Group. We thank Dun and Bradstreet for providing us with data. The views expressed are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Bank, its Board of Directors or the countries they represent. 2 Abstract This paper uses a new dataset to examine the issue of how the design of privatization affects outcomes. Prior studies of Czech privatization have focused largely on how t...

The objective of this study is to examine the portfolio theory that suggests that diversification can potentially reduce the return variance and the probability of failure of a portfolio. The current study is to investigate the diversification measure by means of Hershman-Herfindahl index, and applies the " diversification index " proposed by Demsetz & Strahan (1997) by scaling systematic risk ...

Work within firms is in a sense always a cooperative venture thus involving a social dilemma. This paper addresses the following related questions: 1. How is the problem of aligning the motivations and actions of the agents with the goals of the organization solved within firms? 2. Which institutional mechanisms within the firm may foster its capability to mobilize knowledge and creativity? The...

Reformists argue that Japanese firms maintain inefficiently few outside directors, while theory suggests market competition should drive firms toward their firm-specifically optimal board structure (if any). The debate suggests three testable hypotheses. First, perhaps board composition does not matter. If so, then firm performance will show no relation to board structure, but outsiders will be...

How to design bank capital requirements when banks can misreport the value of their assets? We show that the answer depends critically on the existence of secondary markets for bank assets. Without secondary markets, capital requirements based on banks’reporting are more socially desirable than a fixed capital requirement if savings on costly bank capital are suffi ciently high. Yet with second...

This paper offers an organizational perspective on the firm in new economic geographies. It starts with the premise of the firm as a production function in neoclassical economics and a cost minimisation device in transaction cost economics. By pointing out the inadequacy in these mainstream economic perspectives on the firm, I draw upon recent behavioral and managerial theories to develop a rel...

Using indexes of concentration, the general merchandisers industry was compared with other consumer product and/or retailing industries, such as food and drug stores, for the period 1995 to 2006. This paper shows that an increase in concentration occurred in the general merchandisers industry. Compared to other industries, the general merchandisers industry had statistically significant concent...

The ability to integrate dispersed pockets of expertise and institute an organizational repository of knowledge is considered to be vital for sustained effectiveness in contemporary business environments. Information technologies provide cost-effective functionalities for building knowledge platforms through systematic acquisition, storage, and dissemination of organizational knowledge. However...

An econometric analysis was conducted with the intent of discovering the relationship between contractual provisions, as specified in timber sale notices, with high bids received for those timber sales. Specifically, the goal of this study was to determine the relationship between high bids for timber tracts and certain contractual stipulations that have not previously been explored to any grea...

This article proposes a political economy approach to the grammar of institutions, by building on study contracts in economics. First, I argue that more attention needs be paid costs and benefits thus allowing researchers derive empirically testable hypotheses evolution institutions. In this vein, role conditions studying institutions becomes central. Second, propose, validate, test an innovati...