Determinants of Perceived Interfirm Dependence in Industrial Supplier Relations

Studies of industrial buyer-supplier relations mostly focus on structural characteristics of the transactions between parties, and assume a direct relation between these factors and characteristics of the relationships. This paper focuses on the psychological dimension of transaction relations, reflected in perceptions of dependence, from the perspective of an industrial supplier. In the first step of the analysis, three groups of structural determinants of perceived supplier dependence are explored: factors related to goal mediation, factors related to relation-specific assets, and factors related to network embeddedness. After that, the influence of these structural factors and of perceived supplier dependence on the ordering of buyer-supplier relations is investigated. Data come from a study of the micro-electronics assembly industry in the Netherlands. The findings show that sales to a particular buyer as a percentage of the total sales of the supplier and the growth of sales to a particular buyer (two forms of goal mediation) are important determinants of perceived supplier dependence. Human asset specificity is also related to perceived supplier dependence. Network embeddedness variables play only a minor role in explaining perceived supplier and buyer dependence in this study. The data further show that perceived dependence has an effect on the degree of ordering in the relationship, next to structural factors like the extendedness of the relationship beyond the focal transaction and physical asset specificity. The effects of human asset specificity and dedicated assets on ordering are contrary to what was expected on the basis of the literature.     

Target Reputation and Appropriability: Picking and Deploying Resources in Acquisitions

This study explores sources of acquirer satisfaction and achievement of strategic objectives following acquisitions. We develop two sets of factors based on picking and deploying target resources that we expect will affect these outcomes, and consider how the two interact. We find that target reputation is consistently related to desirable acquisition outcomes. In particular, product quality and financial reputation positively affect satisfaction; product quality is a strong predictor of achieving market-based objectives; and management and product reputation facilitate learning. Retaining top management after the transaction is also positively related to satisfaction. We support and extend the theory of relative standing—target executives are retained to a greater degree when management reputation is strong, and this leads to better outcomes for acquirers. Other deployment effects vary depending on the outcome and the strength of the acquired resource.     

Changing Employment Relations and Governance in the International Auto Industry

Journal of Management and Governance -     

Interfirm coopetition,trust, and opportunism: a mediated moderation model

Based on the literature on coopetition, interorganizational trust perspective, and recent work studying their interactions, we propose a mediated moderation model, which delineates how coopetition moderates the relationship between collaborations and opportunism and whether interorganizational trust mediates the moderated relationship. The findings indicate that the interaction of collaborations and coopetition positively influences opportunism, and that this effect will be negatively mediated by interorganizational trust. The results highlight that simultaneous use of the coopetition strategy will impact the efforts on opportunism reduction and illustrate the importance of interorganizational trust in the coopetitive situation.

     

An Assessment of the Italian 2007 Complementary Social Security Reform: A Simulation Approach

In this paper we aim at assessing the outcomes of the 2007 Italian reform of the complementary social security scheme and at identifying the determinants behind them. The reform provided workers with relevant incentives to switch the investment of about 7 per cent of their gross yearly wages from a firm‐managed scheme (which took the form of a termination indemnity payment, the Trattamento di Fine Rapporto scheme) to an external pension fund. We provide a theoretical framework to model the workers' problem of choosing between these two different forms of complementary social security schemes and we then perform an agent‐based simulation taking into account all the details of the reform. Differently from previous contributions, we stress the impact that the investment decision has on the financial health of firms and, consequently, on workers' employment stability. Our simulations are able to replicate the Italian data in terms of adhesion rates to complementary social security and also to identify some of the key determinants of that outcome, such as fiscal incentives, individual preferences, the working of both the Italian labour and the financial markets and the productive structure of the Italian economy.     

Between Supply and Demand: Intermediaries,Social Networks and the Construction of Quality in the Italian Wine Industry

The working of markets implies decisions basedon incomplete and costly information; as aconsequence, the mechanisms through which thisinformation is produced and made available toactors are very important. Most prominent amongsuch mechanisms is the role of intermediaryactors that do not make production orconsumption choices, but influence thesechoices by sorting products into categories. Wefocus on intermediary actors that expressevaluations of products, as a mechanism thatfosters the convergence of supply and demand inexchanges. Personal social networks thatconnect supply and demand perform this rolewhen exchanges are bound to narrow contexts.Intermediaries replace these ties in massmarkets; in such broader context socialnetworks are found here to play an importantrole in the relationships between intermediaryactors and the supply side of the market.The empirical context of our work is theItalian wine industry, characterized by theimportance of wine guides that influence thebehaviors of producers and consumers byevaluating the quality of wines. Theambiguities intrinsic to this evaluationdescribe the grey area within which differentdefinitions of quality are equally legitimate.We analyze the quality ratings of 967 Italianwines reported by the two most prominentItalian wine guides in the period 1996–2000.Our goal is to show that, given the intrinsicambiguity involved in wine evaluation, thereare systematic differences in the scoresassigned to products, and that the pattern ofthese differences reflects variations in thesocial networks that connect the two guides tothe supply side of the market.     

