Notwithstanding the popularity of outsourcing as a business strategy, the performance benefits realized through outsourcing efforts are observed to be mixed in practice. This leads to important unresolved questions regarding why some firms are able to derive substantial value from their outsourcing initiatives while other firms are left disappointed. This study joins an emerging literature integrating transaction cost economics and capabilities-based perspectives to develop a deeper understanding of the drivers of outsourcing performance. I develop a theoretical model that examines the independent and joint influence of governance misalignment (i.e., deviation from transaction cost’s predicted mode of governance) and a firm’s outsourcing capability on the performance of outsourced processes. I test the theoretical model using a dataset of 172 outsourced and 156 in-house processes. The finding that governance misalignment corresponds to inferior process performance supports transaction cost’s discriminating alignment hypothesis. Interestingly, I also find that a retained technical expertise and outsourcing knowledge management routines (both contributors to a firm’s outsourcing capability) positively influence outsourcing performance both directly and via their relationship with governance misalignment. While a retained technical expertise and outsourcing knowledge management routines each positively influence outsourcing performance, they do so in distinctive ways. These findings have important managerial implications and make a significant theoretical contribution. Specifically, this study demonstrates that the notion of a governance misalignment is firm-specific, conditional on the governance capabilities of the organization. This insight underscores the value of integrating transaction cost logic with capabilities-based perspectives.
{"title":"How Governance Misalignment and Outsourcing Capability Impact Performance","authors":"Sean Handley","doi":"10.1111/POMS.12609","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/POMS.12609","url":null,"abstract":"Notwithstanding the popularity of outsourcing as a business strategy, the performance benefits realized through outsourcing efforts are observed to be mixed in practice. This leads to important unresolved questions regarding why some firms are able to derive substantial value from their outsourcing initiatives while other firms are left disappointed. This study joins an emerging literature integrating transaction cost economics and capabilities-based perspectives to develop a deeper understanding of the drivers of outsourcing performance. I develop a theoretical model that examines the independent and joint influence of governance misalignment (i.e., deviation from transaction cost’s predicted mode of governance) and a firm’s outsourcing capability on the performance of outsourced processes. I test the theoretical model using a dataset of 172 outsourced and 156 in-house processes. The finding that governance misalignment corresponds to inferior process performance supports transaction cost’s discriminating alignment hypothesis. Interestingly, I also find that a retained technical expertise and outsourcing knowledge management routines (both contributors to a firm’s outsourcing capability) positively influence outsourcing performance both directly and via their relationship with governance misalignment. While a retained technical expertise and outsourcing knowledge management routines each positively influence outsourcing performance, they do so in distinctive ways. These findings have important managerial implications and make a significant theoretical contribution. Specifically, this study demonstrates that the notion of a governance misalignment is firm-specific, conditional on the governance capabilities of the organization. This insight underscores the value of integrating transaction cost logic with capabilities-based perspectives.","PeriodicalId":355915,"journal":{"name":"POL: Economic View of the Firm (Topic)","volume":"79 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131074393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We examine the influence of economic downturns on the relation between diversification and firm value in a large panel of U.S. firms over the period from 1984 to 2014. When markets are incomplete or there are significant frictions, diversification provides value when the fortunes of one business segment are imperfectly correlated with the fortunes of another. We test whether this hedging effect of diversification is valued by the market. We find that the hedging value of diversification during economic downturns reduces the diversification discount by 9% for domestically diversified firms and 12% for globally diversified firms. Our results are robust to controlling for endogeneity of diversification decisions. Consistent with a hedging value of diversification, we find that risk reduction as measured by the correlation of a firm’s industrial and regional operations with the state of the economy is a key channel through which diversification becomes more valuable during economic downturns. We find little evidence that the enhanced value of diversification during downturns is attributable to alternative explanations such as mitigation of overinvestment in value-reducing diversification strategies, enhanced value of internal capital markets, or more valuable debt coinsurance.
{"title":"The Hedging Benefits of Domestic and Global Diversification: Evidence from Economic Downturns","authors":"Yixin Liu, D. Mauer, Yilei Zhang","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2735922","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2735922","url":null,"abstract":"We examine the influence of economic downturns on the relation between diversification and firm value in a large panel of U.S. firms over the period from 1984 to 2014. When markets are incomplete or there are significant frictions, diversification provides value when the fortunes of one business segment are imperfectly correlated with the fortunes of another. We test whether this hedging effect of diversification is valued by the market. We find that the hedging value of diversification during economic downturns reduces the diversification discount by 9% for domestically diversified firms and 12% for globally diversified firms. Our results are robust to controlling for endogeneity of diversification decisions. Consistent with a hedging value of diversification, we find that risk reduction as measured by the correlation of a firm’s industrial and regional operations with the state of the economy is a key channel through which diversification becomes more valuable during economic downturns. We find little evidence that the enhanced value of diversification during downturns is attributable to alternative explanations such as mitigation of overinvestment in value-reducing diversification strategies, enhanced value of internal capital markets, or more valuable debt coinsurance.","PeriodicalId":355915,"journal":{"name":"POL: Economic View of the Firm (Topic)","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114725132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Firm boundaries and strategic execution affect the firm’s ability to generate rents, grow, and survive. Boundaries are determined through governance mode choices, such as whether to make or buy a particular good or activity. While significant work has addressed the performance implications of this fit, less attention has been directed toward strategic execution, or implementation. In particular, the impact of corporate parents has been understudied. We suggest that parent-level implementation capabilities of operating expertise gained through related experience and coordination from collocation combine with governance mode choices to jointly affect performance. By employing theories of organizational economics and testing predictions in casual dining chains, this paper unpacks the relationship between implementation, governance mode choice, and performance. Our findings suggest that parent capabilities may be more important than mode choice fit and that parent benefits are contingent upon mode choice and type of performance.
