In seeking to understand whether the transition by Asian countries to market economies mirrors th... more In seeking to understand whether the transition by Asian countries to market economies mirrors the path taken by the West, we ask how embedded network ties between equity analysts and the CEOs of the firms they follow in India influence the accuracy of analysts' earnings forecasts. We contrast traditional institutions of caste and regional language with contemporary institutions such as universities as the locus for such ties. We posit that CEOs from the post-economic-reform generation in India are more likely to transfer material private information via their school ties while prereform generation CEOs favor caste or language ties. We then contrast domestic business groups (BGs) with western MNCs as organizational contexts and argue that BGs legitimate the transfer of private information along particularistic ties, whereas MNCs mitigate such transfers. Our conceptual framework is supported by analyses that draw on a sample of 1,552 earnings forecasts issued from 2001 to 2010 by 296 equity analysts. Our findings suggest that the embeddedness perspective should be broadened to incorporate the influence of larger historical social structures within which economic action is embedded, and to view BGs as carriers and repositories that blend modern management practices with particularistic behavioral patterns among top executives.
How do founding team members allocate task positions when launching new ventures? Answering this ... more How do founding team members allocate task positions when launching new ventures? Answering this question is important because prior work shows both that founding team members often have correlated expertise, thus making task position allocation problematic; and initial occupants of task positions exert a lingering effect on venture outcomes. We draw on status characteristics theory to derive predictions on how co-founders' specific expertise cues and diffuse status cues drive initial task position allocation. We also examine the performance consequences of mismatches between the task position and position occupant. Qualitative fieldwork combined with a quasi-experimental simulation game and an experiment provides causal tests of the conceptual framework. We find that co-founders whose diffuse status cues of gender (male), ethnicity (white) or achievement (occupational prestige or academic honors) indicated general ability were typical occupants of higher ranked positions, such as CEO role, within the founding team. In addition, specific expertise cues that indicated relevant ability predicted task position allocation. Founding teams created more financially valuable ventures when task position occupants' diffuse status cues were typical for the position; nonetheless position occupants with high diffuse status cues also appropriated more of the created value. Our results inform both entrepreneurship and status characteristics literature.
This study advances our understanding of network dynamics by applying matching theory to examine ... more This study advances our understanding of network dynamics by applying matching theory to examine entrepreneurs' intentions to add new ties to their personal network. I propose that task complementarity and social similarity are important matching criteria that influence entrepreneurs' interpersonal tie formation intentions, and test whether good matches increase the likelihood of initiation of economic exchange ties. The novel research design using data from business cards of new people met by a panel of Indian entrepreneurs reveals effects of matching and suggests that while entrepreneurs intentionally pursue valuable connections they may be only partially accurate in their assessment of value.
performance. We first argue that ventures whose entrepreneurial teams span many structural holes ... more performance. We first argue that ventures whose entrepreneurial teams span many structural holes in their external advice networks experience higher performance. We then propose that network ties are not uniform in their effect, but rather are contingent on two distinct features of entrepreneurial teams: (i) their strategic consensus -extent of agreement on key goals and strategies within the team and (ii) internal cohesion -extent of interpersonal friendships within the team. Finally, we propose that team demographics and team networks complement (rather than substitute) each other. Data from Indian software ventures provide support for these arguments. We extend entrepreneurship research by highlighting how venture teams' internal processes and external networks jointly shape performance outcomes. We also add to the literature on team networks by drawing attention to the role of strategic consensus as a distinct pathway through which teams can leverage their external networks.
By drawing a theoretical distinction between the persistence of superior and poor performance, we... more By drawing a theoretical distinction between the persistence of superior and poor performance, we reconcile the conflicting predictions of the 'revisionist' and accepted views on the persistence of firm performance in emerging economies. Using a sample of manufacturing firms in the United States and India, we show that superior firm performance in emerging economies persists only as much as developed economies in line with the revisionist argument. We also provide evidence consistent with the accepted view that poor firm performance persists longer in emerging economies compared to developed economies. Further exploration of the latter shows that, contrary to predictions of extant theories, firms in emerging economies that are affiliated with an MNC or a business group have a greater persistence of poor performance than firms that are unaffiliated with these intermediate governance structures, and hence would be better off operating at arm's length.
This paper investigates the effects of organizational form on problemistic search. We contrast ho... more This paper investigates the effects of organizational form on problemistic search. We contrast how Indian firms affiliated to business groups and unaffiliated firms evaluate performance and react by adjusting their internal technology search and external market search. We propose that, compared with unaffiliated firms, business group firms are more externally oriented in setting aspiration levels and more likely to respond to low performance in the market domain. We find support for an external orientation of business group affiliated firms and find that group affiliation determines the responsiveness to performance feedback in different search domains. The findings suggest a need to add considerations of organizational form and governance to the theory of organizational search.