关于产权、市场与我国银行业市场绩效关系的分析

通过实证分析1996-2002年间银行生产效率和市场结构变化对我国商业银行业市场绩效的效应,发现资产份额和资本份额的变化都对我国银行业市场绩效有正的效应;尽管国有银行生产效率提高对我国银行业市场绩效有正的效应,但国有银行生产效率提高的主要原因是政府的救助。基于实证分析,本文关于产权、市场与银行业绩效关系的讨论表明:银行业市场结构的渐进式变化诱致国有银行的产权改革且约束股权分散程度,国有银行的产权改革又促进银行业市场竞争,交互关系不断深化两种结构的调整,将使银行业的市场绩效得到提高。     

The Effect of Trade on Employment and Wages in Italian Industry

The paper analyses the labour market impact of international trade on the Italian manufacturing sector. Using data for a panel of manufacturing industries the effects of trade‐induced changes in sales on employment and wages are investigated. The evidence suggests that the industry adjustment to demand shocks took place mainly through employment changes. However, increased exposure to foreign competition had a small effect on the Italian labour market, while technological change seems to have a major role in explaining the increase in unemployment.     

开放式创新网络中的价值独占机制:打开“开放性”和“与狼共舞”悖论

技术和市场能力相对落后的后发企业在构建全球创新网络过程中不可避免地会遇到两个悖论:权衡开放度(Openness)来获取知识的同时避免知识外泄这一"开放性"悖论;必须与国际领先企业建立连带以获取知识且避免被其破坏自身价值获取的"与狼共舞"悖论。为了解决这两个悖论,本文基于归纳式的案例研究方法,构建了"后发企业从开放式创新网络中价值独占"的理论框架。本文发现,探索式创新网络战略主要通过主导范式设计与因果模糊机制作用于国内市场的价值独占,利用式创新网络战略主要通过因果模糊机制与互补性资产机制作用于国际市场的价值独占。这些结论对开放式创新理论和后发企业追赶理论均有一定贡献,也对中国后发企业有一定启示意义。     

西部资源产业可持续发展浅析

对于我国资源产业资源效率低下、不可持续发展的原因国内有很多研究结果,但是这些分析大多忽视了市场问题背后的政府行为。政府行为下的我国西部资源产业发展面临着严重的不可持续问题,如人力资本的挤出与物质资本的流失、资源型企业的"劣币驱逐良币"效应和替代效应以及恶性循环结构。为此,应转变观念,减少政府不必要的干预,坚持资源配置市场化,逐步建立合理的能源资源价格形成机制,实行有利于可持续发展的能源财税政策等,积极引导资源型企业实施可持续发展。     

网络交互策略与企业间协作的任务技术匹配效应检验

  网络技术为合作企业之间建立跨组织信息系统提供了有力支持,并使之能够在供应链上下游企业之间得以快速发展和广泛应用,同时,也随着社会化媒体的功能和技术日臻完善,成为企业进行内外部沟通的重要工具。企业对跨组织信息系统和社会化媒体的使用程度和方式不同,由此形成各具特色的网络交互策略。已有研究以任务技术匹配模型为理论基础,探讨企业采用不同的网络交互策略对企业间协作的影响,但未检验网络交互策略与企业间协作任务的任务技术匹配效应。         基于前人研究,以任务技术匹配模型、信息系统和企业间协作的相关研究为理论基础,以营销渠道中企业间协作为研究情景,通过检验共同制定计划和共同解决问题两种企业间协作任务与跨组织信息系统助力的交互策略和社会化媒体助力的交互策略两种网络交互策略的交互作用,确认它们之间的任务技术匹配效应及其对合作绩效的影响。通过问卷调查的方式收集数据,采用多元层次回归方法,对份有效问卷进行数据分析和假设检验。         研究结果表明,企业间协作任务与网络交互策略之间存在任务技术匹配效应,跨组织信息系统助力的交互策略能够强化共同制定计划对合作绩效的正向影响,这种强化作用大于社会化媒体助力的交互策略可能的强化作用;社会化媒体助力的交互策略能够强化共同解决问题对合作绩效的正向影响,这种强化作用大于跨组织信息系统助力的交互策略可能的强化作用。         研究结果确认了网络交互策略与协作任务之间存在任务技术匹配效应,既解答了此前相关研究的遗留问题,也对未来的研究有启示,即在网络环境下,任务技术匹配模型可以被用来探讨更多的跨组织合作与管理问题。在实践应用中,研究结果有助于减少企业在网络工具使用上的顾虑,一方面提示企业要根据特定的管理任务使用网络工具,另一方面建议企业可以引导员工在工作中恰当地使用社会化媒体进行与解决问题有关的沟通。     

Productivity in the Italian Administration. Methods,Comparisons and Results

ABSTRACT: The systems of remuneration for the public administration sector and its relation to productivity are something of a mystery. In this paper the author stresses the need for a new theoretical and methodological approach to this problem. The author illustrates individual cases of incentivation covering various aspects of Public Administration, reporting the techniques adopted, the main ideological approach, the problems focused on and the would-be success achieved. Finally, the paper presents a methodological model of application for the public sector and makes some general evaluations of how these techniques could be successfully applied.     

