This paper endogenizes coordination problems in organizations by allowing for both ex ante coordination of activities …, using rules and task guidelines, and ex post coordination, using communication and broad job assignments. It shows that: (i … coordination. In particular, specialization is often non-monotonic in the importance of coordination. (ii) Organizations exhibit …

theory. The welfare loss at the market solution with respect to the incentive efficient solution can be decomposed into an …

. Examples include market entry games, coordination games, and the bar-room game depicted in the movie 'A Beautiful Mind'. The …

We develop a theory of firm scope in which integrating two firms into one facilitates the allocation of resources, but … leads to weaker incentives for effort, compared with non-integration. Our theory makes minimal assumptions about the … integration or non-integration is optimal. Our theory thus provides a simple answer to Williamson's 'selective …

This paper compares centralized and decentralized coordination when managers are privately informed and communicate … for coordination improves horizontal communication but worsens vertical communication. As a result, no matter how … important coordination is, decentralization dominates centralization if the division managers are not too biased towards their …