This field study examines the performance implications of CEO succession plans and compensation perceptions in a sample of single-business manufacturing firms. Zajac (1990) tested these relationships in his "CEO-issues model of firm performance" using a sample of the largest U.S. corporations. Our study replicates Zajac's (1990) earlier work, but uses a sample of CEOs who head smaller, single-b...

In order to catch up with the technological frontier, firms, especially in developing countries, try to acquire technological advancement through internal R&D efforts as well as through external technology sourcing activities. This study tests the existence of a complementarity between in-house R&D and external technology acquisition in Chinese manufacturing firms. We show that the two sources ...

Plant shutdowns shape industry productivity, the dynamics of employment, and industrial restructuring. Plant closures account for more than half of gross job destruction in U.S. manufacturing. This paper examines the effects of firm structure on U.S. manufacturing plant closures. Plants belonging to multiplant firms and those owned by U.S. multinationals are less likely to exit. However, the su...

In this general equilibrium framework, the transportation sector is modeled as a distinct sector with increasing returns. A more advanced technology has a higher fixed cost but a lower marginal cost of production. Even with both manufacturing firms and transportation firms engage in oligopolistic competition and choose technologies optimally, the model is tractable and results are derived analy...

Plant shutdowns shape industry productivity, the dynamics of employment, and industrial restructuring. Plant closures account for more than half of gross job destruction in US manufacturing. This paper examines the effects of firm structure on US manufacturing plant closures. Plants belonging to multi-plant firms and those owned by US multinationals are less likely to exit. However, the superio...

Empirical studies document that resource reallocation across production units plays an important role in accounting for aggregate productivity growth in the U.S. manufacturing. Distortions in financial market could hinder the reallocation process and hence may adversely affect aggregate productivity growth. This paper studies the quantitative impact of costly external finance on aggregate produ...

Purpose – This paper seeks to investigate whether linkages, proposed by previous researchers, among business strategies and structural and infrastructural investment decisions of manufacturing are empirically supported. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 101 US manufacturing firms is classified into three groups based on their predominant business strategies. The classification is valida...

This chapter describes an empirical analysis of the mediating effects of supply chain coordination strategy and manufacturing IT infrastructure on the relationship between business complexity and inventory turnover. Business complexity describes the diversity and volatility associated with a firm’s product markets. To cope with this complexity, firms deploy inventory buffers. This deployment sh...

This paper uses longitudinal data of more than 13,000 firms to analyze the effects of on-the-job training on firm level productivity and wages. Workers receiving training are on average more productive than workers not receiving training. This makes firms more productive. On-the-job training increases firm level measured productivity between 1 and 2%, compared to firms that do not provide train...