Many successful franchise chains directly own a positive fraction of stores --- a structure referred to as plural form. We propose that this ownership structure is chosen as a commitment not to expropriate franchisees. The theoretical model is based on an empirical analysis of contract and...

In this paper we use the theory of social situations (TOSS) to examine the stability in advertising and (price) competition games. In this context, we derive the interesting result that with endogenous and exogenous advertising the incumbent need not maintain a hungry-look, i.e.,...

Frank Knight distinguished between 'uncertainty' and 'risk' to specify the true nature of 'profit’, but his specification never caught on and I do not see realistic possibilities for renewing research in this direction. Knight also used uncertainty to specify the distinctive role of the...

Organizational theorists built their knowledge of decision making through a progressive critique of rational choice theory. Their positioning towards rationality, however, is at odds with the observation of rationality persistence in organizational life. This paper addresses this paradox. It...

This article examines how dynamic changes in information cost structure and time preferences affect consumers' search and switching behavior over time and lead to lock-in. The information cost structure is conceptualized as a tradeoff of initial setup costs and ongoing usage costs. Lock-in is...

In a world of accelerating innovation cycles, shortening knowledge half-life periods, growing plurality of interests, sped-up communication flows and rapidly progressing global cross-linking, corporate environments become more and more complex. This contribution explores the relation between...

Subjective uncertainty helps explain features of entrepreneurial activity that fall outside the scope of models that focus on information asymmetries and misaligned incentives. Uncertainty, construed simply as missing information, can lead to unintended misjudgments. Efforts to control...