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- 2021
- Working Paper
Absenteeism, Productivity, and Relational Contracts Inside the Firm
By: Jorge Tamayo, Achyuta Adhvaryu, Jean-Francois Gauthier and Anant Nyshadham
We study relational contracts among managers using a unique dataset that tracks transfers of workers across teams in Indian ready-made garment factories. We focus on how relational contracts help managers cope with worker absenteeism shocks, which are frequent, often...
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- 2020
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 3 Transaction Free Zones
In Chapter 2 we saw that the most economical locations for transactions in a task network are the so-called thin crossing points—places where transfers are easy to define, count and pay for. However, in many places in the task network, transfers of material, energy,...
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- 2020
- Working Paper
What Can Economics Say About Alzheimer's Disease?
By: Amitabh Chandra, Courtney Coile and Corina Mommaerts
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) affects one in ten people aged 65 or older and is the most expensive disease in the United States. We describe the central economic questions raised by AD. While there is overlap with the economics of aging, the defining features of the...
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- March 2020 (Revised August 2020)
- Case
Culture at Google
By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Amy Klopfenstein and Sarah Mehta
Beginning in 2017, technology (tech) company Google faced a series of employee-relations issues that threatened its unique culture of innovation and open communication. Issues included protests surrounding Google’s contracts with the U.S. government, restrictions of...
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Keywords:
Human Resources;
Employee Relationship Management;
Recruitment;
Retention;
Resignation and Termination;
Labor;
Working Conditions;
Employment;
Labor Unions;
Wages;
Law;
Lawsuits and Litigation;
Rights;
Ethics;
Values and Beliefs;
Fairness;
Organizations;
Organizational Culture;
Mission and Purpose;
Social Psychology;
Attitudes;
Behavior;
Conflict Management;
Trust;
Motivation and Incentives;
Prejudice and Bias;
Power and Influence;
Technology;
Search Technology;
Web;
Hardware;
Society;
Social Issues;
Culture;
Civil Society or Community;
Demographics;
Diversity;
Ethnicity;
Gender;
Race;
Technology Industry;
North and Central America;
United States;
California
- March 2020
- Article
Which Early Withdrawal Penalty Attracts the Most Deposits to a Commitment Savings Account?
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, Christopher Harris, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian and Jung Sakong
Previous research has shown that some people voluntarily use commitment contracts that restrict their own choice sets. We study how people divide money between two accounts: a liquid account that permits unrestricted withdrawals and a commitment account that is...
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- August 2019
- Case
Bark Gift Shop Ltd.
By: Susanna Gallani, Jan Bouwens and Peter Kroos
This case describes a setting in which the CFO of Bark Gift Shop Ltd., a gift items retailer, discovers an undesired pattern in the performance data suggesting that her shop managers that perform well during the first part of the year, purposely reduce their effort in...
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- 2019
- Chapter
Merchants and the Origins of Capitalism
By: Sophus A. Reinert and Robert Fredona
N.S.B. Gras, the father of business history in the United States, argued that the era of mercantile capitalism was defined by the figure of the “sedentary merchant,” who managed his business from home, using correspondence and intermediaries, in contrast to the earlier...
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- June 2019
- Article
Fraud Allegations and Government Contracting
By: Jonas Heese and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos
This paper examines whether fraud allegations affect firms’ contracting with the government. Using a dataset of whistleblower allegations brought under the False Claims Act against firms accused of defrauding the government, we find that federal agencies do not reduce...
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- 2010
- Article
Budgeting, Psychological Contracts, and Budgetary Misreporting
By: Susanna Gallani, Ranjani Krishnan, Eric J. Marinich and Michael D. Shields
This study examines the effect of psychological contract breach on budgetary misreporting. Psychological contracts are mental models or schemas that govern how employees understand their exchange relationships with their employers. Psychological contract breach leads...
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- February 2019 (Revised January 2020)
- Case
Pierre Foods Acquisition of Advance Foods (A)
By: Guhan Subramanian and Mike Harmon
This case (A), and its related cases (B-E), establish a setting to discuss an M&A transaction and some of the key legal contracts that are associated with it. In 2010, private equity backed food manufacturer Pierre Foods is contemplating the acquisition of a key...
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- 2018
- Working Paper
Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 5 Complementarity
The purpose of this chapter is to relate the theory of task networks and technology set forth in previous chapters to theories of firm boundaries from economics and management. Complementary goods have more value when used together than separately. Complementarity may...
