Delayering and Firm Performance: Evidence from Swiss firm-level Data

The past decades witnessed a broad trend towards flatter organizations with less hierarchical layers. A reduction of the number of management levels in a corpora- tion can have both positive and negative effects on firm performance with the net effect being theoretically unclear ex ante. The present study uses a nationally representative� data� set� of firms� in Switzerland� and empirically� examines� the� di- rect performance effects of delayering. Applying ordinary least squares regressions and propensity� score� matching,� this� study� finds� that� delayering significantly� increases subsequent firm performance. It can be concluded that flatter hierarchical structures seem to enable firms to better realize their competitive advantage in today’s fast moving and knowledge-intensive market environment.

Temporary Agency Work and Firm Performance: Evidence from German Establishment-Level Panel Data

This paper empirically examines the impact of temporary agency work on firm performance using panel data from German establishments. Thereby, special attention is devoted to the question, whether there are performance differences between firms using temporary agency workers (TAWs) as a buffer stock (flexibility strategy) and firms using TAWs for screening purposes (screening strategy). While the theoretical discussion on this issue does not lead to clear-cut results, our empirical investigation provides the following results. First, we find an inverse U-shaped relationship between the share of TAWs and firm performance. Second, we obtain that firms following the screening strategy are significantly more productive than firms following the flexibility strategy. These results are found to be valid in both cross-sectional and panel data settings, so they are robust to unobserved firm heterogeneity.Temporary agency work, firm performance, flexibility strategy, screening strategy

Complementarities between Workplace Organisation and Human Resource Management:

Owing to changes in the business environment, there has been a tremendous adoption of innovative workplace organisation (WO) and human resource (HR) practices during the last few decades. Assuming a holistic perspective on human resource management (HRM), the present study establishes the hypothesis of mutually reinforcing WO and HR practices that, thus, constitute a so-called high-performance work system. Precisely, it is argued that there may be a complementary relationship between a more decentralised way of allocating tasks and decision rights on the one hand and continuing training (or skilled labour), incentive pay or a more intensive use of long-term, as opposed to temporary, employment on the other. This hypothesis is examined empirically using latest nationally representative panel data of about 2,500 firms in Switzerland and applying econometric estimation techniques on the basis of an augmented Cobb-Douglas production function. The estimation results show statistically significant complementarities between the WO and HR practices mentioned above. In addition, socalled innovative HRM systems of mutually reinforcing WO and HR practices increase firm performance significantly. These results are robust to unobserved firm heterogeneity and to the problem of reversed causality.

Delayering and Firm Performance: Evidence from Swiss firm-level Data

The past decades witnessed a broad trend towards flatter organizations with less hierarchical layers. A reduction of the number of management levels in a corpora- tion can have both positive and negative effects on firm performance with the net effect being theoretically unclear ex ante. NEWLINE The present study uses a nationally representative data set of firms in Switzerland and empirically examines the di- rect performance effects of delayering. Applying ordinary least squares regressions and propensity score matching, this study finds that delayering significantly increases subsequent firm performance. It can be concluded that flatter hierarchical structures seem to enable firms to better realize their competitive advantage in today’s fast moving and knowledge-intensive market environment

Auswirkungen des Hierarchieabbaus auf die Performance von Schweizer Unternehmen

In den vergangenen Jahrzehnten ist ein Trend hin zu flacheren Organisationen mit weniger Hierarchieebenen zu verzeichnen gewesen. Eine Verringerung der Anzahl an Führungsstufen kann sowohl positive als auch negative Auswirkungen auf den wirtschaftlichen Erfolg eines Unternehmens haben. Der resultierende Nettoeffekt bleibt zunächst theoretisch unklar. Daher verwendet die vorliegende Studie einen für Firmen in der Schweiz repräsentativen Datensatz und untersucht die direkten Auswirkungen des Hierarchieabbaus auf den Unternehmenserfolg auf empirische Art und Weise. Mittels Regressionen der Methode der kleinsten Quadrate sowie des Verfahrens des propensity score matching findet diese Studie heraus, dass der Hierarchieabbau den späteren Unternehmenserfolg signifikant erhöht. Daraus kann geschlussfolgert werden, dass flachere hierarchische Strukturen den Unternehmen ermöglichen, ihre komparativen Vorteile in der heutigen schnelllebigen und wissensintensiven Marktumgebung besser zu realisieren

Complementarities between workplace organisation and human resource management : evidence from Swiss firm-level panel data

