Managerial transfers to reduce transaction costs among affiliated firms: Case study of Japanese railway holding companies

Eri Nakamura, Hiroki Sakai and Kenichi Shoji

Utilities Policy, 2018, vol. 53, issue C, 102-110

Abstract: We explore the impact of temporary transfer of managers on the transaction costs among unbundled business units and the important factors to consider while initiating transfers, through a case study of five Japanese railway corporations organized under a holding company structure. Our results suggest that there are very few conflicts and, thus, low transaction costs in the system, as the transferring managers engage in informal communications to align the related business units before the conflicts are actualised. However, there are cases in which other management characteristics such as human resource development programmes and organisational structures, can substitute for managerial transfers.

Keywords: Transaction costs; Conflicts; Misalignments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L32 L92 M12 M54 R40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:juipol:v:53:y:2018:i:c:p:102-110

DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2018.06.011

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