The paper Asymmetric Information, Incentives and Intrafirm Resource Allocation, by Harris, Kriebel and Raviv (H.K.R.), was published in the June 1982 issue of Management Science. In this article, written as part of this journal's 50-year anniversary celebration, we highlight the significance of...

This study uses the introduction of second-generation antitakeover legislation as a natural experiment setting to infer the value that managers place on the control rights conferred by stock ownership. We conjecture that managers will reduce their stockholdings in the post-legislation period,...

At the heart of decentralization lies the notion that tasks are delegated by owners to managers who possess superior local information. The extent of this information asymmetry is often an endogenous construct, as it is influenced by the owner’s choice of internal accounting systems and the...

We analyze optimal correlation levels in information technologies when multiple signals are available as contracting mechanisms within the principal-agent paradigm. We identify sufficient conditions ensuring that uniformly lower-correlation functions (in action levels) are preferred, as well as...

We examine the future sales implications of product quality measures for 11 plants of a manufacturing group in a Fortune 500 firm. Our results indicate that both financial quality measures, such as external failure costs incurred due to product failures at customer sites, and non-financial...

"Accounting influences our lives. Whether or not one uses accounting information, accounting alters our social, economic and physical environment. And of course, it impacts organisations and altering what we do and the decisions we make. Corporate action regarding new product developments,...