Showing papers by "IE University published in 2013"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that greater regulatory and normative pressures concerning environmental issues positively influence companies' propensity to engage in environmental innovation, and they find that this effect is stronger when asset specificity is high, and that the availability of resources plays different roles depending on the type of pressures.
Abstract: Drawing on institutional theory and innovation literature, we argue that greater regulatory and normative pressures concerning environmental issues positively influence companies' propensity to engage in environmental innovation. Analysis of environment-related patents of 326 publicly traded firms from polluting industries in the United States suggests that institutional pressures can trigger such innovation, especially in those firms displaying a greater deficiency gap (i.e., firms polluting relatively more than their industry peers). Moreover, we find that this effect is stronger when asset specificity is high, and that the availability of resources plays different roles depending on the type of pressures (regulatory vs. normative).Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
855 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that platform competition is shaped by important strategic trade-offs and that the WTA approach will not be universally successful, and that a differentiation strategy based on distinctive positioning improves a platform's performance only when a platform system is highly distinctive relative to its rivals.
Abstract: Because the literature on platform competition emphasizes the role of network effects, it prescribes rapidly expanding a network of platform users and complementary applications to capture entire markets. We challenge the unconditional logic of a winner-take-all (WTA) approach by empirically analyzing the dominant strategies used to build and position platform systems in the U.S. video game industry. We show that when platform firms pursue two popular WTA strategies concurrently and with equal intensity (growing the number and variety of applications while also securing a larger fraction of those applications with exclusivity agreements), it diminishes the benefits of each strategy to the point that it lowers platform performance. We also show that a differentiation strategy based on distinctive positioning improves a platform's performance only when a platform system is highly distinctive relative to its rivals. Our results suggest that platform competition is shaped by important strategic trade-offs and that the WTA approach will not be universally successful.
481 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a typology of descriptive, prescriptive, and normative criteria for the evaluation of scientific reasoning practices in organization research is presented, addressing both cognitive limits and the diversity of research approaches.
Abstract: Prescriptions regarding organization-scientific methodology are typically founded on the researcher's ability to approach perfect rationality. In a critical examination of the use of scientific reasoning (deduction, induction, abduction) in organization research, we seek to replace this unrealistic premise with an alternative that incorporates a more reasonable view of the cognitive capacity of the researcher. To this end, we construct a typology of descriptive, prescriptive, and normative criteria for the evaluation of organization-scientific reasoning practices. This typology addresses both cognitive limits and the diversity of research approaches in organization research. We make the general case for incorporating not only the computational but also the cognitive element into the formulation and evaluation of scientific reasoning and arguments.
359 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a methodology to measure population-based social entrepreneurship activity (SEA) prevalence rates and test it in 49 countries, using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) methodology of Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA).
Abstract: Although there is a high level of practitioner, policymaker, and scholar interest in social entrepreneurship, most research is based on case studies and success stories of successful social entrepreneurs in a single country. We develop a methodology to measure population-based social entrepreneurship activity (SEA) prevalence rates and test it in 49 countries. Our results provide insights into institutional and individual drivers of SEA. Using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) methodology of Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA), we find that countries with higher rates of traditional entrepreneurial activity also tend to have higher rates of social entrepreneurial activity. We develop a broad definition of social entrepreneurship and then explore types based on social mission, revenue model, and innovativeness.
323 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this paper, size-contingent laws are used to identify the equilibrium and welfare effects of labor regulation, and the main losers from the regulation are workers and to a lesser extent large firms.
Abstract: We show how size-contingent laws can be used to identify the equilibrium and welfare effects of labor regulation. Our framework incorporates such regulations into the Lucas (1978) model and applies this to France where many labor laws start to bind on firms with exactly 50 or more employees. Using data on the population of firms between 2002 and 2007 period, we structurally estimate the key parameters of our model to construct counterfactual size, productivity and welfare distributions. With flexible wages, the deadweight loss of the regulation is below 1% of GDP, but when wages are downwardly rigid welfare losses exceed 5%. We also show, regardless of wage flexibility, that the main losers from the regulation are workers (and to a lesser extent large firms) and the main winners are small firms.
