CAREER: The Organization and Reputation of Firms

现代经济呈现出多种多样的组织形式：从小型业主经营的公司到员工所有的合伙企业、合作社、非营利组织，最后是投资者所有的公司。企业拥有的两项重要资产是其组织形式和功能，以及其市场声誉。经济学中的一个基本问题是，既要理解导致这两种不同组织形式的力量，也要理解是什么决定了这两种无形资产的价值。这个项目提出了一个研究组织经济学的经济学框架，重点关注组织形式和企业声誉。提案的第一部分研究伙伴关系及其在专业服务中的作用。这种方法突出了有利于形成合作伙伴关系的三个因素：(1)人力资本在生产中的重要性；(2)客户方面缺乏信息，这可能导致他们担心他们将获得的服务质量；(3)合作伙伴关系和公司在雇用和选择高级员工方面的不同动机。开发的理论模型将解释为什么合作伙伴关系在专业服务中是典型的，在专业服务中，人力资本是生产的主要投入，所提供的服务的性质可能很难让消费者准确评估，但在制造、技术或低技能服务行业很少观察到。与该项目相关的是关于法律和管理政策应适应哪些组织形式的一组丰富的政策问题。没有一个统一的框架来理解伙伴关系和公司之间的区别，也没有一个统一的框架来理解导致这种特殊组织形式的专业服务的具体经济学。这个项目将为更广泛地调查专业服务的市场结构、研究这些行业的法律和监管问题以及解释关于专业组织结构的经验证据提供一个起点。提案的第二部分调查了公司声誉的经济价值，以及创业行为的动态和公司声誉是如何联系在一起的。在很大程度上建立在我以前对公司声誉的研究中获得的洞察力的基础上，我建议使用结合所有权变化和声誉动态的餐厅数据，对我的理论工作对名称市场的清晰预测进行实证检验。该提案还概述了一些新的理论想法，这些想法将导致一组更丰富的经验预测，并将公司声誉与动态的创业选择联系起来。特别是，“企业家精神”可能与特定类型的人有关，他们专门创建新的企业，然后将成功的企业传递给其他专门维持现有企业的人。了解企业声誉的动态变化及其对企业创建和周转的影响之间的联系，可能有助于我们理解创业活动的动态。此外，该框架可能在披露所有权周转方面的信息方面提供一些政策影响。

Modern economies exhibit a broad diversity of organizational forms: from small owner-operated firms to employee-owned partnerships, cooperatives, non-profits, and finally investor-owned corporations. Two important assets that a firm has are its organizational form and function, and its market reputation. A fundamental problem in economics is to understand both the forces that lead to these different forms of organization and what determines the value of these two intangible assets. This project proposes an economic framework for studying the economics of organizations, with focus on organizational form and firm reputation. The first part of the proposal studies partnerships and their role in the professional services. The approach highlights three ingredients that favor the formation of partnerships: (1) the importance of human capital in production; (2) a lack of information on the part of clients that leads them potentially to be concerned about the quality of the service they will obtain; and (3) the differing incentives of partnerships and corporations in the hiring and selection of senior employees. The theoretical model developed will explain why partnerships are typical in the professional services, where human capital is primary input to production and the nature of the service provided may be quite difficult for consumers to accurately assess, but rarely observed in manufacturing, technology, or lower-skill service industries. Associated with this project is a rich set of policy questions concerning which forms of organization the law and regulatory policy should accommodate. There is no single coherent framework for understanding the differences between partnerships and corporations, or for understanding the specific economics of professional services that have led to this particular form of organization. This project will offer a starting point for a broader investigation of market structure in the professional services, for examining legal and regulatory issues in these industries, and for interpreting empirical evidence about the structure of professional organizations.The second part of the proposal investigates the economic value of a firm's reputation, and how the dynamics of entrepreneurial behavior and firm reputation are linked. Building heavily on the insights I have gained from my previous work on firm reputation, I propose to empirically test the clear predictions of my theoretical work on the market for names using data on restaurants that combines both changes in ownership and reputation dynamics. The proposal also outlines some new theoretical ideas that would lead to a richer set of empirical predictions, and relate firm reputation to dynamic entrepreneurial choices. In particular, the "entrepreneurial spirit" may be related to particular types of people who specialize in creating new businesses, and who then pass on the successful ones to other people who specialize in maintaining ongoing enterprises. Understanding the link between the dynamics of a firm's reputation, and its effect on the creation and turnover of businesses, may help us understand the dynamics of entrepreneurial activity. Furthermore, the framework may offer some policy implications regarding the disclosure of information with respect to ownership turnover.