Negoziabilità del profitto e design organizzativo: una proposta interpretativa (Profitability negotiation and organizational design: an interpretative proposal)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7433/s94.2014.08Keywords:
profit, ex ante negotiation over rent, organizational designAbstract
Purpose of the paper: This paper aims to develop a conceptual model, which focuses on the role of ex ante negotiation over rent between owners and executives in accounting for organizational design differences among firms.
Methodology: Development of a theoretical model based on a comprehensive review and cross-fertilization of the literature on both ex ante negotiation over rent and organizational design.
Findings: Our model posits that, when owners and executives negotiate ex ante over rent, an organizational structure tends to emerge that strengthens their bargaining power. This structure approximates the quasi-organic form, with low formalization and some degree of centralization and specialization.
Research limits: We develop detailed propositions linking the issues, but we do not provide empirical validation, which would be a logical next step.
Practical implications: A first implication concerns how different stakeholders may affect total value appropriation for the firm by negotiating ex ante over rent. A second implication refers to the attitude of the quasi-coalition between owners-managers toward building organizational structures that, although not aligned to environmental conditions and adequate to preserve firm survival, might however favor ex ante negotiation over profit. More generally, our model stimulates the debate on the relationship between profit as a negotiable rent, organizational structures and their capacity to favor the development of new capabilities and reduce owners-management conflict of interests.
Originality of the paper: This study is set at the intersection of distinct theoretical perspectives. It revers the nexus of causality between profit and organizational design thereby contributing to the debate on the sources of heterogeneity of firms and their organizational models.
References
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ASTLEY W.G., ZAJAC E.J. (1991), “Intraorganizational power and organizational design: reconciling rational and coalitional models of organization”, Organization Science, vol. 2, n. 4, pp. 399-411.
BANTEL K.A. (1993), “Top team, environment, and performance effects on strategic planning formality”, Group & Organization Management, vol. 18, n. 4, pp. 436-458.
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BLAU P.M. (1970), “A formal theory of differentiation in organizations”, American Sociological Review, vol. 35, n. 2, pp. 201-218.
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BOWMAN C., AMBROSINI V. (2000), “Value creation versus value capture: towards a coherent definition of value in strategy”, British Journal of Management, vol. 11, n. 1, pp. 115.
BURNS T., STALKER G.M. (1961), The management of innovation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership, Historical Research Reference in Entrepreneurship.
CAMPBELL B.A., COFF R., KRYSCYNSKI D. (2012). “Rethinking sustained competitive advantage from human capital”, Academy of Management Review, vol. 37, pp. 376-395.
CASTANIAS R.P., HELFAT C.E. (2001), “The managerial rents model: Theory and empirical analysis”, Journal of Management, vol. 27, n. 6, pp. 661-678.
CHACAR A., COFF R. (2000), The knowledge-based employees paradox. Winning Strategies in a Deconstructing World, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, London.
CHAKRAVARTHY B.S. (1982), “Adaptation: A promising metaphor for strategic management”, Academy of Management Review, vol. 7, n. 1, pp. 35-44.
CHANDLER A.D. (1962), Strategy and structure: Chapters in the history of the American enterprise, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.
CHILD J. (1972), “Organizational structure, environment and performance: The role of strategic choice”, Sociology, vol. 6, n. 1, pp. 1-22.
COFF R.W. (1999), “When competitive advantage doesn’t lead to performance: The resource-based view and stakeholder bargaining power”, Organization Science, vol. 10, n. 2, pp. 119-133.
COFF R.W. (2003), “Bidding wars over R&D-intensive firms: Knowledge, opportunism, and the market for corporate control”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 46, n. 1, pp. 74-85.
COFF R.W. (2010), “The coevolution of rent appropriation and capability development”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 31, n. 7, pp. 711-733.
COFF R.W., LEE P.M. (2002), “Insider trading as a vehicle to appropriate rent from R&D”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 24, n. 2, pp. 183-190.
COVIN J.G., SLEVIN D.P. (2006), “Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 10, n. 1, pp. 75-87.
CYERT R.M., MARCH J.G. (1963), A behavioral theory of the firm, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs.
DAVID P., O’BRIEN J.P., YOSHIKAWA T., DELIOS A. (2010), “Do shareholders or stakeholders appropriate the rents from corporate diversification? The influence of ownership structure”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 53, n. 3, pp. 636-654.
