The Flattening Firm and Product Market Competition

Maria Guadalupe and Julie Wulf

No 7253, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: This paper establishes a causal effect of product market competition on various characteristics of organizational design. Using a unique panel dataset on firm hierarchies of large U.S. firms (1986-1999) and a quasi-natural experiment (trade liberalization), we find that increasing competition leads firms to flatten their hierarchies, i.e., (i) firms reduce the number of positions between the CEO and division managers and (ii) increase the number of positions reporting directly to the CEO (span of control). Firms also alter the structure and level of division manager compensation, increasing total pay as well as local (division-level) and global (firm-level) incentives. Our estimates show that for the average firm, span of control increased by 6% and depth decreased by 11% as a result of the quasi-natural experiment.

Keywords: Competition; Complementarities; Decentralization; Hierarchy; Incentives; Organizational change; Organizational structure; Performance-related pay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L2 M2 M52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec and nep-com
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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