CEO power and labor productivity Breit, Emily; Song, Xuehu (Jason); Sun, Li ...
Accounting research journal,
07/2019, Letnik:
32, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how Chief Executive Officer (CEO) power affects firm-level labor productivity.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors rely on regression analysis to examine the ...relation between CEO power and labor productivity.
Findings
Following prior research (i.e. the sequential rank order tournament theory), the authors predict that powerful CEOs lead to high labor productivity. They find a significant and positive relationship between CEO power and labor productivity. They further decompose labor productivity into labor efficiency and labor cost components and find a positive (negative) relationship between CEO power and labor efficiency (cost) component, suggesting that more powerful CEOs better manage labor efficiency and control labor cost. The results are also robust to various additional tests.
Originality/value
This study contributes to two streams of research: the CEO power literature in finance and the labor productivity and cost literature in accounting. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study that performs a direct empirical test on the relation between CEO power and labor productivity.
Purpose
– Raise in temperatures due to climate change is likely to increase the heat stress in occupations that are physically exerting and performed outdoors which might potentially have adverse ...health and productivity consequences. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the productivities in construction work under the influence of heat stress using the predicted mean vote (PMV) index.
Design/methodology/approach
– Field studies were conducted during May 2014 which is summer time in Chennai. Continuous heart rate of workers and wet bulb globe temperature measurements are conducted for workers engaged in different jobs in construction. Metabolic rates and the workload of the workers from heart rate were calculated using the ISO method 8996 and the PMV values are calculated using the tool developed by Malchaire based on the method ISO 7730. Direct observations and personal interviews were conducted to substantiate the productivity estimations.
Findings
– The results showed that workers working outdoors with moderate and heavy workload exceeded the threshold limit value of 28°C and had adverse productivity impacts (18-35 per cent productivity loss), whereas the workers engaged in light indoor work was not affected by heat stress and consequent productivity losses. The productivity estimations using the PMV index is found to be statistically significant for three types of construction works (Pearson correlation coefficient value of −0.78) and also correlated well with the observations and self-reported productivities of the workers.
Originality/value
– The method used in this paper provides a scientific and reliable estimation of the productivities which may benefit the industry to set realistic project completion goals in hot weather and also implement interventions and policies to protect workers’ health. Developing adaptive strategies and implementing control measures are the need of the hour to protect worker’s health and economic losses in the face of climate change.
Productivity effects of outsourcing Broedner, Peter; Kinkel, Steffen; Lay, Gunter
International journal of operations & production management,
02/2009, Letnik:
29, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical investigation of firm level productivity effects of outsourcing against the background of a review of recent theoretical considerations ...about the topic.Design methodology approach - The empirical research is based on a large representative data set from the German manufacturing industries containing detailed data about almost 500 establishments. It investigates productivity effects of outsourcing under control of other relevant factors influencing firm level productivity by means of a multivariate regression analysis.Findings - In sharp contrast to common belief and prevailing management practices, outsourcing, i.e. the extent to which the vertical range of manufacturing is reduced, has a strong negative impact on a firm's labour productivity. Against the background of the theoretical considerations reviewed from the literature, this result can be explained such that mere cost-efficiency comparisons are insufficient for appropriate decisions on vertical manufacturing range as the effects of opportunism, of disturbed competence formation, and of limited innovative value creation processes may be overcompensating cost benefits.Research limitations implications - The investigation focuses on productivity effects of outsourcing as a relevant long-term performance measure not regarding other firm level performance indicators. Although covering a significant range of industrial sectors in Germany, more empirical evidence is needed from other sectors and regions. Moreover, performance effects of different types of outsourcing implementations (e.g. simple part supply versus outsourcing of whole business processes including design, production, and marketing) should be investigated as they might have different impacts.Practical implications - The findings strongly recommend a revision of established decision-making schemes for vertical manufacturing range based on cost-efficiency considerations. Decision making should instead integrate cost efficiency and transaction cost analysis with the competence and innovation capability formation perspectives. Procedural schemes for this integrated view are still to be developed, however.Originality value - The research described in this paper considerably widens the empirical knowledge about productivity effects of outsourcing and has strong impact on management practice.
Significant conflicts impacting production costs and efficient use of labour are associated with shift work. We examine the relationship between the number of shifts and their duration in order to ...maximize efficient use of labour. We focus on the debate between two basic elements: (1) a greater number of shifts of shorter duration which require more idle time between shifts, and may lead to increased expenses and inefficient use of resources; and (2) shifts of shorter duration that generate higher productivity. We develop a formula for achieving a balance between the two elements and determining the optimal number of shifts and their duration. We present several applications that can be derived from our formula.
