Policy Seminars
| Speaker: Brian Silverman |
| Speaker's Website: http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/faculty/bios/silverman.htm |
| Topic: Why Firms Want to Organize Efficiently and What Keeps Them From Doing So: Evidence From the For-hire Trucking Industry |
| Date/Place/Time: Nov. 21, 2003 / Cornell Hall D-313 / 1:00 P.M. to 2:30 P.M. |
| Abstract: In this paper we integrate content-based predictions of transaction cost economics with process-based predictions of organizational change. Specifically, we predict that poorly aligned firms (according to transaction cost reasoning) realize lower profits than their better-aligned counterparts, and that these firms will attempt to adapt so as to better align their transactions. We then consider a range of organizational factors that influence the level of "adjustment costs" that constrain such adaptation. We find evidence generally consistent with our predictions in a study of the U.S. for-hire interstate trucking industry. We also find that firms that attempt to adjust too rapidly have higher exit rates, consistent with structural inertia theory. |
| Link to paper (if available): |
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