This paper considers the desirability of aggregate performance measures in light of the fact that many individuals' performance incentives are driven by a desire to shape external perceptions (and thus pay). In contrast to the case of explicit contracts, we find that when individuals' actions...

common explanation for why firms incur sunk costs is that technology considerations make them inescapable. This paper shows that sometimes firms may prefer to make early (less informed) investment decisions even when technology allows such decisions to be delayed. Sunk costs commit and clarify a...

Job rotation refers to the practice of routinely transferring employees between jobs. The explanations provided for job rotation are as varied as its uses.Some posit that complementarities and learning across tasks allow increased productive efficiency, while others speculate that employees'...

Though sunk costs impact future income calculations (via depreciation for example), accountants are reminded that their sunk nature makes them irrelevant for future decisions. An explanation for why firms routinely incur such costs is that technology considerations make them inescapable. This...

Recognizing the role and value of diverse stakeholders, firms pursing a "beyond profit" agenda are becoming increasingly common. This paper studies such hybrid entities - firms that value the profits they create as well as the surpluses generated for consumers - and details their implications...

It is often noted that accounting information, while faithfully estimating current profitability, fails to reflect forward-looking information about new ventures. Stock prices, however, reflect the prevailing sentiment about both current and future activities. As a result, though accounting is...

When a firm's input supplier can acquire private information to gain an edge in negotiations, we show that the firm can blunt the supplier's informational advantage by permitting cost inefficiencies in internal production. Specifically, we establish that a modest increase in the cost of the...

Many of America’s top corporate donors share a common feature: the bulk of their giving is in the form of in-kind products, not cash. This phenomenon is not a coincidence but rather a result of the tax code creating such a preference due to an “enhanced” deduction for inventory donations....

Corporate insiders face substantial restrictions on stock sales, but many have viewed receiving tax deductions from charitable donations of stock holdings as an attractive alternative. In fact, empirical evidence consistently indicates that executives even make use of their private information...