IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v56y2010i8p1398-1414.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Management Economics in a Large Retail Company

Author

Listed:
  • W. Stanley Siebert

    (Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom)

  • Nikolay Zubanov

    (University of Tilburg, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands)

Abstract

We use unique data from 245 stores of a UK retailer to study links among middle (store) manager skills, sales, and manager pay. We find that, of the six management practice areas surveyed, the most important is "commercial awareness," where abler managers achieve up to 13.9% higher sales per worker. We find that many stores have poor managers on this indicator. However, the company is careful to incentivize managers, operating a scheme giving shares (approximately 20%) in both positive and negative deviations of actual sales from expected. Abler managers do not receive higher pay, implying that their skills are company specific.

Suggested Citation

  • W. Stanley Siebert & Nikolay Zubanov, 2010. "Management Economics in a Large Retail Company," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(8), pages 1398-1414, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:56:y:2010:i:8:p:1398-1414
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1100.1188
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1100.1188
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.1100.1188?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sandra E. Black & Lisa M. Lynch, 2004. "What's driving the new economy?: the benefits of workplace innovation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(493), pages 97-116, February.
    2. Lazear, Edward P & Rosen, Sherwin, 1981. "Rank-Order Tournaments as Optimum Labor Contracts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(5), pages 841-864, October.
    3. Barro, Jason R & Barro, Robert J, 1990. "Pay, Performance, and Turnover of Bank CEOs," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(4), pages 448-481, October.
    4. Xavier Gabaix & Augustin Landier, 2008. "Why has CEO Pay Increased So Much?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(1), pages 49-100.
    5. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2007. "Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1351-1408.
    6. Canice Prendergast, 1999. "The Provision of Incentives in Firms," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 7-63, March.
    7. Craig Crossland & Donald C. Hambrick, 2007. "How national systems differ in their constraints on corporate executives: a study of CEO effects in three countries," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(8), pages 767-789, August.
    8. Conyon, Martin J & Murphy, Kevin J, 2000. "The Prince and the Pauper? CEO Pay in the United States and United Kingdom," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(467), pages 640-671, November.
    9. Richard Blundell & Stephen Bond & Frank Windmeijer, 2000. "Estimation in dynamic panel data models: improving on the performance of the standard GMM estimator," IFS Working Papers W00/12, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    10. Xianming Zhou, 2000. "CEO pay, firm size, and corporate performance: evidence from Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 33(1), pages 213-251, February.
    11. Yair Mundlak, 1961. "Empirical Production Function Free of Management Bias," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 43(1), pages 44-56.
    12. Richard M. Cyert & Sok-Hyon Kang & Praveen Kumar, 2002. "Corporate Governance, Takeovers, and Top-Management Compensation: Theory and Evidence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(4), pages 453-469, April.
    13. Holmstrom, Bengt & Milgrom, Paul, 1987. "Aggregation and Linearity in the Provision of Intertemporal Incentives," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(2), pages 303-328, March.
    14. Robert E. Lucas Jr., 1978. "On the Size Distribution of Business Firms," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 9(2), pages 508-523, Autumn.
    15. Casey Ichniowski & Kathryn Shaw, 2004. "Using "Insider Econometrics" to Study Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 217-223, May.
    16. Tim R. Holcomb & R. Michael Holmes Jr. & Brian L. Connelly, 2009. "Making the most of what you have: managerial ability as a source of resource value creation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 457-485, May.
    17. Rachel Griffith & Jonathan Haskel & Andy Neely, 2006. "Why is Productivity so Dispersed?," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 22(4), pages 513-525, Winter.
    18. Marvin B. Lieberman & Lawrence J. Lau & Mark D. Williams, 1990. "Firm-Level Productivity and Management Influence: A Comparison of U.S. and Japanese Automobile Producers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(10), pages 1193-1215, October.
    19. Judson, Ruth A. & Owen, Ann L., 1999. "Estimating dynamic panel data models: a guide for macroeconomists," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 9-15, October.
