Showing papers by "HEC Montréal published in 2001"

The Dynamics of Collective Leadership and Strategic Change in Pluralistic Organizations

Abstract: In this article, we draw on five case studies in health care organizations to develop a process theory of strategic change in pluralistic settings characterized by diffuse power and divergent objectives. The creation of a collective leadership group in which members play complementary roles appears critical in achieving change. However. collective leadership is fragile. We identify three levels of “coupling” between leaders. organization, and environment that need to be mobilized to permit change. Since it is difficult to maintain coupling at all levels simultaneously, change tends to proceed sporadically, driven by the effects of leaders' actions on their political positions.

Monetary Policy in a Data-Rich Environment

Abstract: Most empirical analyses of monetary policy have been confined to frameworks in which the Federal Reserve is implicitly assumed to exploit only a limited amount of information, despite the fact that the Fed actively monitors literally thousands of economic time series. This article explores the feasibility of incorporating richer information sets into the analysis, both positive and normative, of Fed policymaking. We employ a factor-model approach, developed by Stock and Watson (1999a,b), that permits the systematic information in large data sets to be summarized by relatively few estimated factors. With this framework, we reconfirm Stock and Watson's result that the use of large data sets can improve forecast accuracy, and we show that this result does not seem to depend on the use of finally revised (as opposed to 'real-time') data. We estimate policy reaction functions for the Fed that take into account its data-rich environment and provide a test of the hypothesis that Fed actions are explained solely by its forecasts of inflation and real activity. Finally, we explore the possibility of developing an 'expert system' that could aggregate diverse information and provide benchmark policy settings.

Coherent allocation of risk capital

Abstract: The allocation problem stems from the diversification effect observed in risk measurements of financial portfolios: the sum of the "risks" of many portfolios is larger than the "risk" of the sum of the portfolios. The allocation problem is to apportion this diversification advantage to the portfolios in a fair manner, yielding, for each portfolio, a risk appraisal that accounts for diversification. Our approach is axiomatic, in the sense that we first argue for the nec- essary properties of an allocation principle, and then consider principles that fulfill the properties. Important results from the area of game theory find a direct application. Our main result is that the Aumann-Shapley value is both a coherent and practical approach to financial risk allocation.

Towards a precise definition of the OMG/MDA framework

Abstract: We are currently witnessing an important paradigm shift in information system construction, namely the move from object and component technology to model technology. The object technology revolution has allowed the replacement of the over twenty-year-old step-wise procedural decomposition paradigm with the more fashionable object composition paradigm. Surprisingly, this evolution seems to have triggered another even more radical change, the current trend toward model transformation. A concrete example is the Object Management Group's rapid move from its previous Object Management Architecture vision to the latest Model-Driven Architecture. This paper proposes an interpretation of this evolution through abstract investigation. In order to stay as language-independent as possible, we have employed the neutral formalism of Sowa's conceptual graphs to describe the various situations characterizing this organization. This will allow us to identify potential problems in the proposed modeling framework and suggest some possible solutions.

Simultaneous Vehicle and Crew Scheduling in Urban Mass Transit Systems

Abstract: This paper presents an exact approach for solving the simultaneous vehicle and crew scheduling problem in urban mass transit systems. We consider the single depot case with a homogeneous fleet of vehicles. This approach relies on a set partitioning formulation for the driver scheduling problem that incorporates side constraints for the bus itineraries. The proposed solution approach consists of a column generation process (only for the crew schedules) integrated into a branch-and-bound scheme. The side constraints on buses guarantee that an optimal vehicle assignment can be derived afterwards in polynomial time. A computational study shows that this approach out-performs the previous methods found in the literature for a set of randomly generated instances. A heuristic version of the solution approach is also proposed and tested on larger instances.

Global Virtual Teams

Abstract: Recent interviews with GVT leaders and members offer criticaladvice from the trenches regarding the challenges and copingstrategies for collaborating on a global scale.

Stackelberg leadership in a marketing channel

Abstract: This paper provides an answer to the question who should, if any, lead a marketing channel? We consider a channel consisting of one manufacturer and one retailer where each player controls his advertising rate and margin. Supposing that advertising has a carry over effect on demand, we adopt a dynamic model. Nash and Stackelberg equilibria are characterised and outcomes compared with an efficient coordinated solution. Our findings suggest that manufacturer's leadership reduces inefficiency in a channel and is more beneficial to the consumer.

IT outsourcing risk management at British Petroleum

Abstract: The paper reports the results of a study of three successive IT outsourcing contracts at British Petroleum (BP). We offer an operational definition of IT outsourcing risk and use it to assess the risk exposure associated with each contract. We then examine how the management at BP dealt with outsourcing risk. Our results show that careful and deliberate risk management can substantially attenuate the level of risk exposure, and that IT outsourcing risks can be managed.

