Directors’ human capital,firm strategy,and firm performance

Ideally, corporations are directed by boards whose directors provide valuable human capital that match the firms’ strategy. We investigate how directors’ human capital (international experience, industrial know-how, CEO experience, and financial know-how) affects firm performance including the firm’s strategy (diversification and internationalization) and how human capital is related to acquisition strategies (non-diversifying and international acquisitions). Our sample consists of 560 firm-year observations in Switzerland. We find empirical evidence that directors’ human capital affects firm performance and that this relationship depends on the firm’s strategy. Furthermore, human capital is also correlated with acquisition strategy. The study shows that focusing on board independence and compliance issues may be unrewarding in board research and practice.     

Ad-Hoc Reviewers from 2009

Acknowledgments

Ad-Hoc Reviewers from 2009     

Level of self-reported neck/shoulder pain and biomechanical workload in cleaners

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relation between self-reported pain, muscular activity and postural load during cleaning tasks. Eighteen cleaners performed usual cleaning tasks in both a laboratory and a lecture room. The level of perceived pain in the neck-shoulder region during the last 7 days was recorded. Bipolar surface electromyography (SEMG) was recorded bilaterally from upper trapezius and erector spinae muscles during cleaning. Root mean square (RMS) and permutation entropy (PE) values representing amplitude and complexity of SEMG time-series were estimated. A tri-axial accelerometer package was mounted on the low back (L5-S1) to measure postural changes during cleaning tasks. The 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles of the angular distributions were computed to characterize postures and movements. Pain tended to play a significant role on RMS of left/right trapezius and left erector spinae muscles (P≤0.08). Cleaners with low pain level exhibited higher muscular activity during cleaning. Pain played or tended to play a significant role on PE of left and right erector spinae muscles (P≤0.08). Pain played a significant role on the 10th, 50th and 90th percentile (P<0.05) of lateral flexion angle (side bending). The present study emphasizes biomechanical adaptations occurring in presence of neck-shoulder pain during cleaning tasks.     

Coordination and artifacts in joint activity: the case of tagging in high-risk industries

The social, organizational, and technological complexity of high-risk organizations creates a strong need for coordination. Joint activity in such systems thus relies both on formal coordination and on a set of informal coordinative practices. Coordinated joint activity is documented in this paper from two perspectives: the development of coordinative practices to overcome the limitations of formal coordination, and the use of artifacts for coordinative purposes. The empirical material is provided by a workplace study undertaken according to theoretical conceptions of situated action and cognition. It was undertaken in the context of a design project that aims at improving the tagout process in a high-risk industry. Findings first describe and analyze situations in which formal coordination turned out to be more of a constraint than a resource for effective action. They then illustrate the role played by artifacts in coordinated activity, focusing on the use of a particular artifact, the tagout tag, in different situations.     

Is migration an effective adaptation to climate-related agricultural distress in sub-Saharan Africa?

Population and Environment - Migration is often considered a form of climate change adaptation by which individuals, households, and communities seek to reduce the risks associated with climate...     

CEO characteristics and firm valuation: a quantile regression analysis

This study investigates the effects of three highly-visible CEO characteristics on firm valuation. Using a sample of 2702 observations for Australian firms over the period 2001–2011, we find that CEO age is uniformly associated with lower firm valuation. CEO tenure is also associated with lower valuation, but more significantly so in the higher quantiles of firm valuation, that is for firms with high-growth opportunities. In contrast, CEO duality is found to be beneficial only for firms with high-growth opportunities. Overall, the study highlights the contingent relationship between CEO characteristics and firm valuation.     

Developing a Human‐centred and Science‐based Approach to Design: The Knowledge Management Platform Project

The gap between theory and practice is a persistent problem in management and organization research. In this respect, several scholars have suggested that ‘design’ is an ideal‐typical form of mode 2 knowledge production. Design research develops knowledge in the service of action and problem solving in organizational settings. In this paper, we connect two perspectives on design that can be considered to be largely complementary but have hardly been combined and integrated in practice: science‐based design drawing on design propositions grounded in research and human‐centred design emphasizing an active and systematic participation by users and other stakeholders. An integrated approach that builds on both perspectives is developed and subsequently applied to designing and developing a portal for mapping competencies in an information technology cluster. This project involves creating problem awareness and articulating design propositions as well as developing scenarios of use, experimenting with prototypes, and organizational transformation. As such, this methodology addresses the dual challenge of rigour and relevance by producing both scientific and practical knowledge.