Uncertainty,Flexibility Gap and Labour Demand in the Italian Economy

In this paper we analyse the effects of changes in the degree of uncertainty of the economic system and in the “flexibility gap”, deriving from the combined evolution of the degrees of uncertainty and flexibility of the economic system (in particular, labour market flexibility), on regular and irregular labour demand. On the basis of a simple qualitative model, we give a partial interpretation of some stylized facts of the Italian economy during the last decades. We argue that the low uncertainty and flexibility gap in the 1950s and 1960s, their remarkable increases in the 1970s, their inadequate reduction in the 1980s and the new increase of uncertainty and flexibility gap in the first half of the 1990s, have had a considerable influence on the quantity and quality of the “investment in employment” of Italian economy. The higher degree of uncertainty and the inadequate degree of flexibility of the Italian economic system are likely to have contributed towards the lower regular employment rate, compared to the main industrialized countries, and to high irregular employment. An adequate economic policy for reducing the uncertainty of the economic system together with a structural economic policy for increasing the flexibility of the economic system (in particular, an active labour policy for increasing the flexibility of the labour market), would be likely to produce positive effects on the quantity and quality of labour demand, contributing towards reducing unemployment.     

渠道投机行为的相互性以及交易专有资产的影响

以营销渠道中投机行为的相互性为研究对象,基于相互性理论和营销渠道行为理论提出4个假设,以制造企业的营销渠道负责人为调查对象,通过问卷调查共获得139份有效问卷,采用多元调节回归模型对数据进行分析,探讨营销渠道中企业之间投机行为的相互性以及企业交易专有资产在其中发挥的影响作用.结果显示,投机行为在渠道合作伙伴之间具有相互性;企业针对合作伙伴在交易专有资产上的投入不但会降低其渠道投机行为,而且会正向调节渠道合作伙伴之间投机行为的相互性;企业针对合作伙伴在交易专有资产上的投入与合作伙伴的渠道投机行为之间无显著的相关关系.     

大企业集群治理合约选择的制度基础及演进机理研究

近年来,那些伴随产业调整与产业升级出现的大企业集群,对拉动地方经济、提升区域竞争力、增强区域吸引力起着举足轻重的作用。本文首先对大企业集群的一般形态进行描述,并从企业价值网络视角对大企业集群"上游大、中间较小、下游适中"的基本特征进行概括分析;接着尝试性地构建了一个基于交易费用经济学的一般分析范式与企业价值模块属性相结合的理论分析框架,并基于这一分析框架,对大企业集群中企业间治理合约选择的制度基础及其基本类型进行了较为深入的剖析。同时,通过大企业集群价值网络的基本特征与制度安排的交易费用基础二者间的相互耦合,生动地阐释了大企业集群的一般生成机理,并且从治理合约动态转化的视角分析了大企业集群的动态演进过程。大企业集群的生成与演进实质上是企业间治理合约选择的过程,这为后续研究奠定了必要的理论基础。     

The Dark,and Independent,Side of the Italian Labour Market

Abstract. This paper presents an empirical investigation of the two faces of the Italian labour market, the dark and the regular. Results from ‘exhaustive’ VAR/VEC models suggest that there are no connections (causal relationships, feedback, contemporaneous correlation) between them. In this sense, we could correctly refer to undeclared work as an ‘independent’ side of the market. I interpret these results as providing empirical support for the ineffectiveness of labour policies in converting black economy employment into regular over the last two decades.     

中国医药高技术产业及其市场资源配置的态势分析

本文在论述了医药产业作为高技术产业所具有的高技术、高投入、高风险以及相对垄断性等特征之后,分析了我国医药市场的营销概况和医药企业的发展现状,对比了我国与发达国家的医药企业在经济规模、市场营销和研究开发（R&D）投入方面所存在的差距 , 提出我国在加入WTO后医药产业对所面临挑战的对策。     

信息资源促进绿色食品产业升级机制创新的路径选择——基于黑龙江省绿色食品产业升级的研究

绿色食品产业是黑龙江省主导产业之一,如何利用信息资源促进绿色食品产业升级和机制创新,在"十三五"期间使绿色食品产业成为全省第一大产业,是摆在我们面前的重要课题。本文从推进信息资源产业自身建设和推进信息资源与绿色食品产业融合两大方面,对信息资源促进绿色食品产业升级和机制创新的路径选择进行了有益的思考,提出了建设性的意见。