Liberalization, Corporate Governance and the Performance of Newly Privatized Firms

Abstract: This paper seeks to provide an answer to the following question: When and how does privatization work? Using a unique sample of 189 firms headquartered in 32 developing countries, we document a significant increase in profitability, efficiency, investment and output. Next, using univariate tests, we show that changes in performance are related to economic reforms and conditions and to corporate governance. For example, we find that privatization yields better results when it is preceded by stock market and trade liberalization. The results of a regression analysis then indicate that macroeconomic and corporate governance variables explain post-privatization performance improvements. In particular, economic growth, control relinquishment by government and foreign ownership are key determinants of profitability changes. We also find higher improvements in efficiency and output for firms from countries with more developed stock markets and where the protection of property rights is better. Finally, our results suggest that trade openness is an important determinant of post-privatization increase in investment.

A General Multi-Shift Scheduling System

Abstract: Rotating work schedules are encountered in several industries and public sector organizations where work is carried out 24 h a day, 7 days a week. This article first provides a classification of the main constraint classes governing the design of rotating schedules. A novel constraint programming algorithm is then developed that can handle a wider variety of constraints than other algorithms from the literature. Computational results on several real-life examples confirm the efficiency and robustness of the proposed approach.

Workforce retention: what do IT employees really want?

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to present and test an integrated model of turnover intentions that addresses the unique nature of the IT profession. We identified a multidimensional set of HR practices likely to increase retention among IT employees and considered citizenship behaviors as well as two distinct types of organizational commitment as key antecedents of turnover intentions. A questionnaire was developed and sent to the Quebec members of the Canadian Information Processing Society. Data from 394 respondents were used to validate the measures and test the research hypotheses. We present and discuss the results and make a series of recommendations for IT and HR executives.

New technologies and their impact on French consumer behaviour: an investigation in the banking sector

Abstract: New information and communication technologies are constantly emerging, altering business methods, and particularly, the relationship an organization establishes with its customers. Therefore, it is essential to analyse the impact of these technologies on customer behaviour. The purpose of this study is to explore, in the banking sector, the impact of customers’ use of self‐service technologies on their interest in a relationship approach, and consequently in a long‐term personalized relationship. A survey of 242 adult students reveals that there is no real impact of the use of self‐service technologies on interest in a relationship approach. Respondents who use these technologies extensively do not place more or less importance on their relationship with a given bank.

Shifting Tax Burdens through Exemptions and Evasion: an Empirical Investigation of Uganda

Abstract: The authors look at how prevalent tax exemptions, and evasion are among businesses in Uganda, how they translate into actual tax burdens for firms of different sizes, and how the tax administration attempts to ensure compliance. Despite tax reforms undertaken in 1995-97 to increase the efficiency, and equity of the tax system, and its administration, exemptions, and evasion during this three-year period remained widespread, and the dispersion of the tax burden did not decrease. The analysis shows that tax evasion is more prevalent among smaller firms, that tax exemptions are more common among larger firms, and that medium-size firms tend to shoulder a disproportionate share of the total tax burden.

Perspectives on IT Outsourcing Success: Covariance Structure Modelling of a Survey of Outsourcing in Australia

Abstract: Australia has been at the forefront of the adoption of outsourcing as a means for delivering IT services, but the success of IT outsourcing in Australia has been mixed. With two hundred and forty one responses from the top 1000 IT users in the country, the survey reported in this paper is one of the largest and most representative IT outsourcing studies in the world. Covariance structure modelling and confirmatory factor analysis has shed new light on the concept of outsourcing success, highlighting its complex, multidimensional nature. It has also confirmed several insights gained to date from qualitative research. Analysis also emphasises the importance to the outsourcing relationship of the management processes adopted by the client organization.

Lottery Decisions and Probability Weighting Function

Abstract: This article analyzes the implications of basic lottery tests for the probability weighting function w(p). We first show that the w(p) function with one argument cannot accommodate three basic tests of lottery choice. We also discuss in detail the links between the w(p) function with one argument and the preference reversal paradox. In the last section we propose an evaluation function that accommodates the restrictions imposed by the tests and we provide an example of such function.

La gestion stratégique de la coopérative et de l’association d’économie sociale (1re partie) : L’entrepreneur et son environnement

Abstract: Les specificites de la gouvernance des cooperatives et associations sont au coeur de cet article. Pour ces societes de parties prenantes, le processus de decision strategique se presente de maniere plus complexe que dans les societes de capitaux. Cette premiere partie analyse deux facteurs essentiels qui influent sur les orientations strategiques : l’entrepreneur collectif et la dimension ideologique, l’environnement et les acteurs qui l’animent. La seconde partie, publiee dans le prochain numero de la Recma, sera centree sur l’entreprise.