DIERICKX I., COOL K. (1989), “Asset stock accumulation and sustainability of competitive advantage”, Management Science, vol. 35, n. 12, pp. 1504-1511.
DONALDSON L., DAVIS J.H. (1991), “Stewardship theory or agency theory: CEO governance and shareholder returns”, Australian Journal of Management, vol. 16, n. 1, pp. 49-64.
GALBRAITH JR. (1973), Designing complex organizations, Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc., Boston.
GATTI M., BIFERALI D., VOLPE L. (2009), “Il governo dell’impresa tra profitto e creazione di valore”, Sinergie, n. 79, pp. 145-179.
GOFFEE R. (1996), “Understanding family businesses: issues for further research”, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, vol. 2, n. 1, pp. 36-48.
GOFFEE R., SCASE R. (1985), “Proprietorial control in family firms: Some functions of ‘quasi-organic’ management systems”, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 22, n. 1, pp. 53-68.
GOLINELLI G.M. (2011), L’Approccio Sistemico Vitale (ASV) al Governo dell’Impresa, Cedam, Padova.
GOLINELLI G.M., PROIETTI L., VAGNANI G. (2008), “L’azione di governo tra competitività e consonanza”, in GOLINELLI G.M. (2008), L’Approccio Sistemico al Governo dell’impresa. Verso la Scientificazione dell’Azione di Governo, Cedam, Padova.
GOLINELLI G.M., VOLPE L. (2012), Consonanza, Valore, Sostenibilità. Verso l’Impresa Sostenibile, Cedam, Padova.
HATCH N.W., DYER J.H. (2004), “Human capital and learning as a source of sustainable competitive advantage”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 25, pp. 1155-1178.
HIRSCH P.M. (1975), “Organizational effectiveness and the institutional environment”, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 20, n. 3, pp. 327-344.
JENSEN M.C., MECKLING W.H. (1976), “Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure”, Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 3, n. 4, pp. 305-360.
JOHNSON S. (2000), “Tunneling”, American Economic Review, vol. 90, n. 2, pp. 22-27.
KAST F.E., ROSENZWEIG J.E. (1973), Contingency views of organization and management, Sra, Chicago.
KHANDWALLA P.N. (1972), “Environment and its impact on the organization”, International Studies of Management & Organization, vol. 2, n. 3, pp. 297-313.
KHANDWALLA P.N. (1977), The design of organizations, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York.
KIRZNER I.M. (1973), Competition and Entrepreneurship, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
KIRZNER I.M. (1979), Perception, Opportunity and Profit: Studies in the Theory of Entrepreneurship, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
KLEIN B., CRAWFORD R.G., ALCHIAN A.A. (1978), “Vertical integration, appropriable rents, and the competitive contracting process”, Journal of Law and Economics, vol. 21, n. 2, pp. 297-326.
KOR Y.Y., LEBLEBICI H. (2005), “How do interdependencies among human-capital deployment, development, and diversification strategies affect firms’ financial performance? ”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 26, pp. 967-985.
LAWRENCE P.R., LORSCH J.W. (1967), “Differentiation and integration in complex organizations”, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 12, n. 1, pp. 1-47.
LAWRENCE P.R., LORSCH J.W. (1986), Organization and Environment: Managing Differentiation and Integration, Harvard Business School Classics.
MARSDEN P.V., COOK C.R., KALLEBERG A.L. (1994), “Organizational Structures Coordination and Control”, American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 37, n. 7, pp. 911-929.
MILGROM P., ROBERTS J. (1992), Economics, organization and management, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, (ed. italiana, Economia, organizzazione e management, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1994).
MINTZBERG H. (1979), The structuring of organizations: A synthesis of the research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership Historical Research Reference in Entrepreneurship.
MORAN P., SIMONI M., VAGNANI G. (2011), “Becoming the best: by beating or ignoring the best? Toward an expanded view of the role of managerial selection in complex and turbulent environments”, Journal of Management and Governance, vol. 15, n. 3, pp. 447-481.
MORCK R., YEUNG B. (2004), “Family control and the rent‐seeking society”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice vol. 28, n. 4, pp. 391-409.
NAPOLEONI C. (1956), Dizionario di economia politica, Edizioni di Comunità, Torino.
PERROW C. (1967), “A framework for the comparative analysis of organizations”, American Sociological Review, vol. 32, n. 2, pp. 194-208.
PERROW C. (1970), Organizational analysis: a sociological view, Wadsworth, Belmont.
