort was made to ensure robustness of results, as with any model, there were some limitations including a lack of published data for certain clinical inputs and potential variation between model inputs and real-life cost and market share values.

Conclusions: Optical diagnosis with NBI was found to be equally effective compared with the standard of care (WLE), while potentially enabling cost savings from the NHS England perspective.