How does the formation of cross-country teams affect the organization of work and the structure of wages? To study this question, we propose a theory of the assignment of heterogeneous agents into hierarchical teams, where less skilled agents specialize in production and more skilled agents...

Despite the massive investments in Information Technology (IT) in the developed economies, the IT impact on productivity and business performance continues to be questioned. The paper critically reviews this 'IT productivity paradox' debate. It suggests that important elements in the uncertainty...

The paper argues that a more detailed understanding of the fundamental technology shifts from the 1960s to post-2000 provides an important starting point for exploring the underlying economic implications of these technologies. This more detailed understanding of the differing economics...

Domestic and global outsourcing is prescribed for everything from back office services like information technology development, human resource transactions, and indirect procurement to core services such as innovation, research and development, marketing and customer care. While the vision of...

This paper examines the role of hierarchies in the organization of human‐capital‐intensive production. We develop an equilibrium model of hierarchical organization and provide empirical evidence based on confidential data on thousands of law offices. The equilibrium assignment of individuals...

This article illustrates how contracts are completed ex post in practice and, in so doing, indirectly suggests what the real function of contracts may be. Our evidence comes from the contracts between automobile manufacturers and their dealers in 23 dealership networks in Spain. Franchising...

This paper reviews research studies of information technology outsourcing (ITO) practice and provides substantial evidence that researchers have meaningfully and significantly addressed the call for academics to produce knowledge relevant to practitioners. Based on a review of 191 IT outsourcing...

The main thrust of the article is to distinguish between four types of IT sourcing decision: total outsourcing; multiple-supplier sourcing; joint venture/strategic alliance sourcing; and insourcing. To illustrate each type, detailed case histories are used that analyse the reasons why specific...

Organizations are increasingly sourcing their business processes through external service providers, a practice known as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). Worldwide, the current BPO market could be as much as 279 billion and is predicted to continue growing at 25% annually. Academic...