298 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors study the effect of vertical and horizontal differentiation on pricing policy in a large sample of hotels in Spain and show that hotels with more stars offer smaller discounts over listed prices, in addition to charging higher prices.
187 citations
TL;DR: A labor market intermediary (LMI) is an entity that stands between the individual worker and the organization that needs work done as mentioned in this paper, i.e., a middleman between the worker and an organization.
Abstract: Labor market intermediaries (LMIs) are entities that stand between the individual worker and the organization that needs work done. They include well-known operations such as executive search firms...
139 citations
TL;DR: This work proposes that diseconomies can be reduced to the extent that the manufacturer is able to design modular products – i.e., it has a modular design competence (MDC) and suggests that such an effect tends to become weaker for high levels of product and process innovation.
Abstract: Integrating suppliers into new product development (NPD) projects offers manufacturers the potential for substantial improvements in the new product being designed. However, it also creates significant inter-organizational integration diseconomies that can negatively affect the manufacturing cost and performance of the designed product. We propose that these diseconomies can be reduced to the extent that the manufacturer is able to design modular products — i.e., it has a modular design competence (MDC). We also suggest that such an effect tends to become weaker for high levels of product and process innovation. We test our hypotheses on an international sample of 165 NPD projects using hierarchical linear regression. Our results provide support for the moderation effect of MDC and partial support for the weakening of this effect under high product and process innovation. We discuss the implications for the literature of buyer-supplier relationships in NPD, inter-firm modularity and product-process-supply chain design as well as practice.
103 citations
TL;DR: Examination of manager proactivity and business unit sales performance in one of the largest sales organizations in the United States suggests that proactive senior managers establish more challenging goals for their business units, which in turn are associated with higher sales performance.
Abstract: Building on decades of research on the proactivity of individual performers, this study integrates research on goal setting and trust in leadership to examine manager proactivity and business unit sales performance in one of the largest sales organizations in the United States. Results of a moderated-mediation model suggest that proactive senior managers establish more challenging goals for their business units (N = 50), which in turn are associated with higher sales performance. We further found that employees' trust in the manager is a critical contingency variable that facilitates the relationship between challenging sales goals and subsequent sales performance. This research contributes to growing literatures on trust in leadership and proactivity by studying their joint effects at a district-unit level of analysis while identifying district managers' tendency to set challenging goals as a process variable that helps translate their proactivity into the collective performance of their units.
85 citations
TL;DR: It is argued and empirically confirmed that an employment and compensation system that increases SCE risk bearing reduces the SCE´s willingness to make risky decisions and thus discourages supply chain integration, and revealed that this negative relationship becomes stronger under conditions of high environmental volatility.
Abstract: Applying the behavioral agency model developed by Wiseman and Gomez-Mejia (1998), this paper analyzes human resource factors that induce supply chain executives (SCEs) to make decisions that foster or hinder supply chain integration. We examine two internal sources - compensation and employment risk - and one external source - environmental volatility - of risk bearing that can make SCEs more reluctant to make the decision of promoting supply chain integration. We argue and empirically confirm the notion that an employment and compensation system that increases SCE risk bearing reduces the SCE´s willingness to make risky decisions and thus discourages supply chain integration. We also reveal that this negative relationship becomes stronger under conditions of high environmental volatility. In addressing the “so what?” question, we find empirical support for the hypothesis that supply chain integration positively influences operational performance. Even though this decision has positive value for the firm, we found that SCEs discourage supply chain integration when they face higher risk bearing. Hypotheses are tested using a combination of primary survey data and archival measures in a sample of 133 Spanish firms.
81 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the interaction between propensity to corrupt (PTC) and firm performance and found that corrupt managers pay a higher portion of salaries under the table and that a one standard deviation increase in PTC is associated with a 7% increase in undeclared employee income at a firm.