The Fragmentation of Traditional Employment: Challenges Raised by the Diversity of Typical and Atypical Jobs

Abstract: During the past decades, the environment for organizations has become increasingly unpredictable. They are compelled to become more flexible, especially through the use of contingent employment (Cappelli et al. 1997). Statistics indicate a relative decrease of traditional employment over the past twenty years, whereas contingent employment has increased dramatically. This raises new issues for managers, workers, and society in general (Hipple 1998; Matte 1998; Simard 1998).Although numerous authors acknowledge the rapid growth of contingent employment (e.g., Betcherman 1995; Kochan et al. 1994; Levesque 1999), little progress has been made toward the understanding of the complexity of the issues raised. One of the reasons for this is the absence of a common definition of contingent employment (Simard 1988), which renders comparisons among studies virtually impossible. Another problem is the heterogeneity of contingent workers (Eberhardt and Moser 1995; Simard 1998; Walsh and Deery 1999). This article posits that researchers and managers can only address the challenges posed by nonstandard employment if they comprehend the diversity of contingent employment. We therefore propose a typology of jobs and a typology of workers in order to better understand the reality of contingent employment.The first typology constitutes an attempt to classify jobs according to their features. Traditional employment is defined as a permanent position (i.e., an open-term contract), with a full-time, regular schedule, and where the work is being performed at the employer's location. Contingent employment differs from this definition on four characteristics: the type of employment contract, the place of work, the number of hours worked, and the regularity of work schedules. These four characteristics constitute the four dimensions of our typology of jobs.Three types of employment contracts may be offered by an organization. The traditional employment contract, often referred to as permanent employment, does not stipulate any specific date for the termination of the employment relationship. The second type of contract indicates a specific date for the termination of employment and is often referred to as temporary employment. It provides more flexibility to the organization and less certainty for most workers. Finally, independent contracting is a situation in which the relationship ends upon the completion of specified tasks.The place where the work is performed is the second dimension of this typology. Whereas independent contractors have never performed their duties exclusively at their place of employment, permanent and temporary workers customarily did so. However, in recent years, the growth of telecommuting indicates that jobs are moving away from the employer's premises.An employment contract may be based either on an averaged full-week of work (i.e., more than 35 hours of work) or on an averaged reduced-week of work, irrespective of the type of contract. The number of hours worked is only one dimension of the work schedule. The regularity of schedule is the other dimension, and this plays a crucial role in defining the certainty of earnings.These four dimensions allow us to profile 18 different forms of employment, of which only two can be described as traditional (permanent full-time and part-time). This typology emphasizes the fact that nonstandard employment may take a large variety of very different forms, which vary in terms of precariousness, task variety, and ability to reconcile work and private life.However, a typology of jobs does not suffice to capture the fact that individuals may hold more than one type of job. In order to understand the reality of contingent workers, a second typology is necessary. Multiple job holding is one dimension along which workers may differ. While most people with a permanent, full-time employment contract do not hold another job, many workers in a contingent position do hold more than one such position (Krahn 1995). Those workers may hold multiple positions simultaneously or successively, sometimes with a gap between each position. The duration of employment over a one-year period is therefore an important dimension to consider when categorizing contingent workers. The third dimension is the desirability of employment form. While some contingent workers may have chosen their employment status (e.g., permanent part-timers), workers in other forms of employment may be less likely to have chosen their particular status (e.g., full-time temporary workers). Studies indicate that the choice of status influences work-related attitudes and behaviours (Armstrong-Stassen, Horsburgh and Cameron 1994; Bishop, Okori-Dankwa and McKether 1993).A better understanding of the variety of contingent workers calls for more diverse and individualized human resource management practices in order to better serve the various needs of employees. For example, mobilization strategies aimed at involuntary temporary workers ought to be different than those targeting voluntary independent contractors. Companies using contingent employees must take account of these differences, while maintaining the equity in treatment that is necessary to foster harmonious work relationships. At the individual level, this paper highlights the fact that contingent workers experience a large variety of work situations, which differ in terms of certainty, desirability, skills development, and so on. When engaging on the path of contingent employment, workers must be aware of the opportunities and the risks that lie ahead. Last but not least, this article stresses the need for society as a whole to consider the consequences of the development of some second-class jobs with poor working conditions.

