Managing Uncertainty through Profit Sharing Contracts from Medieval Italy to Silicon Valley

Organizational innovation is essential to economic development. But, the way successful societies have organized new ventures has been remarkably similar in both past and present. The commenda organizations of medieval Italy shared many characteristics with modern startups that are financed by venture capital. Profit share contracts; limited liability and periodic reevaluations are cases in point. Agency contracts in both types of ventures are designed to absorb the high uncertainty inherent to these enterprises through risk sharing. Uncertainty prohibits a unique ex ante ranking order of investment projects and prompts investors to look for hidden human capital. Equity finance is better equipped to even out unexpected losses and gains that are inherent to uncertainty than debt finance.     

Fairness and commitment to change in M&As: The mediating role of organizational identification

This paper examines the determinants of employees' affective commitment to change in the context of M&As. Based on the group engagement model (Tyler & Blader, 2000, 2003), we predicted that organizational identification with the newly formed organization mediates the positive impact of employees’ overall justice judgments and perceived change favorableness on affective commitment to change. We tested our predictions using data collected during an international merger. After controlling for country effects, results support our hypotheses. Implications for research and practice alike are discussed.     

网购环境下在线零售商的退货运费承担策略研究

在电子商务环境下，宽松的退货政策能够刺激需求，促进货品销量的增长，但与此同时也导致了退货量的增多。在面临高退货，特别是无缺陷退货不断攀升的挑战下，在线商家应如何制定合理的退货策略成为值得研究的一个问题。本文主要针对退货运费承担问题，重点比较消费者承担退货运费、商家承担退货运费、双方共同承担退货运费三种策略，探讨不同策略下在线零售商的最优定价及其盈利能力。研究结果表明：为实现利润最大化，在线零售商应根据商品的无缺陷退货比例特征选择相应的策略。具体而言，当商品的无缺陷退货比例较低时，宜采用消费者承担退货运费策略；当无缺陷退货比例高时，宜采用商家承担退货运费策略；当无缺陷退货比例居中时，宜采用共同承担退货运费策略。值得注意的是，退货政策的目的是为了刺激需求的增长，但有时退货政策对需求的促进作用不够理想，不能抵消退货的负面影响，那么这种情况下则无论无缺陷退货占比如何，在线零售商的最佳退货策略只能是让消费者承担退货运费，以此避免更多非理性退货行为的发生。     

中国职工组织承诺的结构模型研究

在访谈、项目收集、多次预试和科学检验的基础上 ,研制了一套“中国职工组织承诺问卷”.采用多元统计解析方法中的因素分析 ,探讨了中国企业职工组织承诺的心理结构 ,提出了五因素模型 .这五种基本的承诺类型是 :感情承诺、规范承诺、理想承诺、经济承诺和机会承诺 .     

Optimal Contracts when Enforcement is a Decision Variable

This paper analyzes choice‐theoretic costly enforcement in an intertemporal contracting model with a differentially informed investor and entrepreneur. An intertemporal contract is modeled as a mechanism in which there is limited commitment to payment and enforcement decisions. The goal of the analysis is to characterize the effect of choice‐theoretic costly enforcement on the structure of optimal contracts. The paper shows that simple debt is the optimal contract when commitment is limited and costly enforcement is a decision variable (Theorem 1). In contrast, stochastic contracts are optimal when agents can commit to the ex‐ante optimal decisions (Theorem 2). The paper also shows that the costly state verification model can be viewed as a reduced form of an enforcement model in which agents choose payments and strategies as part of a perfect Bayesian Nash equilibrium.     