An Internet database to record information from growers' plots was developed to characterise agronomic performance and labour efficiency of peach-nectarine (Prunus persica L. Batsch) production in ...France. Six indicators were used: gross yield (Yield), percentage of fruit size above or equal to grade A (GradesA), fresh marketable yield in GradesA (MYieldA), total working time (Hours in h ha-1), total working time per gross yield (HoursYield) and total working time per fresh marketable yield in GradesA (HoursMYieldA). The database contained 24,737 year-plots over the period 2000-2005, representing nearly 30% of the French peach-nectarine production. References based on the median and the 20th and 80th percentiles were developed for ~100 of the most commonly-grown cultivars and presented for yellow-fleshed peach cultivars. The growers who recorded their data in the EFI database were then able to carry out an assessment of each plot in their orchards by comparison with the reference values of the six indicators. The analyse of EFI database on the country scale showed that the maturity period was the main factor which strongly affected agronomic performances and labour efficiency ratios, but not total working times. Nectarine genetic traits reduced only fruit size. Working times for the main manual operations were very significantly affected by region factor partly because orchard height differed according to regions. Tree height strongly influenced the performances. Low trees decreased yield (-4.9 Mg ha-1) and high trees increased total working time about 190 h ha-1 compared to mid-high trees. The use of the EFI information system by the growers is discussed in relation with the participatory process in which technical advisers make it possible to build a tool to support the decision-making process in accordance with users' expectations.
An Internet database to record information from growers’ plots was developed to characterise agronomic performance and labour efficiency of peach–nectarine (
Prunus persica L. Batsch) production in ...France. Six indicators were used: gross yield (Yield), percentage of fruit size above or equal to grade A (GradesA), fresh marketable yield in GradesA (MYieldA), total working time (Hours in h
ha
−1), total working time per gross yield (HoursYield) and total working time per fresh marketable yield in GradesA (HoursMYieldA). The database contained 24,737 year-plots over the period 2000–2005, representing nearly 30% of the French peach–nectarine production. References based on the median and the 20th and 80th percentiles were developed for ∼100 of the most commonly-grown cultivars and presented for yellow-fleshed peach cultivars. The growers who recorded their data in the EFI database were then able to carry out an assessment of each plot in their orchards by comparison with the reference values of the six indicators. The analyse of EFI database on the country scale showed that the maturity period was the main factor which strongly affected agronomic performances and labour efficiency ratios, but not total working times. Nectarine genetic traits reduced only fruit size. Working times for the main manual operations were very significantly affected by region factor partly because orchard height differed according to regions. Tree height strongly influenced the performances. Low trees decreased yield (−4.9
Mg
ha
−1) and high trees increased total working time about 190
h
ha
−1 compared to mid-high trees. The use of the EFI information system by the growers is discussed in relation with the participatory process in which technical advisers make it possible to build a tool to support the decision-making process in accordance with users’ expectations.
Agriculture plays a very important role in the economic development of rural India. It is well known that the contribution of rural women in agricultural sectors is very significant. A study was ...conducted in the Darrang district of Assam with the objectives to explore the involvement of rural women in decision-making of different agricultural activities and to find out the labor efficiency of rural women in agricultural activities. Purposive sampling technique was used for selection of development blocks and random sampling technique was used for selection of villages in the study. The study revealed that in case of sericulture and handloom sectors, all decisions were taken by the farm women only and this was followed by livestock and poultry (57.33 per cent) and agriculture (40.00 per cent). On the other hand, in case of labor efficiency of rural women, the efficiency was more in small size group than medium and large size groups.
The article examines impact of human resources availability in post-socialist economy on its rate of economic growth in conditions of high dependency on the import of intellectual labour products ...from developed countries. The thesis about meaningful constraints, which active involvement of European post-socialist countries in the international system of labour division impacts on the ability of such countries to overcome the lack of human assets in the medium term, is substantiated. Two legitimate reasons of such restrictions are identified in the article. A regular concentration of economic management functions that require the most highly skilled performers in economically developed countries is called the first cause. The institutional shortcomings of post-socialist countries, where social sphere was not transformed into a source of competitive advantage for national business is called the second cause.
Artykuł podkreśla rolę procesu zarządzania wydajnością pracy w firmach produkcyjnych oraz koszty związane z brakiem wydajności. Zaprezentowany został przykładowy model pomiaru wydajności zawierający ...elementy, na które należy zwrócić uwagę w badanej problematyce. Wskazano również zagrożenia i czynniki powodujące zniekształcanie otrzymanych rezultatów i propozycje ulepszeń.
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