Growth Opportunities and Assets in Place: Implications for Equity Betas

Abstract: Price changes can be associated with either increases or decreases in systematic risk. Most of the existing literature focuses on the leverage effect, which suggests that betas decrease (increase) as stock prices increase (decrease). Alternatively, betas may move in the same direction as stock prices if growth opportunities have higher betas and are more volatile than assets in place. Our empirical work indicates that the latter effect dominates, even for a sub-sample of highly levered firms that presumably have relatively fewer growth opportunities. We also link variations in betas to firm characteristics that proxy for the proportion of the firm invested by growth opportunities. These growth opportunity proxies explain a large portion of cross-sectional differences in betas. Finally, we find preliminary evidence that investors may under-react to the decrease in the beta of stocks that have performed particularly poorly.

Evaluation des coûts logistiques hospitaliers en France et aux Pays-Bas

Abstract: L’objectif de l’etude est d’evaluer l’importance de la logistique hospitaliere par la mesure du poids des activites logistiques dans le budget des etablissements de sante europeens. L’etude s’est basee sur les conclusions de Chow et Heaver (1994) et de Housley (1978). Celles-ci montraient notamment que les couts des activites logistiques representaient 46 % du budget des etablissements de sante Nord americains. L’etude a ete realisee a partir du cas de deux hopitaux en France et deux autres aux Pays-Bas. L’article se compose de trois parties. La premiere presente l’environnement hospitalier en France et aux Pays-Bas. La seconde definit le perimetre de la logistique au sein d’un etablissement de soins afin de preciser les ramifications de ses activites. La derniere partie presente les resultats obtenus des centres hospitaliers observes.

Bayesian Analysis of a Stochastic Volatility Model with Leverage Effect and Fat Tails

Abstract: The basic univariate stochastic volatility model specifies that conditional volatility follows a log-normal auto-regressive model with innovations assumed to be independent of the innovations in the conditional mean equation. Since the introduction of practical methods for inference in the basic volatility model (JPR-(1994)), it has been observed that the basic model is too restrictive for many financial series. We extend the basic SVOL to allow for a so-called "Leverage effect" via correlation between the volatility and mean innovations, and for fat-tails in the mean equation innovation. A Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm is developed for the extended volatility model. Thus far, likelihood-based inference for the correlated SVOL model has not appeared in the literature. We develop Bayes Factors to assess the importance of the leverage and fat-tail extensions. Sampling experiments reveal little loss in precision from adding the model extensions but a large loss from using the basic model in the presence of mis-specification. For both equity and exchange rate data, there is overwhelming evidence in favor of models with fat-tailed volatility innovations, and for a leverage effect in the case of equity indices. We also find that volatility estimates from the extended model are markedly different from those produced by the basic SVOL.

Dynamic Production Teams with Strategic Behavior

Abstract: We analyze if intergenerational teams reveal workers’ productivities. Some uncertainty on agents’ productivities persists when (i) each agent must work independently, or (ii) technological shocks are agent-specific in compulsory teams. However, when technological shocks are team-specific in compulsory teams, each worker's productivity is revealed. When agents choose to work independently or in teams, that problem falls in the class of dynamic games. Elective teams are preferred by high-productivity young workers when the technological shocks are agent-specific, and maximize the expected utility of a young worker when shocks are team-specific.

Systèmes de réapprovisionnement des unités de soins : description et implications organisationnelles

Abstract: Cet article dresse un portrait du fonctionnement des differents modes de reapprovisionnement des centres hospitaliers nord-americains et europeens. Une telle description sera elaboree a partir d’un decoupage du cycle de reapprovisionnement en quatre activites ainsi que d’une presentation des principaux avantages et inconvenients qui sont associes a ces modes de reapprovisionnement. Cette presentation permettra d’introduire une discussion sur les implications organisationnelles de l’utilisation d’un mode de reapprovisionnement donne et, plus particulierement, sur la repartition des activites entre l’unite de soins et le service des approvisionnements.

Workplace Innovations in Large, Unionized Canadian Organizations

Abstract: The study reports workplace innovations in 112 large, unionized Canadian organizations from data collected in 1994 by the Bureau of Labour Information The frequency of specific workplace innovations and the relationship to organization and bargaining unit characteristics are reported

La gestion stratégique de la coopérative et de l’association d’économie sociale (2e partie) : L’entreprise et ses orientations

Abstract: Dans la deuxieme partie de sa contribution sur la gestion strategique, (cf. le numero 281), Marie-Claire Malo revient sur la definition de l’entreprise, puis sur ce que serait un processus strategique cooperatif : il doit tenir simultanement le fil de la perspective du changement social, qui s’attache au respect des valeurs, et celui du positionnement. La bonne option strategique est celle qui tente d’articuler en permanence volontarisme et determinisme. Loin d’etre une contrainte, le compromis a un grand potentiel d’innovation, parce qu’il combine des grandeurs differentes. Chaque compromis est une combinaison originale qui porte une part d’innovation sociale.