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Managerial optimism and investment choice

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  • Florian Englmaier

    (Department of Economics, University of Munich, Munich, Germany)

Abstract

This paper analyzes whether it might be desirable for a firm to hire an overoptimistic manager to commit to a certain R&D strategy. I consider a Cournot model with an ex-ante R&D stage where firms can invest in cost reduction before product market competition takes place. I show that firms want to hire overoptimistic managers and argue that a manager's type may serve as a substitute for strategic delegation via contracts. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Florian Englmaier, 2010. "Managerial optimism and investment choice," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 303-310.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:mgtdec:v:31:y:2010:i:4:p:303-310
    DOI: 10.1002/mde.1498
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    8. 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.
    9. James A. Brander & Barbara J. Spencer, 1983. "Strategic Commitment with R&D: The Symmetric Case," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(1), pages 225-235, Spring.
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    11. Matthias Kräkel, 2004. "R&D spillovers and strategic delegation in oligopolistic contests," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(3), pages 147-156.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kojun Hamada, 2021. "Cooperative managerial delegation revisited: Including the firm's cost as a managerial objective," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(2), pages 171-178, April.
    2. Król, Michał, 2012. "Product differentiation decisions under ambiguous consumer demand and pessimistic expectations," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 593-604.
    3. Fabian Herweg & Daniel Müller, 2016. "Overconfidence in the Markets for Lemons," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 118(2), pages 354-371, April.
    4. Meccheri Nicola, 2023. "On the Social Desirability of Centralized Wage Setting when Firms are Run by Biased Managers," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 23(3), pages 701-725, July.
    5. Otto, Clemens A., 2014. "CEO optimism and incentive compensation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(2), pages 366-404.
    6. Clemens Buchen & Alberto Palermo, 2020. "A biased firm in a market with complementary products. A note on the welfare effects," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 67(4), pages 448-453, September.
    7. Elizabeth Schroeder & Carol Horton Tremblay & Victor J. Tremblay, 2022. "CEO Bias and Product Substitutability in Oligopoly Games," Games, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-23, March.
    8. Ivana Vitanova, 2022. "CEO overconfidence and corporate tournaments," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(5), pages 1423-1438, July.
    9. Takeshi Murooka & Yuichi Yamamoto, 2021. "Misspecified Bayesian Learning by Strategic Players: First-Order Misspecification and Higher-Order Misspecification," OSIPP Discussion Paper 21E008, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University.
    10. Malmendier, Ulrike M. & Pezone, Vincenzo & Zheng, Hui, 2020. "Managerial Duties and Managerial Biases," CEPR Discussion Papers 14929, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Winifred Huang-Meier & Neophytos Lambertides & James M. Steeley, 2016. "Motives for corporate cash holdings: the CEO optimism effect," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 699-732, October.
    12. Bradler, Christiane, 2015. "How creative are you? An experimental study on self-selection in a competitive incentive scheme for creative performance," ZEW Discussion Papers 15-021, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Elizabeth Schroeder & Carol Horton Tremblay & Victor J. Tremblay, 2021. "Confidence bias and advertising in imperfectly competitive markets," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(4), pages 885-897, June.
    14. Jean‐Baptiste Tondji, 2022. "Overconfidence and welfare in a differentiated duopoly," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(3), pages 751-767, April.
    15. Clemens Buchen & Sven A. Hartmann & Alberto Palermo, 2021. "Our product is unique: A note on a delegation game with differentiated products," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(3), pages 1322-1329.
    16. Takeshi Murooka & Yuichi Yamamoto, 2021. "Multi-Player Bayesian Learning with Misspecified Models," OSIPP Discussion Paper 21E001, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University.
    17. Nicola Meccheri, 2021. "Biased managers in vertically related markets," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(3), pages 724-736, April.
    18. Nicola Meccheri, 2019. "Biased managers in a vertical structure," Working Paper series 19-12, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    19. repec:bla:annpce:v:89:y:2018:i:1:p:235-249 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Wang, Chunlan & Xin, Jianxuan & Sun, Fangfang & Shi, Yan & Du, Yuxuan, 2024. "The effects of manager sentiment in financial disclosure: Perspectives of operational efficiency and market reaction," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    21. Kopel, Michael & Putz, Eva Maria, 2021. "Why socially concerned firms use low-powered managerial incentives: A complementary explanation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 473-482.
    22. Wang, Jian & Wang, Xiaoting & Zhuang, Xintian & Yang, Jun, 2017. "Optimism bias, portfolio delegation, and economic welfare," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 111-113.

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