A consumer survey and data obtained through interviews with automobile industry professionals indicate that the automobile industry is biased against the development of goodwill assets because of exclusive reliance on short-term accounting systems. (Author/IRT)

Hypotheses relating ownership to domain differences among state-owned, publicly traded, and privately held firms in international competition were examined in a controlled field study of the offshore drilling industry. Ownership explained selected differences in domestic market dominance, international presence, and customer orientation, even…

Develops a cultural transmission model with the following variables: worker entry and exit rate, organization growth rate, recruiting selectivity, socialization intensity, and the rate that socialization decays if not reinforced. A computer simulation of the model found that cultural systems in organizations are highly robust and reach equilibrium…

Reviews transaction-cost approaches to organizational analysis, examines their use in microeconomic theory, and identifies some important flaws in the study. Advocates transaction-cost theory as a powerful tool for organizational and strategic analysis when set within the famework of more general organizational theory. Includes 61 references. (MLH)

Based on longitudinal studies of the cement, glass, and minicomputer industries, this article proposes a technological change model in which a technological breakthrough, or discontinuity, initiates an era of intense technical variation and selection, culminating in a single dominant design and followed by a period of incremental technical…

Examines the effects of founding events on the evolution of subunit importance in the semiconductor industry from 1958 to 1985. Distributions of power and subunit importance represent not only influences of current conditions, but also vestiges of earlier events, including the institution's founding. Includes 55 references. (MLH)

Investigated the differential effects of task design and reward system design on group functioning in a large U.S. corporation; the effectiveness of "hybrid" groups (having tasks and rewards with both individual and group elements); and how individuals' autonomy preferences moderate their responses to interdependence. Groups performed…

To test upper-echelons theory and the moderating role of managerial discretion, the relationship between managerial tenure and such organizational outcomes as strategic persistence and conformity to industry averages was examined in a sample of 100 firms. Executive team tenure was found to have a profound effect on organizational outcomes.…

Summarizes a study exploring organizational growth in technology-based ventures. Characteristics of the founding top-management team, strategy, and environment are matched to the sales growth of newly founded semiconductor firms. Results show that the effects of the founding team and environment grew instead of fading with time. Includes 54…

The cause and effect relationship frequently assumed to exist between administrative overhead and industrial production levels is questioned, and deficiencies and contradictions in theories about that relationship are illustrated. (Author)

Analyzes how employees in a large office supply firm performed stories to make sense of events, introduce change, and gain political advantage. These stories were dynamic, varied by context, and were often challenged and reinterpreted by listeners. The collective story telling system allowed members to supplement individual memories with…

Argues that accurate perception of informal networks can itself be a base of power, above and beyond power attributable to informal and formal structure positions. Those understanding the advice network of a small entrepreneurial firm were rated as more powerful by other organizational members. Accurate understanding of the friendship network was…

Uses an agency theory framework and data on 89 Fortune 500 firms to assess whether granting golden parachutes to chief executive officers is determined by an economically rational process or by the CEO's social influence. Results suggest that each influence has merit, depending on the firm's ownership structure. Includes 45 references. (MLH)

Argues that ability of a firm to recognize value of new, external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends is critical to its innovative capabilities. A firm's absorptive capacity is largely a function of its level of prior knowledge. A research and development investment model that contributes to a firm's absorptive capacity is…

Contains a theoretical discussion and an empirical test of Stinchcombe's "liability of newness" hypothesis, which assumes higher failure risks for young organizations than for older ones. This hypothesis does not adequately represent mortality hazards of German business organizations. A "liability of adolescence" concept…