PERROW C. (1985), “Review essay: Overboard with mith and symbols”, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 91, n.1, pp. 151-155.
PETERAF M.A. (1993), “The cornerstones of competitive advantage: a resource-based view”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 14, n. 3, pp. 179-191.
PFEFFER J., SALANCIK G.R. (1977), “Organization design: The case for a coalitional model of organizations”, Organizational Dynamics, vol. 6, n. 2, pp. 15-29.
PFEFFER J., SALANCIK G.R. (1978), The external control of organisations, Stanford Business Classics, Stanford.
PUGH D.S., HICKSON D.J., HININGS C.R., TURNER C. (1969), “The context of organization structures”, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 14, n. 1, pp. 91-114.
RIVKIN J.W., SIGGELKOW N. (2003), “Balancing search and stability: Interdependencies among elements of organizational design”, Management Science, vol. 49, n. 3, pp. 290-311.
SCOTT W.R., MEYER J.W. (1983), “The organization of societal sectors”, in Meyer J.W., Scott W.R. (a cura di), Organizational Environments: Ritual and Rationality, Sage, New York, pp. 129-153.
SCHUMPETER J.A. (1934), The theory of economic development, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA).
SIGGELKOW N. (2002), “Evolution toward fit”, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 47, n. 1, pp. 125-159.
SIGGELKOW N., RIVKIN J.W. (2005), “Speed and search: Designing organizations for turbulence and complexity”, Organization Science, vol. 16, n. 2, pp. 101-122.
SMITH A. (1937), The Wealth of Nations (1776), Modern Library, New York.
TEECE D.J. (1986), “Profiting from technological innovation: Implications for integration, collaboration, licensing and public policy”, Research Policy, vol. 15, n. 6, pp. 285-305.
THOMPSON J.D. (1967), Organizations in action, McGraw-Hill, New York.
VAGNANI G., VOLPE L. (2009), “Struttura formale, informale e prestazioni individuali”, Sviluppo & Organizzazione, vol. 234, pp. 18-36.
WANG H.C., HE J., MAHONEY J. (2009), “Firm-specific knowledge resources and competitive advantage: The roles of economic- and relationship-based employee governance mechanisms”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 30, n. 12, pp. 1265-1285.
WOODWARD J., DAWSON S., WEDDERBURN D. (1965), Industrial organization: Theory and practice, Oxford University Press, London.
WRIGHT P.M., COFF R., MOLITERNO T.P. (2013), “Strategic Human Capital Crossing the Great Divide”, Journal of Management, in corso di pubblicazione, doi: 0149206313518437.
ZUCKER L.G. (1987), “Institutional theories of organization”, Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 13, n. 1, pp. 443-464.
ASTLEY W.G., VAN DE VEN A.H. (1983), “Central perspectives and debates in organization theory”, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 28, n. 2, pp. 245-273.
ASTLEY W.G., ZAJAC E.J. (1991), “Intraorganizational power and organizational design: reconciling rational and coalitional models of organization”, Organization Science, vol. 2, n. 4, pp. 399-411.
BANTEL K.A. (1993), “Top team, environment, and performance effects on strategic planning formality”, Group & Organization Management, vol. 18, n. 4, pp. 436-458.
BELUSSI F., PILOTTI L. (2006), “Eterogeneità delle imprese e varietà dei modelli organizzativi”, in Cainelli G., De Liso N. (a cura di), Organizzazioni, conoscenze e sistemi locali, Franco Angeli, Milano.
BLAU P.M. (1970), “A formal theory of differentiation in organizations”, American Sociological Review, vol. 35, n. 2, pp. 201-218.
BLYLER M., COFF R.W. (2003), “Dynamic capabilities, social capital, and rent appropriation: ties that split pies”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 24, n. 7, pp. 677-686.
BOWMAN C., AMBROSINI V. (2000), “Value creation versus value capture: towards a coherent definition of value in strategy”, British Journal of Management, vol. 11, n. 1, pp. 115.
BURNS T., STALKER G.M. (1961), The management of innovation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership, Historical Research Reference in Entrepreneurship.
CAMPBELL B.A., COFF R., KRYSCYNSKI D. (2012). “Rethinking sustained competitive advantage from human capital”, Academy of Management Review, vol. 37, pp. 376-395.
CASTANIAS R.P., HELFAT C.E. (2001), “The managerial rents model: Theory and empirical analysis”, Journal of Management, vol. 27, n. 6, pp. 661-678.
