Recent Advances in the Empirics of Organizational Economics

Posted: 18 Oct 2010

See all articles by Nicholas Bloom

Nicholas Bloom

Stanford University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Raffaella Sadun

Harvard University - Strategy Unit; London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Centre for Economic Performance (CEP); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

John Van Reenen

London School of Economics - Centre for Economic Performance (CEP); Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Date Written: February 2010

Abstract

We present a survey of recent contributions in empirical organizational economics, focusing on management practices and decentralization. Productivity dispersion between firms and countries has motivated the improved measurement of firm organization across industries and countries. There appears to be substantial variation in management practices and decentralization not only between countries, but also especially within countries. Much of the poorer average management quality in countries like Brazil and India seems to result from a long tail of poorly managed firms, which barely exist in the United States. Some stylized facts include the following: (a) Competition seems to foster improved management and decentralization; (b) larger firms, skill-intensive plants, and foreign multinationals appear better managed and are more decentralized; (c) firms that are both family owned and managed appear to have worse management and are more centralized; and (d) firms facing an environment of lighter labor market regulations and more human capital specialize relatively more in people management. There is evidence for complementarities between information and communication technology, decentralization, and management, but the relationship is complex, and identification of the productivity effects of organizational practices remains a challenge for future research.

Suggested Citation

Bloom, Nicholas and Sadun, Raffaella and Van Reenen, John Michael, Recent Advances in the Empirics of Organizational Economics (February 2010). Annual Review of Economics, Vol. 2, pp. 105-137, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1693014 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.economics.050708.143328

Nicholas Bloom (Contact Author)

Stanford University - Department of Economics ( email )

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Raffaella Sadun

Harvard University - Strategy Unit ( email )

Harvard Business School
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London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/staff/person.asp?id=1758

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

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John Michael Van Reenen

London School of Economics - Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) ( email )

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Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) ( email )

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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United Kingdom

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