Industrial Inefficiency and Downsizing : A Study of Layoffs and Plant Closures

ISBN-13: 9780815330172 / Angielski / Twarda / 1997 / 158 str.

Matthew B. Krepps; Amy Bertin Candell

Opis

Where does corporate "fat" accumulate and how is it eliminated in response to competitive forces? This study finds that increases in industry-level import competition and merger activity, as well as declines in industry-level demand, explain layoffs and plant closures by inefficient firms. Downsizing in response to these competitive threats is often undertaken in a suboptimal fashion. Managers announce layoffs in spite of their convictions that such behavior undermines productivity. Further, managers close plants that are not among the most inefficient in their industry. The authors conclude that these puzzling managerial actions, though ostensibly inefficient, are perfectly consistent with profit-maximizing behavior.

Spis treści

Chapter 1 Introduction 3 Chapter 2 Fat: The Displacement of Nonproduction Workers from U.S. Manufacturing Industries Chapter 3 Incomplete Contracting and Costly Disclosure: A Study of Strategic Preannouncements of Layoffs Chapter 4 Technological and Organizational Factors in Productivity and the Plant Closure Decision: Evidence from the Blast Furnace Industry

O autorze

Matthew B. Krepps, Amy Bertin Candell