Greater competition has increased pressure to reduce product costs and design times. To introduce products more quickly, some companies begin designing products before all relevant design information is available and continue modifying product specifications during the design process. We...

In this paper, we seek to provide empirical documentation of the effect of Activity-Based Costing (ABC) information on product and customer-related decisions made by managers in a company. Proponents of ABC argue that when an entity implements ABC, it reaps at least two important benefits:...

In recent years, an increasing number of organisations are obtaining accreditation offered by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). Although ISO accreditation may reflect an organisation's pursuit of a quality-focused business strategy and a commitment to quality management...

Using a sample of 140 managers, we investigate the use of various performance metrics in determining the periodic assessment, bonus decisions, and career paths of business unit managers. We show that the weight on accounting return measures is associated with the authority of these managers, and...

This study investigates whether increasing a superior's span of control reduces the effectiveness of capital budgeting in eliciting truthful reports. We conduct an experiment based on a modification of the capital budgeting setting described by Antle and Eppen (1985). This modification...

This paper empirically examines how changes in the hierarchical structure of a large organization can affect incentives. The empirical analysis exploits a change in the hierarchical structure of the Corporate Division of a private foreign commercial bank in Argentina between 1999 and 2001. Using...

Many firms issue stock options to all employees. We consider three potential economic justifications for this practice: providing incentives to employees, inducing employees to sort, and helping firms retain employees. We gather data on firms' stock option grants to middle managers from three...

Short-run maximization of firm profits provides the sole justification for transfers at marginal cost. This conclusion is based, however, on a theory of the firm that ignores precisely those information and agency costs that make transfer pricing necessary. An alternative approach is to...

This study uses a homogeneous database of cross-sectional qualitative and quantitative data to analyze the relative performance of Just-in-time and non-JIT plants operating in the auto-parts and electronic components manufacturing industries. The multivariate tests show that JIT plants use...