Publications

2011
Other Unpublished Work

What Do Private Firms Look Like?

By: John Asker, Joan Farre-Mensa and Alexander Ljungqvist

Private firms in the U.S. are not subject to public reporting requirements, so relatively little is known about their characteristics and behavior—until now. This Data Appendix describes a new database on private U.S. firms, created by Sageworks Inc. in cooperation... View Details

Keywords: Data and Data Sets; Behavior; Public Sector; Corporate Disclosure; Private Sector; Financial Statements; United States

SSRN

02 Dec 2010
News

Smaller Firms Still Hesitant to Hire

October 2004 (Revised March 2006)
Background Note

Compensation in Professional Service Firms

By: Ashish Nanda

Discusses the compensation of professionals--partners and nonpartners--in a professional services firm. Discusses the considerations that determine the choice of compensation systems and the interrelationship between compensation and other human resources management... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Service Industry

May 1988
Article

Management Dilemmas in Securities Firms

By: Robert G. Eccles Jr. and Dwight B. Crane

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Management; Business Ventures; Financial Instruments; Financial Services Industry

October 1986 (Revised September 1987)
Background Note

General Management in Diversified Firms

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

1991
Chapter

The Boundaries of the Firm

By: J. L. Badaracco Jr.

Keywords: Business Ventures; Boundaries

05 Sep 2012
News

Are Firms Neglecting Succession Plans?

September 2008
Article

Firm Heterogeneity and Credit Risk Diversification

By: Samuel G. Hanson, M. Hashem Pesaran and Til Schuermann

This paper examines the impact of neglected heterogeneity on credit risk. We show that neglecting heterogeneity in firm returns and/or default thresholds leads to under estimation of expected losses (EL), and its effect on portfolio risk is ambiguous. Once EL is... View Details

Keywords: Volatility; Credit; Investment Return; Outcome or Result; Risk and Uncertainty; Loss; Diversification; Complexity; United States

29 Dec 2010
News

In Hard Times, Family Firms Do Better

Research Summary

Organizational Change in Professional Service Firms

Professor Gabarro's current research focuses on organizational change in professional service firms and the challenges that they face in dealing with increased size, scale and complexity. View Details

November 2014
Article

The Global Agglomeration of Multinational Firms

By: Laura Alfaro and Maggie Xiaoyang Chen

The explosion of multinational activities in recent decades is rapidly transforming the global landscape of industrial production. But are the emerging clusters of multinational production the rule or the exception? What drives the offshore agglomeration of... View Details

Keywords: Agglomeration; Agglomeration Economies; Multinational Firms and Management; Manufacturing Industry

Read Now

March 2003 (Revised April 2006)
Background Note

Scale and Scope in Professional Service Firms

By: Ashish Nanda

This case discusses why economies (and diseconomies) of scale and scope exist in professional service firms (PSFs) and how they influence the amount and range of services that PSFs offer. It is distributed with a case that focuses on determining the optimal scale/scope... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Operations; Microeconomics; Service Industry

Summer 2021
Article

The Origin and Development of Firm Management

By: Michela Giorcelli

This paper examines the historical origin and diffusion of management practices. Despite their centrality in the modern world, the concepts of ‘management’ developed fairly recently. Only with the Industrial Revolution, due to the increased firm size, owners needed a... View Details

Keywords: Productivity; Kaizen; Management; Management Practices and Processes; History; Performance Productivity; Technology

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23 Nov 2011
Working Paper Summaries

The Organization of Firms Across Countries

Keywords: by Nicholas Bloom, Rafaella Sadun & John Van Reenen

2014
Working Paper

Firm Competitiveness and Detection of Bribery

By: George Serafeim

Using survey data from firms around the world I analyze how detection of bribery has impacted a firm's competitiveness over the past year. Managers report that the most significant impact was on employee morale, followed by business relations, and then reputation and... View Details

Keywords: Competitiveness; Corruption; Bribery; Employee Engagement; Reputation; Regulation; Competition; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Performance

SSRN

Read Now

February 1999
Case

Sports Agents: Is There a Firm Advantage?

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Brian R. Harris

Focuses on the decision of a young tennis player on what kind of agent to have as his representative. The choice is between someone in a large sports management/marketing firm and an independent agent representing a small number of individual athletes. Outlines the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Knowledge Management; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Organizational Structure