竞争中的参考价格效应及承诺

消费者的社会感知会影响其对产品和品牌的评价。当消费者进行购买选择时,经常会受到参考价格效应的影响。而广告和价格不仅是企业经常要考虑的重要决策,还会对参考价格产生重要影响。为此,一个值得研究的的问题是：在考虑参考价格效应的情况下,企业该怎样确定其动态广告和价格策略？
为了研究该问题,本文构建了一个广告和价格的动态模型,来研究一个双寡头市场环境下两个寡头企业的价格和广告决策,并以此分析参考价格效应的作用。具体而言,我们假定企业可以采用广告承诺和价格承诺中的一种,其中前者承诺其在一段时间内的广告投入量恒定不变,而后者确保价格不变。两种策略不仅会影响消费者的购买决策,也会影响竞争对手的选择。在上述假定下,我们探讨了两个寡头企业在都采用广告承诺、都采用价格承诺及一个企业采用广告承诺而另一个企业采用价格承诺等三种不同情形下的最优广告和价格决策,并以此分析了三种情形下参考价格效应对最优的广告投入及定价策略的影响。最后,通过数值分析,探讨了不同情形下企业的最优策略选择。     

The effects of leadership change on team escalation of commitment

Although teams benefit from developing plans and processes that boost efficiency and reduce uncertainty, they may become too attached to these plans and escalate commitment when an alternative response is needed. Drawing on theories of team leadership, team processes and escalation of commitment, we propose that a change in leadership can help the team reduce commitment to outdated plans and avoid further escalation over time. Across two studies, we tested and found support for our hypotheses and provide evidence that leadership change can break the cycle of escalation by enhancing leader-driven team reflection and refocusing the team on error correction instead of additional investment. We discuss how the results of these studies extend existing theory and add to our understanding of the important role leaders play in enhancing team adaptation and preventing team escalation.     

服务业顾客关系承诺研究——基于中、韩、澳顾客跨文化的比较

本文将顾客关系承诺划分为情感性和算计性承诺来构建研究模型,并以中、韩、澳三个国家美发业顾客的调查数据进行假设验证。结果表明:(1)服务质量、信任、缺乏替代分别被确认为情感性、算计性承诺的先行因素,虽然其效果在三个国家都显著,但其影响强度却出现一定的差异。(2)情感承诺对转换意向的负向影响和对溢价支付意向的正向影响在三个国家都非常显著。而且在韩国和澳大利亚,情感性承诺对负面口碑的负向影响效果也显著。(3)在中国和澳大利亚,算计性承诺对转换意向产生正向影响。同时在中国,算计性承诺对溢价支付意向产生正向影响,而在澳大利亚却产生负向影响。另外,算计性承诺对负面口碑的正向影响在三个国家都出现显著效果。     

基于事先信任和后续信任的顾客忠诚形成机理研究

顾客满意是顾客忠诚的必要非充分条件。根据承诺-信任理论,顾客从满意到忠诚是一个复杂的心理认知过程,需要中间因素的催化,并认为它们之间有信任和承诺的催化作用。为此,本文在借鉴前人研究成果的基础上,将顾客信任划分为事先信任和后续信任,以事先信任为源头,以顾客满意、后续信任和顾客承诺为中介变量,建立顾客忠诚的形成机理模型,并用寿险公司的调查数据进行了验证分析。我们发现事先信任是一个重要的影响因素,它对顾客满意有着显著的正向影响,通过后续信任和承诺间接影响顾客忠诚度等。     

基于上下级关系的沟通开放性对组织承诺的影响研究

对315位中国企业的员工进行测试,探讨沟通开放性对组织承诺的影响以及领导-成员交换和"关系"在此过程中的中介作用,并考察年龄、学历、职位级别等个人特征对各变量的影响。研究结论表明:①组织中沟通开放性对员工组织承诺有正向的影响;②沟通开放性对领导-成员交换和上下级"关系"均有正向的影响;③"关系"在沟通开放性与员工组织承诺的关系中起完全中介作用;④领导-成员交换不直接在沟通开放性与员工组织承诺的关系中起中介作用。在此基础上对中国企业提出有关建议:建立良性的正式沟通网络,保证各种信息能顺利进行传递;上级要对下属更加开放;上级要与下级保持良好的个人"关系",以获得下属的忠诚,以增强员工的组织承诺。