CHACAR A., COFF R. (2000), The knowledge-based employees paradox. Winning Strategies in a Deconstructing World, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, London.
CHAKRAVARTHY B.S. (1982), “Adaptation: A promising metaphor for strategic management”, Academy of Management Review, vol. 7, n. 1, pp. 35-44.
CHANDLER A.D. (1962), Strategy and structure: Chapters in the history of the American enterprise, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.
CHILD J. (1972), “Organizational structure, environment and performance: The role of strategic choice”, Sociology, vol. 6, n. 1, pp. 1-22.
COFF R.W. (1999), “When competitive advantage doesn’t lead to performance: The resource-based view and stakeholder bargaining power”, Organization Science, vol. 10, n. 2, pp. 119-133.
COFF R.W. (2003), “Bidding wars over R&D-intensive firms: Knowledge, opportunism, and the market for corporate control”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 46, n. 1, pp. 74-85.
COFF R.W. (2010), “The coevolution of rent appropriation and capability development”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 31, n. 7, pp. 711-733.
COFF R.W., LEE P.M. (2002), “Insider trading as a vehicle to appropriate rent from R&D”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 24, n. 2, pp. 183-190.
COVIN J.G., SLEVIN D.P. (2006), “Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 10, n. 1, pp. 75-87.
CYERT R.M., MARCH J.G. (1963), A behavioral theory of the firm, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs.
DAVID P., O’BRIEN J.P., YOSHIKAWA T., DELIOS A. (2010), “Do shareholders or stakeholders appropriate the rents from corporate diversification? The influence of ownership structure”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 53, n. 3, pp. 636-654.
DIERICKX I., COOL K. (1989), “Asset stock accumulation and sustainability of competitive advantage”, Management Science, vol. 35, n. 12, pp. 1504-1511.
DONALDSON L., DAVIS J.H. (1991), “Stewardship theory or agency theory: CEO governance and shareholder returns”, Australian Journal of Management, vol. 16, n. 1, pp. 49-64.
GALBRAITH JR. (1973), Designing complex organizations, Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc., Boston.
GATTI M., BIFERALI D., VOLPE L. (2009), “Il governo dell’impresa tra profitto e creazione di valore”, Sinergie, n. 79, pp. 145-179.
GOFFEE R. (1996), “Understanding family businesses: issues for further research”, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, vol. 2, n. 1, pp. 36-48.
GOFFEE R., SCASE R. (1985), “Proprietorial control in family firms: Some functions of ‘quasi-organic’ management systems”, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 22, n. 1, pp. 53-68.
GOLINELLI G.M. (2011), L’Approccio Sistemico Vitale (ASV) al Governo dell’Impresa, Cedam, Padova.
GOLINELLI G.M., PROIETTI L., VAGNANI G. (2008), “L’azione di governo tra competitività e consonanza”, in GOLINELLI G.M. (2008), L’Approccio Sistemico al Governo dell’impresa. Verso la Scientificazione dell’Azione di Governo, Cedam, Padova.
GOLINELLI G.M., VOLPE L. (2012), Consonanza, Valore, Sostenibilità. Verso l’Impresa Sostenibile, Cedam, Padova.
HATCH N.W., DYER J.H. (2004), “Human capital and learning as a source of sustainable competitive advantage”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 25, pp. 1155-1178.
HIRSCH P.M. (1975), “Organizational effectiveness and the institutional environment”, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 20, n. 3, pp. 327-344.
JENSEN M.C., MECKLING W.H. (1976), “Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure”, Journal of Financial Economics, vol. 3, n. 4, pp. 305-360.
JOHNSON S. (2000), “Tunneling”, American Economic Review, vol. 90, n. 2, pp. 22-27.
KAST F.E., ROSENZWEIG J.E. (1973), Contingency views of organization and management, Sra, Chicago.
KHANDWALLA P.N. (1972), “Environment and its impact on the organization”, International Studies of Management & Organization, vol. 2, n. 3, pp. 297-313.
KHANDWALLA P.N. (1977), The design of organizations, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York.
KIRZNER I.M. (1973), Competition and Entrepreneurship, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
KIRZNER I.M. (1979), Perception, Opportunity and Profit: Studies in the Theory of Entrepreneurship, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
KLEIN B., CRAWFORD R.G., ALCHIAN A.A. (1978), “Vertical integration, appropriable rents, and the competitive contracting process”, Journal of Law and Economics, vol. 21, n. 2, pp. 297-326.
