High-Wage Workers and High-Wage Firms

We study a longitudinal sample of over one million French workers and over 500,000 employing firms. Real total annual compensation per worker is decomposed into components related to observable characteristics, worker heterogeneity, firm heterogeneity and residual variation. Except for the residual, all components may be correlated in an arbitrary fashion. At the level of the individual, we find that person-effects, especially those not related to observables like education, are a very important source of wage variation in France. Firm-effects, while important, are not as important as person-effects. At the level of firms, we find that enterprises that hire high-wage workers are more productive but not more profitable. They are also more capital and high-skilled employee intensive. Enterprises that pay higher wages, controlling for person-effects, are more productive and more profitable. They are also more capital intensive but are not more high-skilled labor intensive. We also find that person-effects explain 92% of inter-industry wage differentials

High Wage Workers and High Wage Firms

We study a longitudinal sample of over one million French workers and over 500,000 employing firms. Real total annual compensation per worker is decomposed into components related to observable characteristics, worker heterogeneity, firm heterogeneity and residual variation. Except for the residual, all components may be correlated in an arbitrary fashion. At the level of the individual, we find that person-effects, especially those not related to observables like education, are the most important source of wage variation in France. Firm-effects, while important, are not as important as person-effects. At the level of firms, we find that enterprises that hire high-wage workers are more productive but not more profitable. They are also more capital and high-skilled employee intensive. Enterprises that pay higher wages, controlling for person-effects, are more productive and more profitable. They are also more capital intensive but are not more high-skilled labor intensive. We also find that person-effects explain 92% of inter-industry wage differentials.

Dealing with discontinuity: how to sharpen up your innovation act

Report published by Advanced Institute of Management ResearchEvery now and then a disruptive event happens, such as the invention of the internet, that changes markets, industries, even societies. Successful well-managed companies thrive in mature markets by focusing on doing what they do, just a little bit better. Consequently, when a disruptive event, such as new technology or a regulatory change comes along, the successful company is often blindsided. It is just not very good at the ‘doing it different’ type of innovation. The very attributes that make it successful in stable conditions hinder its ability to detect or exploit the change. The consequences of failing to take advantage of such disruptive change are all too frequently severe. Companies lose out to new entrants. Eastman Kodak, for example, struggled to cope with a shift to digital photography. Xerox failed to capitalise on digital photocopying. Many companies missed out on the internet. Our research suggests that companies should adopt parallel routines for managing innovation related to discontinuous events, alongside their routines for managing innovation in stable conditions