Abstract: This paper examines the interaction between propensity to corrupt (PTC) and firm performance. First, I use unique data from Moscow traffic violations to build an individual measure of PTC for every Muscovite with a driver’s license (3.1 million people). Next, I determine the PTC for the management of 58,157 privately held firms. I find that a one standard deviation increase in company management PTC corresponds to a 3.4% increase in income diversion. I also find that corrupt managers pay a higher portion of salaries under the table. A one standard deviation increase in PTC is associated with a 7% increase in undeclared employee income at a firm. Finally, I document that firms with corrupt management significantly outperform firms with not corrupt management. A one standard deviation increase in firm management PTC is associated with a 2.2% increase in the annual revenue growth rate and a 3.9% increase in revenue per employee. However, this effect is not present in foreign-owned firms.
TL;DR: In this article, the interaction between income diversion and firm performance was examined using unique Russian banking transaction data, and they identified 42,483 spacemen, fly-by-night firms created specifically for income diversion.
Abstract: This paper examines the interaction between income diversion and firm performance. Using unique Russian banking transaction data, I identify 42,483 spacemen, fly-by-night firms created specifically for income diversion. Next, I build a direct measure of income diversion for 45,429 companies and show that it is negatively related to firm performance. I identify the main reason for the observed effect as managerial diversion rather than tax evasion per se. I further show that stricter tax enforcement can improve firm performance: a one standard deviation increase in tax enforcement corresponds to an increase in the annual revenue growth rate of 2.6%.
TL;DR: Using Spanish Social Security records, this paper document the channels through which mothers fall onto a lower earnings track, such as shifting into part-time work, accumulating lower experience, or transitioning to lower paying jobs, and are able to explain 71 percent of the unconditional individual fixed-effects motherhood wage gap.
Abstract: Using Spanish Social Security records, we document the channels through which mothers fall onto a lower earnings track, such as shifting into part-time work, accumulating lower experience, or transitioning to lower-paying jobs, and are able to explain 71 percent of the unconditional individual fixed-effects motherhood wage gap. The earnings trajectories’ analysis reveals that “mothers to be” experience important relative earnings increases several years before giving birth but this earnings’ advantage falls right after birth, taking in average nine years to recover. Heterogeneity matters as most of the motherhood dip is driven by workers with permanent contracts.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: This study develops and proposes a parsimonious taxonomy of how buyers and suppliers develop knowledge integration in terms of two mechanisms: joint sense meaning and joint decision making, and suggests that buyers that purposely develop a balanced knowledge integration with their suppliers show improved efficiency and innovation simultaneously.
Abstract: Based on the knowledge-based view of inter-firm collaboration, this study develops and proposes a parsimonious taxonomy of how buyers and suppliers develop knowledge integration in terms of two mechanisms: joint sense meaning and joint decision making. The first focuses on the interpretation and sense making of knowledge about strategic, relevant issues for the buyer-supplier relationship (BSR). The latter emphasizes joint problem solving related to their interlinked operative, routine activities. Using survey data from 130 collaborative BSRs and cluster analysis, the results suggest that buyers that purposely develop a balanced integration with their suppliers — characterized by managing high levels of both joint sense meaning and joint decision making — show improved efficiency and innovation simultaneously even though they have to deal with the tension of managing the requirements of these two key, albeit competing outcomes. The results also suggest that buyers pursuing a focused integration with their suppliers — characterized by managing high levels of either joint sense meaning or joint decision making — outperform in a specific outcome at the expense of the other. This study thus provides a comprehensive framework that allows organizations to evaluate which knowledge integration strategy best support their goals related to their collaborative buyer-supplier relationships.
TL;DR: The results support the idea that general trends for variation in functional traits across species do not necessarily reflect a similar pattern when observed at the intraspecific level, and reaffirms the importance of local adaptation to water deficit in the context of climate change.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors studied the two potentially contrasting effects on IPO pricing and post-IPO operating performance of family ties as well as social ties the top management has with board members.
Abstract: This paper studies the two potentially contrasting effects on IPO pricing and post-IPO operating performance of family ties as well as social ties the top management has with board members. While family ties may solve manager-owner conflicts of interests, they may also give rise to minority-shareholder expropriation and/or private benefits of control. Similarly, social ties may either create value or lead to entrenchment and excessive managerial power. Using q-analysis to measure the strength of top manager ties to board members, we find that IPO performance is positively related to the strength of social ties, but negatively to the strength of family ties. We also find that, controlling for social ties, board independence affects both IPO pricing and post-IPO operating performance. Further, we show that the association between IPO performance and ties depends on whether they are with inside or outside directors.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the role of management control systems, in particular performance measurement systems (PMSs) such as the Balanced Scorecard and key performance indicators, in a multinational context.