Owing to changes in the business environment, there has been a tremendous adoption of innovative workplace organization (WO) and human resource (HR) practices during the last few decades. Assuming a holistic perspective on human resource management (HRM), the present study establishes the hypothesis of mutually reinforcing WO and HR practices that, thus, constitute a so-called innovative HRM system. Precisely, it is argued that there may be a complementary relationship between a more decentralized way of allocating tasks and decision rights on the one hand and continuing training (or skilled labour), incentive pay or a more intensive use of long-term, as opposed to temporary, employment on the other. This hypothesis is examined empirically using latest nationally representative panel data of about 2’500 firms in Switzerland and applying econometric estimation techniques on the basis of an augmented Cobb-Douglas production function. The estimation results show statistically significant complementarities between the WO and HR practices mentioned above. In addition, so-called innovative HRM systems of mutually reinforcing WO and HR practices increase firm performance significantly. These results are robust to unobserved firm heterogeneity and to the problem of reversed causality

Multitasking, Entscheidungsdezentralisierung und Unternehmenserfolg: Gibt es einen First Mover Advantage?

Erster zu sein, ist immer vorteilhaft - diese Sichtweise wird im Kontext von Unternehmen gewöhnlich vertreten. Die akademische Literatur bestätigt diese Annahme jedoch nicht generell. Im Gegenteil, als Erster zu handeln kann auch schädlich für Unternehmen sein. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Annahme von First Mover Vorteilen bezüglich der Einführung von Multitasking-Instrumenten. Obwohl die Performanceeffekte von Multitasking in der Vergangenheit intensiv untersucht wurden, ist bislang wenig über den Einfluss des Einführungszeitpunktes von Multitasking auf den Unternehmenserfolg bekannt. Bei der Analyse des Einflusses der Zeitwahl von Reorganisationen hin zu Multitasking sind zwei Effekte denkbar: Einerseits könnten Unternehmen, die Multitasking schneller als ihre Konkurrenten eingeführt haben, einen komparativen Wettbewerbsvorteil erlangen. Demzufolge erzielten First Mover von Multitasking eher eine hohe Performance als Late Adopter. Andererseits könnte jedoch auch das Gegenteil zutreffen. Möglicherweise erfahren Late Adopter, also Firmen, die sich mehr Zeit für die Reorganisation lassen, einen komparativen Wettbewerbsvorteil, da die Qualität ihrer Einführung höher ist als die ihrer Konkurrenten. Vielleicht hat die Performance eines Unternehmens weniger mit dem Quantitätsaspekt der Einführung von Multitasking und viel mehr mit dem Qualitätsaspekt zu tun

Soils and their microbiological properties from a transect from Cape Horn to the Antarctic Peninsula

Soils of the southernmost islands of South America (Cape Horn), the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, South Orkneys, South Shetlands, the Antarctic Peninsula and Poulet Island are described and analyzed for soil properties, soil taxonomy and microorganisms. Results showed a great variety of soils. Leptosols, gleysols, regosols, cambisols, podzols, andosols and histosols are described. Podzolization was found in all climatic regions. Influences of bird colonies can be demonstrated by extractable phosphate and low C/N ratios. The bacterial flora is described via total counts (range between 0.06-10.45・10^9g^d. wt.) and biomass distributions (range between 0.47-102.7μgCg^ d. wt.) in different soil layers. Total number or total biomass are not related to geographic or internal soil patterns but to contents of organic matter. Similarly, mean cell volumes of bacteria (range between 0.06 and 0.1μm^3) are found to be related to nutrient levels. Distributions of bacterial communities show individual patterns of soil profiles and are not related to an overall geographical pattern

Functional Architecture of RNA polymerase I

Synthesis of ribosomal RNA by RNA polymerase (Pol) I is the first step in ribosome biogenesis and a regulatory switch in eukaryotic cell growth. In this thesis a reproducible large-scale purification protocol for Pol I from S. cerevisiae could be developed. Crystals were obtained, diffraction to < 4 Å could be recorded, however, the enormously complex non-crystallographic symmetry impeded structure solution. Switching to cryo-electron microscopy, the structure of the complete 14-subunit enzyme could be solved to 12 Å resolution, a homology model for the core enzyme could be generated, and the crystal structure of the subcomplex A14/43 could be solved. In the resulting hybrid structure of Pol I, A14/43, the clamp, and the dock domain contribute to a unique surface interacting with promoter-specific initiation factors. The Pol I-specific subunits A49 and A34.5 form a heterodimer near the enzyme funnel that acts as a built-in elongation factor, and is related to the Pol II-associated factor TFIIF. In contrast to Pol II, Pol I has a strong intrinsic 3’-RNA cleavage activity, which requires the C-terminal domain of subunit A12.2, and apparently enables rRNA proofreading and 3’-end trimming