We study the effects of changes in organizational form on firm performance and management turnover. Our analysis sheds light on whether there are gains to be exploited by transitioning from product market relationships such as joint ventures to wholly owned subsidiaries through mergers and...

Integrated ownership is often seen as a way to foster specific investments. However, even in integrated firms, managers invest to maximize their compensation, which is chiefly driven by divisional income. Thus it is not clear that integration has any effect on investments in a world of...

This paper examines the human network of entrepreneurs, and demonstrates the secrets of effective top management teams. More specifically, among entrepreneurs, founders in particular are dynamic by nature and familiar with their own business. However, some lack good skills in marketing and...

We develop a model in which the heterogeneous firms in an industry choose their modes of organization and the location of their subsidiaries or suppliers. We assume that the principals of a firm are constrained in the nature of the contracts they can write with suppliers or employees. Our main...

Digital transformation is fundamentally changing the business landscape. It is also affecting the role of top managers within firms. Our survey of more than 160 senior managers in Europe suggests that digitalization, rather than encouraging more decentralized forms of management, will lead to an...

Valve is a “flat” company without a management hierarchy or traditional boss roles: instead of top-down organization and management, Valve employees are free to work on whatever projects they choose and to convince other employees to join collaborative groups. Decision-making is thus...

What is the causal impact of managerial attention on employee attrition, productivity, and well-being? How should firms strategically allocate managerial attention among workers? We formulate a theory that illustrates how different attention allocation strategies influence workers’ updated...

This paper compares centralized and decentralized coordination when managers are privately informed and communicate strategically. We consider a multi-divisional organization in which decisions must be responsive to local conditions but also coordinated with each other. Information about local...

I study the optimal compensation scheme in organizations in Shi (2020), in which agents connected in a network are endowed with the same ability, and work collectively to produce a team output. Connected agents can help neighbors to reduce the disutility of working. For any given network...