ABSTRACT In seeking to understand whether the transition by Asian countries to market economies m... more ABSTRACT In seeking to understand whether the transition by Asian countries to market economies mirrors the path taken by the West, we ask how embedded network ties between equity analysts and the CEOs of the firms they follow in India influence the accuracy of analysts’ earnings forecasts. We contrast traditional institutions of caste and regional language with contemporary institutions such as universities as the locus for such ties. We posit that CEOs from the post-economic-reform generation in India are more likely to transfer material private information via their school ties while pre-reform generation CEOs favor caste or language ties. We then contrast domestic business groups (BGs) with western MNCs as organizational contexts and argue that BGs legitimate the transfer of private information along particularistic ties, whereas MNCs mitigate such transfers. Our conceptual framework is supported by analyses that draw on a sample of 1,552 earnings forecasts issued from 2001 to 2010 by 296 equity analysts. Our findings suggest that the embeddedness perspective should be broadened to incorporate the influence of larger historical social structures within which economic action is embedded, and to view BGs as carriers and repositories that blend modern management practices with particularistic behavioral patterns among top executives.
This study challenges the implicit assumption of homogeneity in national institutional environmen... more This study challenges the implicit assumption of homogeneity in national institutional environments made in past studies of firm performance persistence. We propose that home-country institutions matter. We focus on the impact of formal institutions in the product, financial, and labor markets, arguing that they affect the size of pools of exchange partners and the types of exchanges allowed and condoned. Ultimately, these restrictions affect competitive intensity among firms, and firm performance persistence. Using data for over 10,000 firms from 33 countries over a 10-year time frame, we show that antitrust law strength, a product market institution designed to prevent collusion among firms, is associated with decreases in performance persistence. Unskilled labor market flexibility, a labor market institution that reduces legal constraints imposed on residual claimants (managers and owners) to take necessary actions to maintain or enhance profitability, is associated with increases in performance persistence. Product liability law effectiveness, another product market institution, and corporate control market development, a financial market institution, are positively associated with performance persistence only in the case of MNEs. The two remaining financial and labor market institutions, public equity market development (respectively skilled labor market availability) have a positive (respectively negative) impact for domestic firms only.
In seeking to understand whether the transition by Asian countries to market economies mirrors th... more In seeking to understand whether the transition by Asian countries to market economies mirrors the path taken by the West, we ask how embedded network ties between equity analysts and the CEOs of the firms they follow in India influence the accuracy of analysts' earnings forecasts. We contrast traditional institutions of caste and regional language with contemporary institutions such as universities as the locus for such ties. We posit that CEOs from the post-economic-reform generation in India are more likely to transfer material private information via their school ties while prereform generation CEOs favor caste or language ties. We then contrast domestic business groups (BGs) with western MNCs as organizational contexts and argue that BGs legitimate the transfer of private information along particularistic ties, whereas MNCs mitigate such transfers. Our conceptual framework is supported by analyses that draw on a sample of 1,552 earnings forecasts issued from 2001 to 2010 by 296 equity analysts. Our findings suggest that the embeddedness perspective should be broadened to incorporate the influence of larger historical social structures within which economic action is embedded, and to view BGs as carriers and repositories that blend modern management practices with particularistic behavioral patterns among top executives.
How do founding team members allocate task positions when launching new ventures? Answering this ... more How do founding team members allocate task positions when launching new ventures? Answering this question is important because prior work shows both that founding team members often have correlated expertise, thus making task position allocation problematic; and initial occupants of task positions exert a lingering effect on venture outcomes. We draw on status characteristics theory to derive predictions on how co-founders' specific expertise cues and diffuse status cues drive initial task position allocation. We also examine the performance consequences of mismatches between the task position and position occupant. Qualitative fieldwork combined with a quasi-experimental simulation game and an experiment provides causal tests of the conceptual framework. We find that co-founders whose diffuse status cues of gender (male), ethnicity (white) or achievement (occupational prestige or academic honors) indicated general ability were typical occupants of higher ranked positions, such as CEO role, within the founding team. In addition, specific expertise cues that indicated relevant ability predicted task position allocation. Founding teams created more financially valuable ventures when task position occupants' diffuse status cues were typical for the position; nonetheless position occupants with high diffuse status cues also appropriated more of the created value. Our results inform both entrepreneurship and status characteristics literature.
