Steer, Peter S. (1978) Organizational form and firm performance : an analysis of the structure of large U.K. companies. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The thesis attempts to analyse both theoretically and empirically the relationship between firm performance and organizational structure. The chosen measure of performance is profit. To this end Chapter Two reviews the work of Williamson (103, 104, 109) and others on the classification of the structure of large firms. Hypotheses concerning superiority are considered. However, it may be that the structures considered in Chapter Two, are only appropriate to stable environments. Hence Chapter Three develops a simple model of optimal decentralization under differing environmental conditions and considers existing organizational structures that may be most appropriate to the highly unstable environment of research and development.

Chapter Four reports empirical analysis involving the use of organizational structure as an independent (dummy) variable. The sample consists of 82 companies in five industries where the environment is considered stable. Hence the classification scheme of Williamson and Bhargava (109) seems to be appropriate. Equations are presented using both price-cost margins and a rate of return on capital as the measure of profitability. The organizational dummy is highly significant in all cases, seemingly indicating that organizational structure matters in determining performance. However little evidence is found of specification bias in previous studies which excluded the organizational dummy. Possible important omissions from the equations are reviewed. A comparison is made of the variations in the results between those equations using price-cost margins as the dependent variable and those using a rate of return. No conclusions are drawn about superiority.

In order to exclude non-divisionalized enterprise which cause problems in Chapter Four, Chapter Five considers a sample of 36 conglomerates. However, although positive, the organizational dummy failed in general to reach statistical significance. Possible explanations are considered which, if correct, may require public policy to be essentially ad hoc in nature.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Big business -- Great Britain, Organizational effectiveness, Performance, Profit
Official Date:	November 1978
Dates:	Date Event November 1978 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Economics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Cable, John
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	193 leaves : illustrations
Language:	eng

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