Abstract: This paper examines the role of management control systems, in particular performance measurement systems (PMSs) such as the Balanced Scorecard and key performance indicators, in a multinational context. We begin by exploring how globalization discourses are engaged with, consumed, appropriated, re-produced, disseminated and promoted in a major multinational company. We link the adaptation and dissemination of global discourses of senior managers with Said’s (1975/1997) concepts of authority and molestation. We then examine how PMS are translated and customized within local manufacturing plants and sales units in the UK and China, the significance of benchmarking and the extent to which PMS render managerial discourses of globalization practical. We comment on the importance of discourse in understanding control systems in general and the way in which external discourses impact the internal practices of the organization. We also explore some of the sources that give rise to molestation (deviation of practice from global aspirations of senior managers). We conclude by stressing the potential for the globalizing effects of PMS through the interaction of the discourses of HQ and subunits, even in the absence of explicit statements about globalization.
30 Dec 2013
TL;DR: This study, based on a risk and benefits perspective, uses the theory of planned behavior to develop a model that predicts the intention to adopt Big Data technologies.
Abstract: Everyday a constant stream of data is generated as a result of social interactions, Internet of things, e‐commerce and other business processes. This vast amount of data should be collected, stored, transformed, monitored and analyzed in a relatively brief period of time. Reason behind is data may contain the answer to business insights and new ideas fostering competitiveness and innovation. Big Data technologies/methodologies have emerged as the solution to this need. However, being a relatively new trend there is still much that remains unknown. This study, based on a risk and benefits perspective, uses the theory of planned behavior to develop a model that predicts the intention to adopt Big Data technologies.
TL;DR: The authors examine how four choices affect results in studies of selectivity in political contexts: including an entertainment option, including or excluding moderates, post-hoc adjustment of the subjects through a question about likelihood of selecting content in the real world, and assessing selectivity on the basis of issue attitudes or political ideology.
Abstract: Selective exposure has been studied for more than half a century, but little research has systematically analyzed the implications of various methodological choices inherent in these designs. We examine how four choices affect results in studies of selectivity in political contexts: including an entertainment option, including or excluding moderates, post-hoc adjustment of the subjects through a question about likelihood of selecting content in the real world, and assessing selectivity on the basis of issue attitudes or political ideology. Relying on a large experimental survey (N = 2,300), we compare the effects of these choices on two results: probability of selective exposure to like-minded political news and predictors of selective exposure (attitude strength, political interest, knowledge, and participation). Our findings show that probability estimates and, to a lesser extent, predictors of selective exposure are sensitive to methodological choices. These findings provide guidance about how methodol...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that net importers of FDI with longer time horizons are more likely to build in greater policy autonomy in their BITs by scaling back the legalization of their national treatment obligations and that this relationship is robust to controlling for selection into investment treaties.
Abstract: International institutions help governments make credible commitments to other state and nonstate actors by raising the costs of commitment violation. However, in doing so these institutions generate sovereignty costs for national governments by constraining the autonomy they have to develop and implement policy. Governments respond to this trade-off between the credibility of commitments and policy autonomy differently depending on their time horizons and this shapes their preferences over the design of credibility-enhancing institutions. Governments with long time horizons expect to govern in the future, anticipate that conditions may shift over time, and therefore seek institutional designs that will afford them greater freedom to modify policies in response to changing economic and political conditions. Governments with shorter time horizons, on the other hand, do not anticipate being in power long into the future and therefore are less concerned about maintaining greater room to manipulate policy. I develop this argument in the context of bilateral investment treaties (BITs), focusing in particular on the legalization of obligation in national treatment commitments. I test the argument using an original data set of the design of national treatment obligations in a random sample of 342 BITs. I find that net importers of FDI with longer time horizons are more likely to build in greater policy autonomy in their BITs by scaling back the legalization of their national treatment obligations and that this relationship is robust to controlling for selection into investment treaties.
