IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bejtec/v24y2024i1p159-193n13.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Management Centrality in Sequential Bargaining: Implications for Strategic Delegation, Welfare, and Stakeholder Conflict

Author

Listed:
  • Buccella Domenico

    (Department of Economics, Kozminski University, Jagiellońska Street, 57/59 – 03301, Warsaw, Poland)

  • Meccheri Nicola

    (Department of Economics and Management, University of Pisa, Via C. Ridolfi, 10, I – 56124, Pisa, Italy)

Abstract

This paper investigates the issue of strategic delegation by considering the role of management centrality in contracting with different stakeholders. In a sequential negotiation unionized duopoly model, the results obtained by profit-maximizing entrepreneurial firms (where strategic choices are taken by firm owners and wage bargaining involves owners and unions) are compared against those of managerial firms (where strategic choices are delegated to managers who are also involved in wage bargaining vis-à-vis unions). Differences in the relative bargaining power among stakeholders (owners, managers and unions) play a key role in determining optimal delegation contracts, as well as the endogenous choice by firm owners to delegate strategic decisions to the management. Moreover, the distribution of stakeholders’ relative bargaining power affects firms’ profitability and overall welfare. In particular, to minimize potential conflict of interests between firm owners and the overall society, regulation directed to soften the managers’ bargaining strength vis-à-vis shareholders must be designed and implemented.

