We document a trend towards fewer and more-focused conglomerates, and develop a model that explains these patterns based on increasing technological specialization. In the model, diversification adds value by allowing efficient within-firm resource reallocation. However, synergies decrease with technological specialization, leading to fewer diversified firms over time. Also, the optimal level o...

The Plio-Pleistocene hominin Paranthropus boisei had enormous, flat, thickly enameled cheek teeth, a robust cranium and mandible, and inferred massive, powerful chewing muscles. This specialized morphology, which earned P. boisei the nickname "Nutcracker Man", suggests that this hominin could have consumed very mechanically challenging foods. It has been recently argued, however, that specializ...

The Earth underwent a major transition from the warm climates of the Pliocene to the Pleistocene ice ages between 3.2 and 2.6 million years ago. The intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation is the most obvious result of the Plio-Pleistocene transition. However, recent data show that the ocean also underwent a significant change, with the convergence of deep water mass properties in the...

How do information technology capabilities contribute to firm performance? This study develops a conceptual model linking IT-enabled information management capability with three important organizational capabilities (customer management capability, process management capability, and performance management capability). We argue that these three capabilities mediate the relationship between infor...

Conventional wisdom ties the origin and early evolution of the genus Homo to environmental changes that occurred near the end of the Pliocene. The basic idea is that changing habitats led to new diets emphasizing savanna resources, such as herd mammals or underground storage organs. Fossil teeth provide the most direct evidence available for evaluating this theory. In this paper, we present a c...

the kashkan formation (paleocene to middle eocene), consists of conglomerate, sandstone, and siltstone in the zagros folded zone, southwest iran. type of the sedimentary facies, architectural elements and trace fossils show that kashkan deposits were formed in a low sinuosity braided stream system, with north to south flow direction. the formation displays coarsening-upward succession reflects ...