Much of the extant management research implies that the existence of industries and organizations... more Much of the extant management research implies that the existence of industries and organizations depends on variables and factors largely beyond their control, and survival is the result of a happy confluence of their origins, events, and growth rather than actions of conscious volition. The authors suggest that industry circumstances can be overcome. So, rather than studying rates of organization population change as effects of environmental change, the authors propose that some managerial actions can be taken that, in the aggregate, will affect the industry context. Changes in concentration should influence the environment in which industry members will compete later. Migration moves and rationalization of production facilities, along with organization population pressures, should exert strong influences on changes in the industry environments. Such findings suggest that some degree of strategic choice is at work and that firms have some discretionary choice in their industries.
Based on underpinnings from the extant literature on negotiated order theory and board leadership... more Based on underpinnings from the extant literature on negotiated order theory and board leadership structure, we propose a model to explain the relationship between board leadership structure, corpo...
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding how to successfully develop, w... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding how to successfully develop, write up and get research work accepted and published in an English language business research journal. Design/methodology/approach – A review of good basics in writing, producing good scholarly academic writing, presentation of papers that are in a style that is proper for academic English language journals and how to avoid common writing problems and mistakes. Findings – Getting research work published requires persistence, people and progress. One must have persistence in seriously approaching and improving one’s research work. Researchers need to involve a network of people (conference attendees, people who understand the area, reviewers and editors) to develop good research. Research should lead to progress in our understanding of the way the world works. Practical implications – This paper helps authors readily bring their research to publishable quality in English language research journals by reducing pitfalls to authors writing in English as a foreign language. Originality/value – By providing not only sound practical advice, and how to avoid potential errors, the paper also provides graphic diagrams and a checklist for research writing that will aid authors writing in English as a foreign language in readily bringing their research to publishable quality in English language research journals.
The 1978 Bankruptcy Reform Act was intended to make reorganization easier and more successful. Ho... more The 1978 Bankruptcy Reform Act was intended to make reorganization easier and more successful. However, the law may have removed so much of the risk from bankruptcy that filing is now considered an effective management strategy. Yet there are several practical, logical, public policy, legal, managerial, and definitional problems with the strategic use of bankruptcy. This article discusses these problems and argues that decision makers should not think of bankruptcy as a viable strategy but should rather concentrate on ways to prevent it.
Bankruptcy studies typically control for industry differences by matching failed and surviving fi... more Bankruptcy studies typically control for industry differences by matching failed and surviving firms in the same industry. Corporate diversification may make such a method questionable. A method is proposed by which industry norms can be used in bankruptcy prediction models. The model was found to be 86% accurate in differentiating survivors from failures one year in advance of failure. The most significant predictive measures within the model were profitability and solvency. However, it was also found that without adjustments made for industry differences the predictive validity of the model was not significantly reduced. Thus, while industry differences are often argued to be important, their impact on the diversified firm may not be as important in determining a firm's likelihood of failure as the simple profitability and solvency of the firm, regardless of the industry.
The idea that corporations can be moral persons even with limitations inherent in the corporate c... more The idea that corporations can be moral persons even with limitations inherent in the corporate character is discussed. It is argued that: as organizations, corporations have a culture which may serve as a moral personality; to give this personality a moral impetus directors should play a role in the moral upbringing of their corporate ward; If directors fail develop a culture open to moral discussion they should be held responsible.
Much of the extant management research implies that the existence of industries and organizations... more Much of the extant management research implies that the existence of industries and organizations is dependent upon variables largely beyond their control, and survival is the result of a happy confluence of events related to their origins and growth rather than actions of their conscious volition. With data from the NBER-CES Manufacturing Industry Database, we studied changes in managerial choice and environmental determinism in a sample of 459 industries for the years 1958 to 2005 to test if industry circumstances can be overcome. Rather than study only rates of organization population change as dependent upon environmental change, we looked at whether some actions that could be taken by managers in the industry could, in the aggregate, impact their environment. We found that changes in the growth of innovation and concentration have some impact on the type of environment in which the industry later found itself. Migration and potential rationalization of organization production facilities, along with organization population pressures, were also strong forces in determining changes in organization environments. Our findings suggest that there is some degree of strategic choice at work and, at the industry level, firms may have some choice. The study’s implications are given.
This study addresses the importance of board of directors linkages in insuring organizational sur... more This study addresses the importance of board of directors linkages in insuring organizational survival.