    20. Kevin J. Murphy, 1986. "Incentives, Learning, and Compensation: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation of Managerial Labor Contracts," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(1), pages 59-76, Spring.
    21. Marianne Bertrand & Antoinette Schoar, 2003. "Managing with Style: The Effect of Managers on Firm Policies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1169-1208.
    22. Mark Doms & Eric J. Bartelsman, 2000. "Understanding Productivity: Lessons from Longitudinal Microdata," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 569-594, September.
    23. Lucian Arye Bebchuk & Jesse M. Fried, 2003. "Executive Compensation as an Agency Problem," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 71-92, Summer.
    24. John Paul Macduffie, 1995. "Human Resource Bundles and Manufacturing Performance: Organizational Logic and Flexible Production Systems in the World Auto Industry," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 48(2), pages 197-221, January.
    25. Elizabeth E. Bailey & Constance E. Helfat, 2003. "External management succession, human capital, and firm performance: an integrative analysis," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(4), pages 347-369.
    26. Hayes, Rachel M. & Schaefer, Scott, 1999. "How much are differences in managerial ability worth?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 125-148, April.
    27. Ichniowski, Casey & Shaw, Kathryn & Prennushi, Giovanna, 1997. "The Effects of Human Resource Management Practices on Productivity: A Study of Steel Finishing Lines," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(3), pages 291-313, June.
    28. Nickell, Stephen J, 1981. "Biases in Dynamic Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1417-1426, November.
    29. Xianming Zhou, 2000. "CEO pay, firm size, and corporate performance: evidence from Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(1), pages 213-251, February.
    30. Bebchuk, Lucian A. & Fried, Jesse M., 2003. "Executive Compensation as an Agency Problem," Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics, Working Paper Series qt81q3136r, Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Peeters & Steven Salaga & Matthew Juravich, 2015. "Matching and Winning? The Impact of Upper and Middle Managers on Team Performance in Major League Baseball," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 15-115/VII, Tinbergen Institute, revised 03 Mar 2020.
    2. Andrew J. Oswald & Eugenio Proto & Daniel Sgroi, 2015. "Happiness and Productivity," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(4), pages 789-822.
    3. Ion IVAN & Cristian CIUREA & Mihai DOINEA & Arthur AVRAMIEA, 2012. "Collaborative Management of Risks and Complexity in Banking Systems," Informatica Economica, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 16(2), pages 128-141.
    4. Saravanan Kesavan & Bradley R. Staats & Wendell Gilland, 2014. "Volume Flexibility in Services: The Costs and Benefits of Flexible Labor Resources," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(8), pages 1884-1906, August.
    5. Noble, Stephanie M. & Lee, Kang Bok & Zaretzki, Russell & Autry, Chad, 2017. "Coupon clipping by impoverished consumers: Linking demographics, basket size, and coupon redemption rates," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 553-571.
    6. Olga Perdikaki & Saravanan Kesavan & Jayashankar M. Swaminathan, 2012. "Effect of Traffic on Sales and Conversion Rates of Retail Stores," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 14(1), pages 145-162, January.
    7. Tom Fangyun Tan & Serguei Netessine, 2019. "When You Work with a Superman, Will You Also Fly? An Empirical Study of the Impact of Coworkers on Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(8), pages 3495-3517, August.
    8. He, Haonan & Li, Shiqiang & Wang, Shanyong & Zhang, Chaojia & Ma, Fei, 2023. "Value of dual-credit policy: Evidence from green technology innovation efficiency," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 182-198.
    9. Alecos Papadopoulos, 2021. "Measuring the effect of management on production: a two-tier stochastic frontier approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(6), pages 3011-3041, June.
    10. Mo, Jianlei & Tu, Qiang & Wang, Jianing, 2023. "Carbon pricing and enterprise productivity-The role of price stabilization mechanism," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    11. Thomas Triebs & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2012. "Management Practice in Production," ifo Working Paper Series 129, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    12. Luv Sharma & Aravind Chandrasekaran & Elliot Bendoly, 2020. "Does the Office of Patient Experience Matter in Improving Delivery of Care?," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(4), pages 833-855, April.
    13. Hyun Seok (Huck) Lee & Saravanan Kesavan & Camelia Kuhnen, 2022. "When do group incentives for retail store managers work?," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(8), pages 3077-3095, August.
