Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2013
  • Working Paper

Managing Firms in an Emerging Economy: Evidence from the Time Use of Indian CEOs

By: Raffaella Sadun
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
ShareBar

Abstract

The success or failure of a company is often ascribed to the behavior of its CEO. Yet little is known about what top managers actually do, whether this matters for firm performance, and why it differs across firms. We provide some answers by developing a new survey instrument to collect data on CEO time use in the Indian manufacturing sector, where the productivity dispersion across firms is substantial. Time use analysis of 354 CEOs of listed firms yields three sets of findings. First, there is substantial heterogeneity in total hours worked ("labor supply") and the allocation of time across different activities, constituencies, and modes of interaction ("style"). Second, both labor supply and style are strongly correlated with firm productivity and profitability. Third, controlling for state and industry traits, family CEOs work fewer hours and adopt a less productive style. Using differences in exposure to competition and weather shocks, we argue that the behavioral differences between family and professional CEOs are easier to explain as differences in the preferences or skills of CEOs rather than optimal responses to different organizational structures.

Keywords

Management Style; Performance; Outcome Or Result; Management Teams; Manufacturing Industry; India

Citation

Sadun, Raffaella. "Managing Firms in an Emerging Economy: Evidence from the Time Use of Indian CEOs." Working Paper, 2013.
  • Read Now

About The Author

Raffaella Sadun

Strategy
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • January 2021
    • American Economic Journal: Applied Economics

    Turbulence, Firm Decentralization and Growth in Bad Times

    By: Philippe Aghion, Nicholas Bloom, Brian Lucking, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen
    • 2020
    • Faculty Research

    How Do CEOs Make Strategy?

    By: Mu-Jeung Yang, Michael Christensen, Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and Jan Rivkin
    • 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Collaborating During Coronavirus: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Nature of Work

    By: Evan DeFilippis, Stephen Michael Impink, Madison Singell, Jeffrey T. Polzer and Raffaella Sadun
More from the Author
  • Turbulence, Firm Decentralization and Growth in Bad Times By: Philippe Aghion, Nicholas Bloom, Brian Lucking, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen
  • How Do CEOs Make Strategy? By: Mu-Jeung Yang, Michael Christensen, Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and Jan Rivkin
  • Collaborating During Coronavirus: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Nature of Work By: Evan DeFilippis, Stephen Michael Impink, Madison Singell, Jeffrey T. Polzer and Raffaella Sadun
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College