Opportunism

About: Opportunism is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2030 publications have been published within this topic receiving 97170 citations. The topic is also known as: opportunist.

Coordination, Organizational Boundaries and Fads in Business Practices

Abstract: Management literature focuses on two modes of coordination: formal and informal structures. Informal structure grants significant discretion to individual actions. Yet two impediments are related to such flexibility, those created by opportunism and those created by convergent expectations. Impediments arising from convergent expectations exist when the expectations of all members of an interdependent system are not properly aligned. We use non-cooperative game theory to provide a foundation for the study of convergent expectations. We argue that the incentive to free-ride on the contributions of others is not a necessary condition for generating a lack of convergent expectations, and apply the issue of convergent expectations to both the organizational issues of optimal group and firm boundaries and to the role of managerial practices such as Total Quality Management (TQM). Building on research from organization theory, social psychology and game theory, the paper ties the idea of convergent expectations to the grouping dilemma of the trade-off between higher coordination within groups and lower coordination between groups. We argue that this grouping dilemma can serve as a basis for determining the actual boundaries of both groups in organizations and the organization itself. Examining the role of fads in business practices, we conclude that, however suspect their underlying value as decision aids may be, these practices can serve as useful coordination mechanisms.

Fair Value or Cost Model? Drivers of Choice for IAS 40 in the Real Estate Industry

Abstract: The IFRS mandatory adoption in European countries is an excellent context from which to assess the validity of accounting choice theory, which postulates that information asymmetry, contractual efficiency (agency costs) and managerial opportunism reasons could drive the choice. With this aim, we test the impact of these factors to explain the adoption of fair value for investment properties (IAS 40) in the real estate industry, taking into account the ‘revaluation’ option offered by IFRS1 and using historical cost without revaluations as a baseline category for comparison purposes. We select a sample of European real estate companies from Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden, all first-time adopters of the IFRS. Using a multinomial logistic model, we show that information asymmetry, contractual efficiency and managerial opportunism could account for the fair value choice. Particularly, the most significant findings are that size as a proxy of political costs reduces the likelihood of ...

Passive and Active Opportunism in Interorganizational Exchange.

Abstract: This article examines how firms in interorganizational relationships respond differently to active and passive opportunism and observes how these opportunism forms erode satisfaction with the performance of these relationships. The multimethod approach of two experiments and one longitudinal field study demonstrate that firms tolerate more passive opportunism than active opportunism (Study 1) and that transaction costs play a mediating role between opportunism form and satisfaction with performance of the relationship (Study 2). Finally, the field study reveals that, over time, passive opportunism has a more corrosive impact on satisfaction with performance than active opportunism (Study 3). Together, the findings underscore the importance of distinguishing passive and active opportunism and the need to develop a better understanding of its management and consequences.

Flexibility in Planning and the Consequences for Public-value Capturing in UK, Spain and the Netherlands

Abstract: In the 1960s, flexibility was often seen in planning literature as a negative feature, whereas today it is perceived by planners and policy-makers as a positive asset to cope with the challenges of growing complexity, opportunism and diversity in cities. The discussion seems to rest between two approaches. While planning should be flexible to facilitate a non-linear and multi-layered decision-making system, implementation should not be too flexible as the public sector might lose the controlling power and the private sector might gain increasing influence in urban development. This paper uses empirical data from case-based research on British, Spanish and Dutch urban regeneration projects, and provides an analysis of the effects of an important feature of flexibility on public-value capturing. Public-value capturing is the level at which public bodies manage to make developers pay for public infrastructure—infrastructure provision, public roads and space, public facilities and buildings, affordable and social housing—and eventually capture part of the economic value increase. This important aspect of flexibility is the level of certainty about future development possibilities before negotiations between developers and local planning bodies take place.