Much of the extant management research implies that the existence of industries and organizations... more Much of the extant management research implies that the existence of industries and organizations depends on variables and factors largely beyond their control, and survival is the result of a happy confluence of their origins, events, and growth rather than actions of conscious volition. The authors suggest that industry circumstances can be overcome. So, rather than studying rates of organization population change as effects of environmental change, the authors propose that some managerial actions can be taken that, in the aggregate, will affect the industry context. Changes in concentration should influence the environment in which industry members will compete later. Migration moves and rationalization of production facilities, along with organization population pressures, should exert strong influences on changes in the industry environments. Such findings suggest that some degree of strategic choice is at work and that firms have some discretionary choice in their industries.
Based on underpinnings from the extant literature on negotiated order theory and board leadership... more Based on underpinnings from the extant literature on negotiated order theory and board leadership structure, we propose a model to explain the relationship between board leadership structure, corpo...
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding how to successfully develop, w... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding how to successfully develop, write up and get research work accepted and published in an English language business research journal. Design/methodology/approach – A review of good basics in writing, producing good scholarly academic writing, presentation of papers that are in a style that is proper for academic English language journals and how to avoid common writing problems and mistakes. Findings – Getting research work published requires persistence, people and progress. One must have persistence in seriously approaching and improving one’s research work. Researchers need to involve a network of people (conference attendees, people who understand the area, reviewers and editors) to develop good research. Research should lead to progress in our understanding of the way the world works. Practical implications – This paper helps authors readily bring their research to publishable quality in English language research journals by reducing pitfalls to authors writing in English as a foreign language. Originality/value – By providing not only sound practical advice, and how to avoid potential errors, the paper also provides graphic diagrams and a checklist for research writing that will aid authors writing in English as a foreign language in readily bringing their research to publishable quality in English language research journals.
The 1978 Bankruptcy Reform Act was intended to make reorganization easier and more successful. Ho... more The 1978 Bankruptcy Reform Act was intended to make reorganization easier and more successful. However, the law may have removed so much of the risk from bankruptcy that filing is now considered an effective management strategy. Yet there are several practical, logical, public policy, legal, managerial, and definitional problems with the strategic use of bankruptcy. This article discusses these problems and argues that decision makers should not think of bankruptcy as a viable strategy but should rather concentrate on ways to prevent it.
Bankruptcy studies typically control for industry differences by matching failed and surviving fi... more Bankruptcy studies typically control for industry differences by matching failed and surviving firms in the same industry. Corporate diversification may make such a method questionable. A method is proposed by which industry norms can be used in bankruptcy prediction models. The model was found to be 86% accurate in differentiating survivors from failures one year in advance of failure. The most significant predictive measures within the model were profitability and solvency. However, it was also found that without adjustments made for industry differences the predictive validity of the model was not significantly reduced. Thus, while industry differences are often argued to be important, their impact on the diversified firm may not be as important in determining a firm's likelihood of failure as the simple profitability and solvency of the firm, regardless of the industry.
The idea that corporations can be moral persons even with limitations inherent in the corporate c... more The idea that corporations can be moral persons even with limitations inherent in the corporate character is discussed. It is argued that: as organizations, corporations have a culture which may serve as a moral personality; to give this personality a moral impetus directors should play a role in the moral upbringing of their corporate ward; If directors fail develop a culture open to moral discussion they should be held responsible.
Much of the extant management research implies that the existence of industries and organizations... more Much of the extant management research implies that the existence of industries and organizations is dependent upon variables largely beyond their control, and survival is the result of a happy confluence of events related to their origins and growth rather than actions of their conscious volition. With data from the NBER-CES Manufacturing Industry Database, we studied changes in managerial choice and environmental determinism in a sample of 459 industries for the years 1958 to 2005 to test if industry circumstances can be overcome. Rather than study only rates of organization population change as dependent upon environmental change, we looked at whether some actions that could be taken by managers in the industry could, in the aggregate, impact their environment. We found that changes in the growth of innovation and concentration have some impact on the type of environment in which the industry later found itself. Migration and potential rationalization of organization production facilities, along with organization population pressures, were also strong forces in determining changes in organization environments. Our findings suggest that there is some degree of strategic choice at work and, at the industry level, firms may have some choice. The study’s implications are given.
This study addresses the importance of board of directors linkages in insuring organizational sur... more This study addresses the importance of board of directors linkages in insuring organizational survival.
Uploads
Papers by Jerry Sheppard