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Keywords:
Complementarity
- 2020
- Working Paper
Incentive Power and Knowledge Sharing Among Employees: Evidence from the Field
By: Wei Cai, Susanna Gallani and Jee-Eun Shin
There is consensus, both in the literature and in practice, about knowledge sharing within organizations being a key determinant of success. However, organizations struggle to sustain employees’ engagement in knowledge sharing. One challenge lies in the fact that,...
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Keywords:
Organizational Knowledge Sharing;
Employee Driven Innovation;
Innovation Appropriability;
Contract Design;
High-powered Incentives;
Low-powered Incentives;
Incentives;
Pay-for-performance;
Rank-and-file;
Employees;
Knowledge Sharing;
Innovation and Invention;
Motivation and Incentives;
Creativity;
Performance
- October 2017 (Revised January 2018)
- Case
Bitfury: Blockchain for Government
By: Mitchell Weiss and Elena Corsi
In the Republic of Georgia, legend had it their land was a precious gift from God he had intended to keep for his mother. But over time, the land had been under intermittent threat from without and within. In 2017, the Bitfury Group, which Valery Vavilov had...
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Keywords:
Blockchain;
Bitcoin;
Cryptocurrency;
Public Entrepreneurship;
Public Innovation;
Government Innovation;
Property Rights;
Property Registry;
Technology Strategy;
Distributed Networks;
Entrepreneurship;
Public Sector;
Innovation and Invention;
Technology Adoption;
Business and Government Relations;
Technology Industry;
Real Estate Industry;
Public Administration Industry;
Georgia (nation, Asia);
Tbilisi
- 2017
- Working Paper
Merchants and the Origins of Capitalism
By: Sophus A. Reinert and Robert Fredona
N.S.B. Gras, the father of Business History in the United States, argued that the era of mercantile capitalism was defined by the figure of the “sedentary merchant,” who managed his business from home, using correspondence and intermediaries, in contrast to the earlier...
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- 2017
- Working Paper
International Business and Emerging Markets: A Long-Run Perspective
By: Geoffrey Jones
This working paper explores long-run patterns in the strategies of international business in developing countries. There was a massive wave of Western multinational investment in the developing world during the first wave of globalization before the 1920s. The...
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- May 2017
- Supplement
Betfair (B), (C), and (D) Case Slides
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and John Heilbron
Contains slides related to the Betfair B, C, and D cases.
Abstracts:
B) Buoyed by success in the market for gambling contracts, Betfair attempts to enter the market for financial products using its exchange model.
C) Prompted by a takeover bid from... View Details
Abstracts:
B) Buoyed by success in the market for gambling contracts, Betfair attempts to enter the market for financial products using its exchange model.
C) Prompted by a takeover bid from... View Details
- 2016
- Article
The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence, and Exceptions
By: Lyra J. Colfer and Carliss Y. Baldwin
The mirroring hypothesis predicts that organizational ties within a project, firm, or group of firms (e.g., communication, collocation, employment) will correspond to the technical dependencies in the work being performed. This article presents a unified picture of...
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- 2016
- Working Paper
The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence and Exceptions
By: Lyra J. Colfer and Carliss Y. Baldwin
The mirroring hypothesis predicts that organizational ties within a project, firm, or group of firms (e.g., communication, collocation, employment) will correspond to the technical patterns of dependency in the work being performed. A thorough understanding of the...
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Keywords:
Modularity;
Innovation;
Product And Process Development;
Organization Design;
Design Structure;
Organizational Ties;
Mirroring Hypothesis;
Industry Architecture;
Product Architecture;
Complex Technical Systems;
Technology;
Organizational Design;
Organizational Structure;
Relationships;
Innovation and Invention;
Product Development
- October 2015
- Article
Managing the Performance Tradeoffs from Partner Integration: Implications of Contract Choice in R&D Projects
By: Alan MacCormack and Anant Mishra
Formal contracts represent an important governance instrument with which firms exercise control of and compensate partners in R&D projects. The specific type of contract used, however, can vary significantly across projects. In some, firms govern partnering...
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- 2015
- Working Paper
Customers and Investors: A Framework for Understanding Financial Institutions
By: Robert C. Merton and Robert T. Thakor
Financial institutions have both investors and customers. Investors, such as those who invest in stocks and bonds or private/public-sector guarantors of institutions, expect an appropriate risk-adjusted return in exchange for the financing and risk-bearing that they...
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Keywords:
Financial Institutions