Management & Organization Research Works

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1591

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Author: search.filters.author.Braguinsky, Serguey

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    Resource allocation and growth strategies in a multi-plant firm: Kanegafuchi Spinners in the early 20th century
    (Wiley, 2023-11-30) Yamaguchi, Shotaro; Braguinsky, Serguey; Okazaki, Tetsuji; Yuki, Takenobu
    Using detailed plant- and individual-level data from a major Japanese cotton spinning company in the early 20th century, we examine the within-firm allocation of skilled human capital in conjunction with investment in physical capital, accompanying the firm's evolving strategic priorities. We show that the firm leveraged unit-level two-way complementarity between managerial talent and strategically important plants when the task was achieving large-scale output and positioning for a competitive cost advantage. The task of conducting product differentiation, however, ushered in “three-way complementarity,” where educated engineering human capital and capable managers needed to be bundled with specialized physical capital. A deeper dive into the “nano-economics” of resource allocation reveals that educated engineers experiencing product differentiation in pioneering plants were reallocated to other plants also pursuing product differentiation.
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    Declining science-based startups: Strategic human capital and the value of working in startups versus established firms
    (Wiley, 2023-08-23) Ding, Yuheng; Astebro, Thomas; Braguinsky, Serguey
    We document that since 1997, the rate of startup formation has precipitously declined for firms operated by US PhD recipients in science and engineering. We explore how increasing knowledge complexity can be associated with fewer science-based startups. The decline in startup formation is accompanied by an earnings decline, increasing work complexity in R&D, and more administrative work for science-based founders. Founding a startup appears to have become increasingly harder over the past 20 years, while established firms are becoming more attractive workplaces for PhDs.