Arbeitspapier

Import Competition, Heterogeneous Preferences of Managers, and Productivity

When managers have objectives beyond maximizing monetary profits, inefficiencies may arise. An increase in competition may then force managers to improve the productivity of the firm in order to ensure survival. While this hypothesis has received ample theoretical attention, empirical evidence is scarce, mainly because preferences of managers are typically unobserved. In this paper, we exploit the fact that a large literature has documented specific non-monetary preferences of family managers. Using Spanish firm-level data, we compare how family-managed and professionally-managed firms react to import competition shocks. We find that import competition leads to productivity increases in family-managed firms that are initially unproductive. Productivity improvements are driven by family management as opposed to family ownership or non-managing family members. Furthermore, we show that these managers increase efficiency by reducing material usage, which is consistent with them trying to increase their short-term cash flow in order to survive. Finally, productivity improvements seem to be particularly pronounced in multi-generational family firms that also introduce organizational changes.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 8028

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
Empirical Studies of Trade
Business Objectives of the Firm
Firm Organization and Market Structure
Thema
import competition
productivity
family firms
managers

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Chen, Cheng
Steinwender, Claudia
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
(wo)
Munich
(wann)
2019

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:43 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Chen, Cheng
  • Steinwender, Claudia
  • Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)

Entstanden

  • 2019

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