    14. Tom Fangyun Tan & Serguei Netessine, 2014. "When Does the Devil Make Work? An Empirical Study of the Impact of Workload on Worker Productivity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(6), pages 1574-1593, June.
    15. Kaori Narita & Benjamin Holmes & Ian McHale, 2022. "Managerial Contribution to Firm Success: Evidence from Professional Football Leagues," Working Papers 202224, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    16. Tom F. Tan & Bradley R. Staats, 2020. "Behavioral Drivers of Routing Decisions: Evidence from Restaurant Table Assignment," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(4), pages 1050-1070, April.
    17. Thomas L. P. R. Peeters & Steven Salaga & Matthew Juravich, 2020. "Matching and Winning? The Impact of Upper and Middle Managers on Firm Performance in Major League Baseball," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(6), pages 2735-2751, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Siebert, W. Stanley & Zubanov, Nick, 2008. "Management Economics in a Large Retail Organization," IZA Discussion Papers 3645, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Nick Zubanov & W.S. Siebert, 2009. "Management economics in a large UK retailer," CPB Discussion Paper 125, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    3. Oyer, Paul & Schaefer, Scott, 2011. "Personnel Economics: Hiring and Incentives," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 20, pages 1769-1823, Elsevier.
    4. Alex Edmans & Xavier Gabaix, 2016. "Executive Compensation: A Modern Primer," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(4), pages 1232-1287, December.
    5. Sun, Sophia Li & Habib, Ahsan, 2020. "Determinants and consequences of tournament incentives: A survey of the literature in accounting and finance," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    6. Stefania Albanesi & Claudia Olivetti & Maria Jose Prados, 2015. "Gender and Dynamic Agency: Theory and Evidence on the Compensation of Top Executives," Working Papers 2015-004, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    7. Bloom, Nicholas & Van Reenen, John, 2011. "Human Resource Management and Productivity," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 19, pages 1697-1767, Elsevier.
    8. Matousek, Roman & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2016. "CEO compensation and bank efficiency: An application of conditional nonparametric frontiers," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 251(1), pages 264-273.
    9. Rachel Merhebi & Kerry Pattenden & Peter L. Swan & Xianming Zhou, 2006. "Australian chief executive officer remuneration: pay and performance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 46(3), pages 481-497, September.
    10. Daniel Beck & Gunther Friedl & Peter Schäfer, 2020. "Executive compensation in Germany," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 90(5), pages 787-824, June.
    11. Ian Gregory-Smith & Peter W Wright, 2019. "Winners and losers of corporate tournaments," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 71(1), pages 250-268.
    12. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2373-2437 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Oriana Bandiera & Luigi Guiso & Andrea Prat & Raffaella Sadun, 2015. "Matching Firms, Managers, and Incentives," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(3), pages 623-681.
    14. Renneboog, L.D.R. & Trojanowski, G., 2002. "The Managerial Labor Market and the Governance Role of Shareholder Control Structures in the UK," Other publications TiSEM aee04553-20a7-475a-96e1-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    15. Leon Zolotoy & Don O’Sullivan & Geoffrey P. Martin, 2022. "Behavioural Agency and Firm Productivity: Revisiting the Incentive Alignment Qualities of Stock Options," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(7), pages 1756-1787, November.
    16. Nicholas Bloom & Benn Eifert & Aprajit Mahajan & David McKenzie & John Roberts, 2013. "Does Management Matter? Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(1), pages 1-51.
    17. Andreas Kuhn, 2010. "The Public Perception and Normative Valuation of Executive Compensation: An International Comparison," NRN working papers 2010-13, The Austrian Center for Labor Economics and the Analysis of the Welfare State, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    18. Dietl, Helmut M. & Duschl, Tobias & Lang, Markus, 2011. "Executive Pay Regulation: What Regulators, Shareholders, and Managers Can Learn from Major Sports Leagues," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 1-30, August.
    19. Matthew Lilling, 2006. "The Link Between CEO Compensation and Firm Performance: Does Simultaneity Matter?," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 34(1), pages 101-114, March.
    20. Edward P. Lazear & Paul Oyer, 2012. "Personnel Economics [The Handbook of Organizational Economics]," Introductory Chapters,, Princeton University Press.
    21. Dong, Feng & Doukas, John, 2021. "The effect of managers on M&As," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:56:y:2010:i:8:p:1398-1414. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.