Showing papers by "Stockholm School of Economics published in 1984"

Organization in-Between: The Evolution of the Mother-Daughter Structure of Managing Foreign Subsidiaries in Swedish MNCS

Abstract: In-depth case studies of 4 firms and a questionnaire survey of 52 companies show that the mother-daughter structure prevalent in Swedish MNCs is changing. Firms tends to adopt organizational structures ‘in between’ a pure mother-daughter one and one divided along product or technology lines. Rather than introducing formal matrix structures, relatively simple organizational forms are complemented by changes in information systems, budgeting procedures, rotation of personnel, and so forth. The control style is changing in the direction of slightly more formal performance evaluation. The changes can be understood as adaptations to growing size of the firms, increased product diversity, acquisitions of foreign companies, technological maturity, entry of new managers, and slower demand growth.

Schumpeterian dynamics : Some methodological notes

Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to define ‘Schumpeterian dynamics’ and to indicate how it can serve as a basis and starting point for studies in development economics irrespective of how Schumpeter used his general approach and what kind of hypotheses he launched. Schumpeterian dynamics is characterized by its focus on economic transformation. This implies that the main interest is in causal chains outside the scope of macroeconomic growth analyses, namely in disequilibria and chain effects created inter alia by entrepreneurial activities, market processes and competition as a dynamic force. The micro underpinnings of such analyses therefore differ from those of growth models which deal with aggregates, such as investments and saving, productivity, income distribution, wage shares in value added, and capital/output ratios. Seen through Schumpeterian glasses, the micro units have no well-defined generalizable ‘propensities’, and they are not fully informed calculators reacting in a mechanical way to prices that they cannot influence. Instead, firms continuously seek new information and often search for projects which, if carried out, exert transformation pressure on the markets. Consumers can also actively influence firms and markets and do not only passively react to supply prices. Transformation analyses should not replace macroeconomic growth models, but a change of roles is called for. Such analyses have too long and too often been regarded as empirical complements to growth analyses and therefore as belonging mainly to the domain of economic historians. The stress on ‘complement’ instead of ‘alternative’ implies that some sort of a synthesis should be sought in theoretical as well as in empirical research.

Identification of the multi‐input box‐Jenkins transfer function model

Abstract: In this paper different ways to identify the order of the Box–Jenkins transfer function model are discussed. The discussion concerns estimation of the impulse response weight function in the case of more than one input variable. It is found that most of the existing methods are either unsuitable when there is more than one input variable, or expensive or difficult to use. To overcome these deficiencies an extended regression method is proposed. The new method is based on the solution of some problems in connection with the use of the regression method. The impulse response weights are estimated by a biased regression estimator on variables transformed with respect to the noise model. To test the new approach a small simulation experiment has been performed. The results from the simulations indicate that the proposed method may be of value to the practitioner.

Team Teaching: Making Management Education More Student-Centred?:

Abstract: One of the original reasons for introducing team teaching into schools was because it seemed likely to make education more 'student-centred'. This paper considers how far this assumption holds in management education where team teaching is frequently employed. In doing this it is necessary to discuss the nature of team teaching in some detail, including both the variety of structural arrangements that may be adopted and the way that different assumptions about the proper content of management education can influence the choice of such arrangements. The conclusion is that the relationship is by no means straightforward, and that the success of team teaching itself depends very much on the skills and circumstances of the teachers involved.

Redistributional Aspects of Tax Evasion

Abstract: Most empirical studies of income distribution use official tax data based on reported income. In the presence of tax evasion, or a large “irregular” economy, such data give an incorrect picture of the actual income distribution. In this paper, a model of tax evasion, originally due to Allingham and Sandmo (1972), is developed to analyze the relation between the actual and the officially reported income distribution. It is shown that within the framework of this model, the distribution of total income (which also takes income from the hidden sector into account) is generally more uneven than the distribution of officially reported disposable income. It is also concluded that in the presence of tax evasion, government policy aimed at reducing the degree of inequality can sometimes be counterproductive. Policy measures which seem egalitarian in the sense that they make the distribution of officially reported disposable income more even, might very well make total income less evenly distributed.