TL;DR: In this article, a taxonomy of buyer-supplier relationships based on the supplier's absorptive capacity (AC) was developed to predict a firm's performance with regard to innovation and operational efficiency.
Abstract: This paper develops a taxonomy of buyer–supplier relationships (BSRs), based on the supplier’s absorptive capacity (AC). AC encompasses three learning processes: exploration, assimilation, and exploitation. The aim is to develop a taxonomy that can predict a firm’s performance with regard to innovation and operational efficiency. This research complements the literature, which presently focuses on descriptive rather than predictive taxonomies. Data from 153 firms were collected through survey research. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the quality of data and calculate composite scores to be used in the cluster analysis to develop the BSRs patterns. Analysis of variance was used to explore the relationships between BSR type and firm performance. Finally, semi-structured interviews aided interpretation of the proposed taxonomy. Findings support the identification of groups of dyads through different combinations of the learning processes underlying AC. The different combinations are typified ...
TL;DR: This article used evidence from a large database on companies from 16 European countries, to highlight patterns in their employment practices and reconcile these with classifications of systems of corporate governance and employment relations, and analyzed whether there are differences in employment practices for firms that have been recently involved in mergers and acquisitions.
Abstract: This paper uses evidence from a large database on companies from 16 European countries, to highlight patterns in their employment practices and reconcile these with classifications of systems of corporate governance and employment relations. It also analyses whether there are differences in employment practices for firms that have been recently involved in mergers and acquisitions. The observed country effects fit in relatively well with the predictions of the juridico-political theories: the political orientation of the national governments and the quality of law fare relatively well in explaining these country effects. Theories of regulation that point to the interconnected nature of these variables explain further differences in employment practices. The merger effects are less clear-cut. However, again, recent regulationist thinking, which suggests the uneven nature of systemic evolution, seems relevant in this context.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the cross-cultural differences in human resource managers' beliefs in effective HR practices by surveying HR practitioners in Finland (N=86), South Korea (N =147), and Spain (n=196).
Abstract: In this study, we examine the cross-cultural differences in human resource (HR) managers’ beliefs in effective HR practices by surveying HR practitioners in Finland (N=86), South Korea (N=147), and Spain (N=196). Similar to previous studies from the U.S., the Netherlands, and Australia, there are large discrepancies between HR practitioner beliefs and research findings, particularly in the area of staffing. In addition, we find that interpersonal-oriented aspects of HR practices tend to be more culturally bound than technical-oriented aspects of HR practices. We interpret the differences using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (Power Distance, Individualism versus Collectivism, Masculinity versus Femininity, Long-Term Orientation versus Short-Term Orientation, and Uncertainty Avoidance). We discuss the overall nature of the science-practice gap in HR management, and the implications for evidence-based management.
TL;DR: The relationship between smoking and depression and whether this is influenced by common confounding factors remain unclear, in part due to limited longitudinal data on covariation.
Abstract: Background
Major depressive disorder (MDD) and smoking are major public health problems and epidemiologically strongly associated. However, the relationship between smoking and depression and whether this is influenced by common confounding factors remain unclear, in part due to limited longitudinal data on covariation.
Methods
In the Vantaa Depression Study, psychiatric out- and inpatients with DSM-IV MDD and aged 20–59 years at were followed from baseline to 6 months, 18 months, and 5 years. We investigated course of depression, smoking, and comorbid alcohol-use disorders among the 214 patients (79.6% of 269) participating at least three time points; differences between smoking versus nonsmoking patients, and covariation of MDD, smoking, and alcohol-use disorders.
Results
Overall, 31.3% of the patients smoked regularly, 41.1% intermittently, and 27.6% never. Smokers were younger, had more alcohol-use disorders and Cluster B and C personality disorder symptoms, a higher frequency of lifetime suicide attempts, higher neuroticism, smaller social networks, and lower perceived social support than never smokers. Smoking and depression had limited longitudinal covariation. Depression, smoking, and alcohol-use disorders all exhibited strong autoregressive tendencies.
