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The Flattening Firm and Product Market Competition: The Effect of Trade Liberalization
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The Flattening Firm and Product Market Competition: The Effect of Trade Liberalization

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  • Maria Guadalupe
  • Julie Wulf

Abstract

This paper establishes a causal effect of competition from trade liberalization on various characteristics of organizational design. We exploit a unique panel dataset on firm hierarchies (1986-1999) of large U.S. firms and find that increasing competition leads firms to become flatter, i.e., (i) reduce the number of positions between the CEO and division managers (DM), (ii) increase the number of positions reporting directly to the CEO (span of control), (iii) increase DM total and performance-based pay. The results are generally consistent with the explanation that firms redesign their organizations through a set of complementary choices in response to changes in their environment.

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  • Maria Guadalupe & Julie Wulf, 2008. "The Flattening Firm and Product Market Competition: The Effect of Trade Liberalization," NBER Working Papers 14491, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14491
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    2. Conconi, Paola & Legros, Patrick & Newman, Andrew F., 2012. "Trade liberalization and organizational change," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 197-208.
    3. Nicholas Bloom & Luis Garicano & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2014. "The Distinct Effects of Information Technology and Communication Technology on Firm Organization," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(12), pages 2859-2885, December.
    4. Susan Helper & Mari Sako, 2010. "Management innovation in supply chain: appreciating Chandler in the twenty-first century," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 19(2), pages 399-429, April.
    5. Marin, Dalia & Rousová, Linda, 2011. "The Organization of European Multinationals," Discussion Papers in Economics 12453, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    6. Mion, Giordano & Opromolla, Luca David, 2014. "Managers' mobility, trade performance, and wages," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 85-101.
    7. Andrea Patacconi, 2009. "Coordination and delay in hierarchies," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 40(1), pages 190-208, March.
    8. Mion, Giordano & Opromolla, Luca David & Sforza, Alessandro, 2016. "The Diffusion of Knowledge via Managers' Mobility," CEPR Discussion Papers 11706, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Eichhorst, Werner & Kendzia, Michael Jan & Schneider, Hilmar & Buhlmann, Florian, 2013. "Neue Anforderungen durch den Wandel der Arbeitswelt," IZA Research Reports 51, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Giordano Mion & Luca David Opromolla, 2011. "Managers' Mobility, Trade Status and Wages," CEP Discussion Papers dp1044, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    11. Alessandro Sforza, 2020. "Shocks and the Organization of the Firm: Who Pays the Bill?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8084, CESifo.
    12. Paola Conconi & Patrick Legros & Andrew F. Newman, 2008. "Trade Liberalization and Organizational Choice," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-172, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    13. Rasel, Fabienne, 2014. "Combining technology and work organization: An analysis of complementarity between IT and decentralization across firms of different size," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-071, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    14. Anna Xheka, 2016. "Women and Entrepreneurship - Albanian Case," European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 1, ejms_v1_i.
    15. Jung Hur & Yohanes E. Riyanto, 2012. "Organizational Structure and Product Market Competition," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 707-743, September.
    16. ITO Koji, 2013. "Impact of Growing Imports: A comparison of international and domestic firms in the Japanese manufacturing industry (Japanese)," Discussion Papers (Japanese) 13034, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

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    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • M2 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects

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