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Financial Slack, Strategy, and Competition in Movie Distribution

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  • Gabriel Natividad

    (Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, New York, New York 10012)

Abstract

Organizations that enjoy some slack are believed to make good use of it in their strategic decisions. Using panel data on firms in the U.S. film distribution industry between 1985 and 2007, this article examines how financial slack affects the volume of new product introductions, the competitive strategies for those releases, and their economic performance. Unexpectedly successful “sleeper” films are exploited as a source of exogenous financial slack in the econometric analysis. The results suggest that unexpected financial slack leads to more product introductions, less marketing support for the new products, and no improvement in performance. These findings are consistent with an attribution process in which managers attempt to replicate extraordinary success even if it is largely random, providing real-world evidence of a mechanism recently developed in theory and laboratory research.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriel Natividad, 2013. "Financial Slack, Strategy, and Competition in Movie Distribution," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 846-864, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:24:y:2013:i:3:p:846-864
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1120.0765
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    3. Qiao Wei & Jin-hui Luo & Xueli Huang, 2020. "Influence of Social Identity on Family Firms’ FDI Decisions: The Moderating Role of Internal Capital Markets," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 60(5), pages 651-693, October.
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    5. Gabriel Natividad & Olav Sorenson, 2015. "Competitive Threats, Constraint, and Contagion in the Multiunit Firm," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 1721-1733, December.
    6. Trinh Chieu & Tam Nguyen, 2018. "Slack resources and innovation in Vietnamese SMEs: A behavioural, stewardship, and institutional perspective," WIDER Working Paper Series 78, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Kamer-Ainur Aivaz & Alexandru Capatana, 2021. "An analysis of the Return on Assets of HoReCa Companies in Constanta County in the Context of the Recovery Pursuits after the Shock Produced by the COVID-19 Pandemic," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 25(1), pages 289-303, November.
    8. Yan Zhang & Ziyuan Sun & Mengxin Sun, 2022. "Unabsorbed Slack Resources and Enterprise Innovation: The Moderating Effect of Environmental Uncertainty and Managerial Ability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-21, March.
    9. Luís Cabral & Gabriel Natividad, 2016. "Box-Office Demand: The Importance of Being #1," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(2), pages 277-294, June.
    10. Yinbo Feng & Ming Hu, 2017. "Blockbuster or Niche? Competitive Strategy under Network Effects," Working Papers 17-13, NET Institute.
    11. Ine Paeleman & Tom Vanacker, 2015. "Less is More, or Not? On the Interplay between Bundles of Slack Resources, Firm Performance and Firm Survival," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(6), pages 819-848, September.
    12. Sulu Zhu & Pengqun Gao & Zhen Tang & Ming Tian, 2022. "The Research Venation Analysis and Future Prospects of Organizational Slack," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-23, October.
    13. Saehwa Hong & Hyung-Deok Shin, 2021. "Organizational slack and innovativeness: the moderating role of institutional transition in the Asian financial crisis," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(3), pages 370-389, July.
    14. Jordi McKenzie, 2023. "The economics of movies (revisited): A survey of recent literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 480-525, April.
    15. Tom Vanacker & Veroniek Collewaert & Shaker A. Zahra, 2017. "Slack resources, firm performance, and the institutional context: Evidence from privately held European firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(6), pages 1305-1326, June.
    16. Tam Thanh Nguyen & Trinh Duc Chieu, 2018. "Slack resources and innovation in Vietnamese SMEs: A behavioural, stewardship, and institutional perspective," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-78, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Tabesh, Pooya & Vera, Dusya & Keller, Robert T., 2019. "Unabsorbed slack resource deployment and exploratory and exploitative innovation: How much does CEO expertise matter?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 65-80.

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