Conclusions
Among adult psychiatric MDD patients, smoking is strongly associated with substance-use and personality disorders, which may confound research on the impact of smoking. Rather than depression or smoking covarying or predicting each other, depression, smoking, and alcohol-use disorders each have strong autoregressive tendencies. These findings are more consistent with common factors causing their association than either of the conditions strongly predisposing to the other.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the effects of team structure and experience on the impact of inventions produced by scientific teams and showed that interdepartmental collaboration has a negative effect on invention impact.
Abstract: We examine the effects of team structure and experience on the impact of inventions produced by scientific teams. Whereas multidisciplinary, collaborative teams have become the norm in scientific production, there are coordination costs commensurate with managing such teams. We use patent citation analysis to examine the effect of prior collaboration and patenting experience on invention impact of 282 patents granted in human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research from 1998 to 2010. Our results reveal that team experience outside the domain may be detrimental to project performance in a setting where the underlying knowledge changes. In stem cell science, we show that interdepartmental collaboration has a negative effect on invention impact. Scientific proximity between members of the team has a curvilinear relationship, suggesting that teams consisting of members with moderate proximity get the highest impact. We elaborate on these findings for theories of collaboration and coordination and its implications for radical scientific discoveries. Copyright © 2013 Strategic Management Society.
TL;DR: The authors examined the relationship between the investment horizon of banks and their CEO compensation, and its consequences for risk and performance, and found that banks with short-term investment intensity pay more cash bonus, exhibit higher risk and perform more poorly than banks with longer-time investment intensity.
Abstract: This paper examines the relation between the investment horizon of banks and their CEO compensation, and its consequences for risk and performance. We find that banks with short-term investment intensity pay more cash bonus, exhibit higher risk and perform more poorly than banks with longer-term investment intensity. This evidence is broadly consistent with the view that short-term means of compensation encouraged a short-term investment focus, which in turn led to both higher risk and resulted in poorer performance, culminating in the sub-prime crisis. The inverse risk-performance relation suggests pay schemes were incongruent with shareholders’ interest. Moreover, pay arrangements used in banks prior to the subprime crisis exposed banks to the ex-post settling up problem (the clawback problem).
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated how a specific public's situational behavior might be influenced by a referent criterion representing a biased mindset of that public toward the topic and found that low identification with an issue is significant.
Abstract: The situational theory of publics demonstrates that stakeholders are best segmented into active publics, given their high problem recognition, low constraint recognition, and high level of involvement in an issue. This study further demonstrates that low identification with an issue is significant as the public's situational drivers are increased by a high ethnocentric bias. This argument is investigated with regard to a specific type of public: journalists. The results confirmed previous discussions of how a specific public's situational behavior might be influenced by a referent criterion representing a biased mindset of that public toward the topic.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the media impact of appointing new directors of Spanish companies at a particularly significant moment, during the period from 2007 to 2010, just a year before and 3 years after the Gender Equality Act was passed.
Abstract: Recent corporate governance literature on gender diversity within boards has linked the effect of an increase in gender diversity to the firm’s corporate reputation. This paper analyzes the media impact of appointing new directors of Spanish companies at a particularly significant moment, during the period from 2007 to 2010, just a year before and 3 years after the Gender Equality Act was passed. By analyzing female and male board nominations in Spanish IBEX-35 companies, the paper examines whether appointing a female does have greater visibility than appointing a male, and thus a potential signaling effect for corporate stakeholders and an effect on the firm’s reputation. Results indicate that the effect on press visibility of appointing a female versus a male is negligible, although there is significant media visibility for new executive directors, in particular for the case of the only woman nominated as an executive director during the period. The paper contributes to the existing literature on gender diversity in corporate governance, specifically its effect on corporate reputation. The paper also offers information relevant to policy making and in particular to the current debate over quotas for women on boards.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide an integrative overview of the associations between employees' daily emotional well-being and family-work interaction, job-related exhaustion, detachment, and meaning in life.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the following aspects: (i) purpose of reform, faculty, students, degree in management/accounting, and educational materials, and conclude with some specific suggestions to instill critical thinking in accounting students.