KOR Y.Y., LEBLEBICI H. (2005), “How do interdependencies among human-capital deployment, development, and diversification strategies affect firms’ financial performance? ”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 26, pp. 967-985.
LAWRENCE P.R., LORSCH J.W. (1967), “Differentiation and integration in complex organizations”, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 12, n. 1, pp. 1-47.
LAWRENCE P.R., LORSCH J.W. (1986), Organization and Environment: Managing Differentiation and Integration, Harvard Business School Classics.
MARSDEN P.V., COOK C.R., KALLEBERG A.L. (1994), “Organizational Structures Coordination and Control”, American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 37, n. 7, pp. 911-929.
MILGROM P., ROBERTS J. (1992), Economics, organization and management, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, (ed. italiana, Economia, organizzazione e management, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1994).
MINTZBERG H. (1979), The structuring of organizations: A synthesis of the research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership Historical Research Reference in Entrepreneurship.
MORAN P., SIMONI M., VAGNANI G. (2011), “Becoming the best: by beating or ignoring the best? Toward an expanded view of the role of managerial selection in complex and turbulent environments”, Journal of Management and Governance, vol. 15, n. 3, pp. 447-481.
MORCK R., YEUNG B. (2004), “Family control and the rent‐seeking society”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice vol. 28, n. 4, pp. 391-409.
NAPOLEONI C. (1956), Dizionario di economia politica, Edizioni di Comunità, Torino.
PERROW C. (1967), “A framework for the comparative analysis of organizations”, American Sociological Review, vol. 32, n. 2, pp. 194-208.
PERROW C. (1970), Organizational analysis: a sociological view, Wadsworth, Belmont.
PERROW C. (1985), “Review essay: Overboard with mith and symbols”, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 91, n.1, pp. 151-155.
PETERAF M.A. (1993), “The cornerstones of competitive advantage: a resource-based view”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 14, n. 3, pp. 179-191.
PFEFFER J., SALANCIK G.R. (1977), “Organization design: The case for a coalitional model of organizations”, Organizational Dynamics, vol. 6, n. 2, pp. 15-29.
PFEFFER J., SALANCIK G.R. (1978), The external control of organisations, Stanford Business Classics, Stanford.
PUGH D.S., HICKSON D.J., HININGS C.R., TURNER C. (1969), “The context of organization structures”, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 14, n. 1, pp. 91-114.
RIVKIN J.W., SIGGELKOW N. (2003), “Balancing search and stability: Interdependencies among elements of organizational design”, Management Science, vol. 49, n. 3, pp. 290-311.
SCOTT W.R., MEYER J.W. (1983), “The organization of societal sectors”, in Meyer J.W., Scott W.R. (a cura di), Organizational Environments: Ritual and Rationality, Sage, New York, pp. 129-153.
SCHUMPETER J.A. (1934), The theory of economic development, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA).
SIGGELKOW N. (2002), “Evolution toward fit”, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 47, n. 1, pp. 125-159.
SIGGELKOW N., RIVKIN J.W. (2005), “Speed and search: Designing organizations for turbulence and complexity”, Organization Science, vol. 16, n. 2, pp. 101-122.
SMITH A. (1937), The Wealth of Nations (1776), Modern Library, New York.
TEECE D.J. (1986), “Profiting from technological innovation: Implications for integration, collaboration, licensing and public policy”, Research Policy, vol. 15, n. 6, pp. 285-305.
THOMPSON J.D. (1967), Organizations in action, McGraw-Hill, New York.
VAGNANI G., VOLPE L. (2009), “Struttura formale, informale e prestazioni individuali”, Sviluppo & Organizzazione, vol. 234, pp. 18-36.
WANG H.C., HE J., MAHONEY J. (2009), “Firm-specific knowledge resources and competitive advantage: The roles of economic- and relationship-based employee governance mechanisms”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 30, n. 12, pp. 1265-1285.
WOODWARD J., DAWSON S., WEDDERBURN D. (1965), Industrial organization: Theory and practice, Oxford University Press, London.
WRIGHT P.M., COFF R., MOLITERNO T.P. (2013), “Strategic Human Capital Crossing the Great Divide”, Journal of Management, in corso di pubblicazione, doi: 0149206313518437.
ZUCKER L.G. (1987), “Institutional theories of organization”, Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 13, n. 1, pp. 443-464.
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2018-10-28