Suggested Citation

  • Buccella Domenico & Meccheri Nicola, 2024. "Management Centrality in Sequential Bargaining: Implications for Strategic Delegation, Welfare, and Stakeholder Conflict," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 24(1), pages 159-193, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejtec:v:24:y:2024:i:1:p:159-193:n:13
    DOI: 10.1515/bejte-2022-0076
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/bejte-2022-0076
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/bejte-2022-0076?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luis C. Corchón & Marco A. Marini (ed.), 2018. "Handbook of Game Theory and Industrial Organization, Volume II," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 17978.
    2. Nickell, Stephen & Layard, Richard, 1999. "Labor market institutions and economic performance," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 46, pages 3029-3084, Elsevier.
    3. Naylor, Robin, 1999. "Union Wage Strategies and International Trade," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(452), pages 102-125, January.
    4. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    5. Lopez, Monica Correa & Naylor, Robin A., 2004. "The Cournot-Bertrand profit differential: A reversal result in a differentiated duopoly with wage bargaining," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 681-696, June.
    6. Luca Lambertini, 2000. "Strategic Delegation and the Shape of Market Competition," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 47(5), pages 550-570, November.
    7. Yasuhiro Arai & Noriaki Matsushima, 2023. "The impacts of suppliers and mutual outsourcing on organizational forms," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(1), pages 114-132, February.
    8. Davidson, Carl, 1988. "Multiunit Bargaining in Oligopolistic Industries," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(3), pages 397-422, July.
    9. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:6:y:2008:i:38:p:1-8 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Arjen van Witteloostuijn & Thijs Jansen & Arie van Lier, 2007. "Bargaining over managerial contracts in delegation games: managerial power, contract disclosure and cartel behavior," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(8), pages 897-904.
    11. Luciano Fanti & Nicola Meccheri, 2013. "Managerial Delegation under Alternative Unionization Structures," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 27(1), pages 38-57, March.
    12. Szymanski, Stefan, 1994. "Strategic delegation with endogenous costs : A duopoly with wage bargaining," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 105-116, March.
    13. Henrick Horn & Asher Wolinsky, 1988. "Bilateral Monopolies and Incentives for Merger," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(3), pages 408-419, Autumn.
    14. Arjen van Witteloostuijn, 1998. "Bridging Behavioral and Economic Theories of Decline: Organizational Inertia, Strategic Competition, and Chronic Failure," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(4), pages 501-519, April.
    15. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:12:y:2008:i:6:p:1-8 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Leonard F. S. Wang & Wei Zhao & Ya -Chin Wang, 2008. "Strategic Trade Policy in Bargaining over Managerial Delegation Competition," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 6(38), pages 1-8.
    17. Luciano Fanti & Marcella Scrimitore, 2017. "Hiring a manager or not? When asymmetric equilibria arise under outsourcing to a rival," Discussion Papers 2017/220, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    18. Nicola Meccheri & Luciano Fanti, 2018. "Should managerial delegation contracts be made before or after union wage setting? A game†theoretic analysis," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(1), pages 3-14, January.
    19. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3029-3084 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Bughin, J., 1995. "Unions and strategic managerial incentives," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 95-100, January.
    21. Ishita Chatterjee & Bibhas Saha, 2017. "Bilateral Delegation in Duopoly Wage and Employment Bargaining," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(4), pages 607-621, June.
    22. Vickers, John, 1985. "Delegation and the Theory of the Firm," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 95(380a), pages 138-147, Supplemen.
    23. Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, 1998. "Power in a Theory of the Firm," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 113(2), pages 387-432.
    24. Luciano Fanti & Nicola Meccheri, 2015. "On the Cournot–Bertrand Profit Differential and the Structure of Unionisation in a Managerial Duopoly," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 266-287, December.
    25. Fershtman, Chaim & Judd, Kenneth L, 1987. "Equilibrium Incentives in Oligopoly," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 927-940, December.
    26. Pei-Cheng Liao, 2014. "Strategic Delegation of Multiple Tasks," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1-2), pages 77-96, June.
    27. Yasuhiko Nakamura, 2008. "Bargaining over Managerial Contracts in Delegation Games: The Differentiated Goods Case," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 12(6), pages 1-8.
    28. John H. Pencavel, 1984. "The Tradeoff Between Wages and Employment in Trade Union Objectives," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 99(2), pages 215-231.
    29. Nakamura, Yasuhiko, 2011. "Bargaining over managerial delegation contracts and merger incentives in an international oligopoly," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 47-61, March.
    30. Steven D. Sklivas, 1987. "The Strategic Choice of Managerial Incentives," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 18(3), pages 452-458, Autumn.
    31. Thijs Jansen & Arie van Lier & Arjen van Witteloostuijn, 2009. "On the impact of managerial bonus systems on firm profit and market competition: the cases of pure profit, sales, market share and relative profits compared," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(3), pages 141-153.
    32. Toshihiro Matsumura & Noriaki Matsushima, 2012. "Locating Outside A Linear City Can Benefit Consumers," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 420-432, August.
    33. Dowrick, Steve & Spencer, Barbara J, 1994. "Union Attitudes to Labor-Saving Innovation: When Are Unions Luddites?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(2), pages 316-344, April.
    34. Choi Kangsik & Lee Ki-Dong & Lim Seonyoung, 2020. "Managerial Delegation of Competing Vertical Chains with Vertical Externality," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 20(2), pages 1-18, June.
    35. Robert J. Flanagan, 1999. "Macroeconomic Performance and Collective Bargaining: An International Perspective," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(3), pages 1150-1175, September.
    36. Nicola Meccheri & Luciano Fanti, 2014. "Managerial Delegation Contracts under Centralized Unionization," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(1), pages 51-66, January.
    37. Yasuhiko Nakamura, 2011. "Bargaining Over Managerial Delegation Contracts And Merger Incentives With Asymmetric Costs," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 79(4), pages 718-739, July.
    38. Govert Vroom, 2006. "Organizational Design and the Intensity of Rivalry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(11), pages 1689-1702, November.
    39. White, Mark D., 2001. "Managerial incentives and the decision to hire managers in markets with public and private firms," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 877-896, November.
    40. Dowrick, Steve, 1989. "Union-Oligopoly Bargaining," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(398), pages 1123-1142, December.
    41. Yasuhiko Nakamura, 2008. "Bargaining over Managerial Contracts in Delegation Games: The Quadratic Cost Case," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 12(16), pages 1-7.
    42. Pei‐Cheng Liao, 2010. "Strategic Delegation Under Unionised Duopoly: Who Will Bargain With Unions?," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 276-288, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Luciano Fanti & Nicola Meccheri, 2016. "Endogenous timing of managerial contracts in unionised oligopolies," Working Paper series 16-19, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    2. Luciano Fanti & Nicola Meccheri, 2013. "Managerial Delegation under Alternative Unionization Structures," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 27(1), pages 38-57, March.
    3. Nicola Meccheri & Luciano Fanti, 2012. "Managerial Delegation Schemes in a Duopoly with Endogenous Production Costs: A Comparison of Sales and Relative Profit Delegation under Centralised Unionisation," Working Paper series 44_12, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    4. Nicola Meccheri & Luciano Fanti, 2016. "Should delegation contracts be made before or after union wage setting? Endogenous moves in a managerial-unionized duopoly," Working Paper series 16-18, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    5. Luciano Fanti & Nicola Meccheri, 2015. "On the Cournot–Bertrand Profit Differential and the Structure of Unionisation in a Managerial Duopoly," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 266-287, December.
    6. Luciano Fanti, 2017. "An Observable Delay Game with Unionised Managerial Firms," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(1), pages 50-69, February.
    7. Domenico Buccella & Luciano Fanti & Luca Gori, 2023. "Managerial firms’ profitability, unions, and environmental taxes," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(2), pages 575-598, June.
    8. Yasuhiro Arai & Noriaki Matsushima, 2023. "The impacts of suppliers and mutual outsourcing on organizational forms," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(1), pages 114-132, February.
    9. Luciano Fanti & Nicola Meccheri, 2017. "Unionization Regimes, Capacity Choice by Firms and Welfare Outcomes," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 85(6), pages 661-681, December.
    10. Luciano Fanti & Nicola Meccheri, 2014. "Capacity choice and welfare under alternative unionisation structures," Discussion Papers 2014/176, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    11. Stamatopoulos, Giorgos, 2018. "Bargaining over managerial contracts: a note," MPRA Paper 86143, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Nicola Meccheri, 2021. "Biased managers in vertically related markets," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(3), pages 724-736, April.
    13. Fanti, Luciano & Buccella, Domenico, 2018. "Firms Controlled by Owners and Managerial Firms: The 'Strategic' Trade Policy Game Revisited," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 71(1), pages 51-72.
    14. Yasuhiko Nakamura, 2017. "Price Versus Quantity in a Duopoly with a Unilateral Effect and with Bargaining over Managerial Contracts," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 83-119, March.
    15. Fanti, Luciano, 2013. "Cross-ownership and unions in a Cournot duopoly: When profits reduce with horizontal product differentiation," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 34-40.
    16. Fanti, Luciano & Gori, Luca, 2011. "Stability analysis in a Cournot duopoly with managerial sales delegation and bounded rationality," MPRA Paper 33828, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. 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.
    18. Luciano Fanti & Domenico Buccella, 2017. "Manager‐Union Bargaining Agenda Under Monopoly and with Network Effects," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(6), pages 717-730, September.
    19. Nakamura, Yasuhiko, 2011. "Bargaining over managerial delegation contracts and merger incentives in an international oligopoly," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 47-61, March.
    20. John S. Heywood & Zerong Wang & Guangliang Ye, 2022. "Strategic delegation in an international mixed oligopoly," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(6), pages 1888-1898, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    management centrality; strategic delegation; unions; bargaining power; social welfare; stakeholder conflict;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bpj:bejtec:v:24:y:2024:i:1:p:159-193:n:13. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    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.