{"title":"Actions Speak Louder than Modes: Antecedents and Implications of Parent Implementation Capabilities on Business Unit Performance","authors":"Anne Parmigiani, Samuel S. Holloway","doi":"10.1002/SMJ.920","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/SMJ.920","url":null,"abstract":"Firm boundaries and strategic execution affect the firm’s ability to generate rents, grow, and survive. Boundaries are determined through governance mode choices, such as whether to make or buy a particular good or activity. While significant work has addressed the performance implications of this fit, less attention has been directed toward strategic execution, or implementation. In particular, the impact of corporate parents has been understudied. We suggest that parent-level implementation capabilities of operating expertise gained through related experience and coordination from collocation combine with governance mode choices to jointly affect performance. By employing theories of organizational economics and testing predictions in casual dining chains, this paper unpacks the relationship between implementation, governance mode choice, and performance. Our findings suggest that parent capabilities may be more important than mode choice fit and that parent benefits are contingent upon mode choice and type of performance.","PeriodicalId":355915,"journal":{"name":"POL: Economic View of the Firm (Topic)","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127332868","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper investigates the source of different rates of technology diffusion when economies differ in borrowing constraints arising from the quality of financial institutions. I introduce borrowing constraints to the vintage human capital model, to demonstrate slower technology adoption and longer technology use when borrowing constraints are tighter. I then show when economies differentiated by such constraints interact through trade, the relative difference in borrowing constraints gives rise to a pattern of technology adoption where frontier technologies are exclusively adopted in rich countries, and then trickle down to poor countries. I assess the theoretical results quantitatively, and show that large cross country per capita output differences can be readily generated.
{"title":"Financial Institutions, Technology Diffusion and Trade","authors":"Y. Kim","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1022222","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1022222","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates the source of different rates of technology diffusion when economies differ in borrowing constraints arising from the quality of financial institutions. I introduce borrowing constraints to the vintage human capital model, to demonstrate slower technology adoption and longer technology use when borrowing constraints are tighter. I then show when economies differentiated by such constraints interact through trade, the relative difference in borrowing constraints gives rise to a pattern of technology adoption where frontier technologies are exclusively adopted in rich countries, and then trickle down to poor countries. I assess the theoretical results quantitatively, and show that large cross country per capita output differences can be readily generated.","PeriodicalId":355915,"journal":{"name":"POL: Economic View of the Firm (Topic)","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2006-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126124019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Under-performing firms persist even though existing theoretical perspectives indicate that they should be selected out of the market. Building upon threshold theory [Gimeno, J., Folta, T., Cooper, A., Woo, C., 1997. Survival of the fittest? Entrepreneurial human capital and the persistence of underperforming firms. Administrative Science Quarterly 42, 750-783.] and using Staw's [Staw, B.M., 1981. The escalation of commitment to a course of action. Academy of Management Review 6 (4), 577-587.] theoretical model of commitment to a course of action, we explore and test the factors that lead entrepreneurs to persist with under-performing firms. We found environmental munificence, personal investment, personal options, previous organizational success, and perceived collective efficacy impact the decision to persist with an under-performing firm. In addition, extrinsic motivation moderates those relationships. This research adds to the growing literature on highly persistent, under-performing firms and complements and extends threshold theory.
{"title":"The Fallacy of 'Only the Strong Survive': The Effects of Extrinsic Motivation on the Persistence Decisions of Underperforming Firms","authors":"Dawn R. DeTienne, D. Shepherd, Julio O. de Castro","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1019603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1019603","url":null,"abstract":"Under-performing firms persist even though existing theoretical perspectives indicate that they should be selected out of the market. Building upon threshold theory [Gimeno, J., Folta, T., Cooper, A., Woo, C., 1997. Survival of the fittest? Entrepreneurial human capital and the persistence of underperforming firms. Administrative Science Quarterly 42, 750-783.] and using Staw's [Staw, B.M., 1981. The escalation of commitment to a course of action. Academy of Management Review 6 (4), 577-587.] theoretical model of commitment to a course of action, we explore and test the factors that lead entrepreneurs to persist with under-performing firms. We found environmental munificence, personal investment, personal options, previous organizational success, and perceived collective efficacy impact the decision to persist with an under-performing firm. In addition, extrinsic motivation moderates those relationships. This research adds to the growing literature on highly persistent, under-performing firms and complements and extends threshold theory.","PeriodicalId":355915,"journal":{"name":"POL: Economic View of the Firm (Topic)","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2004-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131359593","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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