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on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
| By: | Bloom, Nicholas; Brynjolfsson, erik; Foster, Lucia; Jarmin, Ron; Patnaik, Megha; Saporta-Eksten, Itay; Van Reenen, John |
| Abstract: | Partnering with the Census we implement a new survey of “structured†management practices in 32,000 US manufacturing plants. We find an enormous dispersion of management practices across plants, with 40% of this variation across plants within the same firm. This management variation accounts for about a fifth of the spread of productivity, a similar fraction as that accounted for by R&D, and twice as much as explained by IT. We find evidence for four “drivers†of management: competition, business environment, learning spillovers and human capital. Collectively, these drivers account for about a third of the dispersion of structured management practices. |
| Keywords: | Competition; learning; Management; productivity |
| JEL: | L2 M2 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11995&r=hrm |
| By: | Isao Kamata; Hitoshi Sato; Kiyoyasu Tanaka |
| Abstract: | This study examines the role of management practices in the internationalisation of domestic firms through directly exporting and/or supplying to local affiliates of multinationals. An original survey of manufacturing firms in Viet Nam was conducted, investigating their management practices such as human resource management and internationalisation status. The survey results shed light on similarities and dissimilarities among firms in several dimensions of management practices. Findings reveal that internationalised firms tended to be more enthusiastic about the formal training of production workers, the modernisation of production and operation, and product and process innovation. Differences in skills and experience requirements for newly employed managers were less recognizable, but internationalised firms tended to have managers who studied overseas. Furthermore, the use of public support to employee training, teamwork in production, and unionisation of employees did not show a significant difference between internationalised and non-internationalised firms. |
| Keywords: | Management practices, Firm heterogeneity, Global value chains |
| JEL: | F23 F61 M11 M50 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kue:epaper:e-17-003&r=hrm |
| By: | Görg, Holger (Kiel Institute for the World Economy); Hanley, Aoife (Kiel Institute for the World Economy) |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether firms' "global engagement", either in the form of exporting or opening up affiliates abroad, is related to the change in their management performance. Using new and unique data from a recent large scale firm survey of management practices in Germany, we calculate management scores for firms as in Bloom et al. (2013). These indicate how structured management is in a given firm. We find that switching into exporting, and to a lesser degree opening up affiliates abroad, is related to improving management performance in the sense of firms applying more structured management practices. |
| Keywords: | management practices, global engagement, exporting, outward investment |
| JEL: | F2 L2 M2 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10658&r=hrm |
| By: | Aghion, Philippe; Bloom, Nicholas; Lucking, Brian; Sadun, Raffaella; Van Reenen, John |
| Abstract: | What is the optimal form of firm organization during "bad times"? Using two large micro datasets on firm decentralization from US administrative data and 10 OECD countries, we find that firms that delegated more power from the Central Headquarters to local plant managers prior to the Great Recession out-performed their centralized counterparts in sectors that were hardest hit by the subsequent crisis. We present a model where higher turbulence benefits decentralized firms because the value of local information and urgent action increases. Since turbulence rises in severe downturns, decentralized firms do relatively better. We show that the data support our model over alternative explanations such as recession-induced reduction in agency costs (due to managerial fears of bankruptcy) and changing coordination costs. Countries with more decentralized firms (like the US) weathered the 2008-09 Great Recession better: these organizational differences could account for about 16% of international differences in post-crisis GDP growth. |
| Keywords: | Decentralization; great recession; growth; turbulence |
| JEL: | F23 O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11979&r=hrm |
| By: | Claudia Kröll; Stepahn Nüesch |
| Abstract: | We explore the effects of flexible work practices (FWPs) on the work attitudes (job satisfaction and turnover intention) and non-work attitudes (leisure satisfaction and perceived health) of employees based on representative large-scale German panel data. Because unobserved individual characteristics can easily act as confounders, we estimate both pooled OLS models and individual fixed-effects models. Controlling for time-constant individual heterogeneity, we find that the three considered FWPs—flexitime, sabbaticals and working from home—significantly increase job satisfaction and that sabbaticals and working from home (but not flexitime) significantly decrease turnover intention. In addition, sabbaticals but not flexitime or working from home significantly increase leisure satisfaction. The effects of FWPs on health are mostly weak and statistically insignificant. Models that do not control for such individual heterogeneity either underestimate the positive effects of FWPs or find detrimental effects. Our findings indicate that organizations in Germany can increase job satisfaction and decrease employee turnover intention by offering FWPs. |
| Keywords: | flexible work practices, job satisfaction, turnover intention, leisure satisfaction, health, fixed effects |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp906&r=hrm |
| By: | Vittoria Cerasi; Sebastian M Deininger; Leonardo Gambacorta; Tommaso Oliviero |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses whether compensation practices for bank Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) changed after the Financial Stability Board (FSB) issued post-crisis guidelines on sound compensation. Banks in jurisdictions which implemented the FSB's Principles and Standards of Sound Compensation in national legislation changed their compensation policies more than other banks. Compensation in those jurisdictions is less linked to short-term profits and more linked to risks, with CEOs at riskier banks receiving less, by way of variable compensation, than those at less-risky peers. This was particularly true of investment banks and of banks which previously had weaker risk management, for example those that previously lacked a Chief Risk Officer. |
| Keywords: | banks, managerial compensation, prudential regulation, risk-taking |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:630&r=hrm |
| By: | Launov, Andrey (University of Kent) |
| Abstract: | Working time account is an organization tool that allows firms smoothing their demand for hours employed. Descriptive literature suggests that working time accounts reduce turnover and inhibit increase in unemployment during recessions. In a model of optimal choice of hours by a firm I show that working time account does not necessarily guarantee lower turnover. Turnover may be reduced or increased depending on whether a firm meets economic downturn with surplus or deficit of hours and on how productive this firm is. The model predicts that working time accounts contributed positively to reducing turnover in Germany during the Great Recession. |
| Keywords: | labour demand, working hours, working time accounts, turnover, Great Recession, Germany |
| JEL: | J23 J63 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10660&r=hrm |