This study advances our understanding of network dynamics by applying matching theory to examine ... more This study advances our understanding of network dynamics by applying matching theory to examine entrepreneurs' intentions to add new ties to their personal network. I propose that task complementarity and social similarity are important matching criteria that influence entrepreneurs' interpersonal tie formation intentions, and test whether good matches increase the likelihood of initiation of economic exchange ties. The novel research design using data from business cards of new people met by a panel of Indian entrepreneurs reveals effects of matching and suggests that while entrepreneurs intentionally pursue valuable connections they may be only partially accurate in their assessment of value.
performance. We first argue that ventures whose entrepreneurial teams span many structural holes ... more performance. We first argue that ventures whose entrepreneurial teams span many structural holes in their external advice networks experience higher performance. We then propose that network ties are not uniform in their effect, but rather are contingent on two distinct features of entrepreneurial teams: (i) their strategic consensus -extent of agreement on key goals and strategies within the team and (ii) internal cohesion -extent of interpersonal friendships within the team. Finally, we propose that team demographics and team networks complement (rather than substitute) each other. Data from Indian software ventures provide support for these arguments. We extend entrepreneurship research by highlighting how venture teams' internal processes and external networks jointly shape performance outcomes. We also add to the literature on team networks by drawing attention to the role of strategic consensus as a distinct pathway through which teams can leverage their external networks.
By drawing a theoretical distinction between the persistence of superior and poor performance, we... more By drawing a theoretical distinction between the persistence of superior and poor performance, we reconcile the conflicting predictions of the 'revisionist' and accepted views on the persistence of firm performance in emerging economies. Using a sample of manufacturing firms in the United States and India, we show that superior firm performance in emerging economies persists only as much as developed economies in line with the revisionist argument. We also provide evidence consistent with the accepted view that poor firm performance persists longer in emerging economies compared to developed economies. Further exploration of the latter shows that, contrary to predictions of extant theories, firms in emerging economies that are affiliated with an MNC or a business group have a greater persistence of poor performance than firms that are unaffiliated with these intermediate governance structures, and hence would be better off operating at arm's length.
This paper investigates the effects of organizational form on problemistic search. We contrast ho... more This paper investigates the effects of organizational form on problemistic search. We contrast how Indian firms affiliated to business groups and unaffiliated firms evaluate performance and react by adjusting their internal technology search and external market search. We propose that, compared with unaffiliated firms, business group firms are more externally oriented in setting aspiration levels and more likely to respond to low performance in the market domain. We find support for an external orientation of business group affiliated firms and find that group affiliation determines the responsiveness to performance feedback in different search domains. The findings suggest a need to add considerations of organizational form and governance to the theory of organizational search.
ABSTRACT In seeking to understand whether the transition by Asian countries to market economies m... more ABSTRACT In seeking to understand whether the transition by Asian countries to market economies mirrors the path taken by the West, we ask how embedded network ties between equity analysts and the CEOs of the firms they follow in India influence the accuracy of analysts’ earnings forecasts. We contrast traditional institutions of caste and regional language with contemporary institutions such as universities as the locus for such ties. We posit that CEOs from the post-economic-reform generation in India are more likely to transfer material private information via their school ties while pre-reform generation CEOs favor caste or language ties. We then contrast domestic business groups (BGs) with western MNCs as organizational contexts and argue that BGs legitimate the transfer of private information along particularistic ties, whereas MNCs mitigate such transfers. Our conceptual framework is supported by analyses that draw on a sample of 1,552 earnings forecasts issued from 2001 to 2010 by 296 equity analysts. Our findings suggest that the embeddedness perspective should be broadened to incorporate the influence of larger historical social structures within which economic action is embedded, and to view BGs as carriers and repositories that blend modern management practices with particularistic behavioral patterns among top executives.
This study challenges the implicit assumption of homogeneity in national institutional environmen... more This study challenges the implicit assumption of homogeneity in national institutional environments made in past studies of firm performance persistence. We propose that home-country institutions matter. We focus on the impact of formal institutions in the product, financial, and labor markets, arguing that they affect the size of pools of exchange partners and the types of exchanges allowed and condoned. Ultimately, these restrictions affect competitive intensity among firms, and firm performance persistence. Using data for over 10,000 firms from 33 countries over a 10-year time frame, we show that antitrust law strength, a product market institution designed to prevent collusion among firms, is associated with decreases in performance persistence. Unskilled labor market flexibility, a labor market institution that reduces legal constraints imposed on residual claimants (managers and owners) to take necessary actions to maintain or enhance profitability, is associated with increases in performance persistence. Product liability law effectiveness, another product market institution, and corporate control market development, a financial market institution, are positively associated with performance persistence only in the case of MNEs. The two remaining financial and labor market institutions, public equity market development (respectively skilled labor market availability) have a positive (respectively negative) impact for domestic firms only.
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