Information uncertainty and organizational design

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ferracuti, Elia
• 署名单位: Duke University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING & ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0165-4101
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2022.101493
• 发表日期: 2022
• 关键词: INVESTMENT SENSITIVITY; vertical integration; stock-prices; MARKET; financialization; environment; ECONOMICS; frictions; analysts; industry

摘要

This paper investigates how information uncertainty, measured through variation in the informativeness of the public information environment, shapes the organizational design choices of firms. I posit that, when faced with higher uncertainty about demand and supply, managers are more likely to establish links to customer/supplier industries through high-level hiring decisions and vertical integration, thereby facilitating access to information about these industries. Consistent with this hypothesis, I find that firms modify their hiring and, to a lesser extent, vertical integration decisions in response to variation in the informativeness of the public information environment about demand and supply, measured with two distinct empirical approaches. Further, I observe that these organizational design choices correlate with the efficiency of inventory management and investment sensitivity to growth opportunities; this finding is consistent with organiza-tional design facilitating access to information otherwise unavailable to managers through public sources.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.