Distributional Conflict in Organisations
Abstract
Hierarchy can function as an instrument to channel influence activities or power struggles in organizations. Contrary to what has frequently been argued, we show that multi-divisional organizations may involve lower influence costs than single-tier organizations, even though they offer more scope for organizational conflict and have more executives that can be influenced. These benefits derive from two effects. First, part of the conflict in multi-divisional organizations takes place on the division level, where a small number of agents fight over only a fraction of the overall prize. Second, by grouping agents into common divisions, multi-divisional organizations create free-rider problems in rent seeking. We apply our framework to divestitures and the transition from the U- to the M-form by US corporations in the 1920s.Download Info
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Bibliographic Info
Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 3315.Length:
Date of creation: Apr 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3315
Contact details of provider:
Postal: Centre for Economic Policy Research, 77 Bastwick Street, London EC1V 3PZ
Phone: 44 - 20 - 7183 8801
Fax: 44 - 20 - 7183 8820
Order Information:
Email:
Related research
Keywords: conflict; hierarchy; influence activities; U-form versus M-form;Other versions of this item:
- Inderst, Roman & Muller, Holger M. & Warneryd, Karl, 2007. "Distributional conflict in organizations," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 385-402, February.
- C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
- D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances
- G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
- G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2003-02-18 (All new papers)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Milton Harris & Artur Raviv, 1999.
"Organization Design,"
CRSP working papers
499, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
- Milton Harris & Artur Raviv, 2002. "Organization Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(7), pages 852-865, July.
- Tullock, Gordon, 1975. "On the Efficient Organization of Trials," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 745-62.
- Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, 1999.
"The Tyranny of Inequality,"
CRSP working papers
423, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
- Rajan, Raghuram G. & Zingales, Luigi, 2000. "The tyranny of inequality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 521-558, June.
- Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, 1995. "The Tyranny of Inequality," NBER Working Papers 5396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Che, Yeon-Koo & Gale, Ian L, 1998.
"Caps on Political Lobbying,"
American Economic Review,
American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 643-51, June.
- Yeon-Koo Che & Ian Gale, 1998. "Caps on Political Lobbying," Microeconomics 9809003, EconWPA.
- Paul Milgrom and John Roberts., 1987.
"Bargaining and Influence Costs and the Organization of Economic Activity,"
Economics Working Papers
8731, University of California at Berkeley.
- Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1987. "Bargaining and Influence Costs and the Organization of Economic Activity," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt32s7d4jv, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
- Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1989. "Management entrenchment : The case of manager-specific investments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 123-139, November.
- Paul R. Milgrom., 1987.
"Employment Contracts, Influence Activities and Efficient Organization Design,"
Economics Working Papers
8741, University of California at Berkeley.
- Milgrom, Paul R, 1988. "Employment Contracts, Influence Activities, and Efficient Organization Design," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(1), pages 42-60, February.
- Milgrom, Paul R., 1987. "employment contracts, influence activities and efficient organization design," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt6pf6c5j6, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
- Alfred D. Chandler, 1969. "Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial Enterprise," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262530090.
- Skaperdas, Stergios, 1992.
"Cooperation, Conflict, and Power in the Absence of Property Rights,"
American Economic Review,
American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 720-39, September.
- Skaperdas, S., 1991. "Cooperation, Conflict And Power In The Absence Of Property Rights," Papers 90-91-06a, California Irvine - School of Social Sciences.
- Oliver Hart & John Moore, 2005.
"On the Design of Hierarchies: Coordination versus Specialization,"
Journal of Political Economy,
University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(4), pages 675-702, August.
- Oliver Hart & John Moore, 1999. "On the Design of Hierarchies: Coordination Versus Specialization," NBER Working Papers 7388, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Hart, Oliver D. & Moore, John, 2005. "On the Design of Hierarchies: Coordination Versus Specialization," Scholarly Articles 3448676, Harvard University Department of Economics.
- Oliver Hart & John Moore, 2004. "On the Design of Hierarchies: Coordination versus Specialization," ESE Discussion Papers 117, Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh.
- Oliver Hart & John Moore, 1999. "On the Design of Hierarchies: Coordination Versus Specialization," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1880, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
- Oliver Hart & John Moore, 1999. "On the Design of Hierarchies: Coordination Versus Specialization," STICERD - Theoretical Economics Paper Series 375, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
- Raghuram Rajan & Henri Servaes & Luigi Zingales, .
"The Cost of Diversity: The Diversification Discount and Inefficient Investment,"
CRSP working papers
357, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
- Raghuram Rajan & Henri Servaes & Luigi Zingales, 2000. "The Cost of Diversity: The Diversification Discount and Inefficient Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 35-80, 02.
- Raghuram Rajan & Henry Servaes & Luigi Zingales, . "The Cost of Diversity: The Diversification Discount and Inefficient Investment," CRSP working papers 463, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
- Raghuram Rajan & Henri Servaes & Luigi Zingales, 1998. "The Cost of Diversity: The Diversification Discount and Inefficient Investment," NBER Working Papers 6368, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Rajan, Raghuram G & Servaes, Henri & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "The Cost of Diversity: The Diversification Discount and Inefficient Investment," CEPR Discussion Papers 1801, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Joseph E Harrington Jr, 1999.
"The Equilibrium Level of Rigidity in a Hierarchy,"
Economics Working Paper Archive
398, The Johns Hopkins University,Department of Economics.
- Harrington, Joseph Jr., 1999. "The Equilibrium Level of Rigidity in a Hierarchy," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 189-202, August.
- David S. Scharfstein, 1998. "The Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets II: Evidence from Diversified Conglomerates," NBER Working Papers 6352, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Meyer, Margaret A & Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, Donald John, 1992.
"Organizational Prospects, Influence Costs, and Ownership Changes,"
CEPR Discussion Papers
665, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Meyer, Margaret & Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1992. "Organizational Prospects, Influence Costs, and Ownership Changes," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(1), pages 9-35, Spring.
- Warneryd, Karl, 1998.
"Distributional conflict and jurisdictional organization,"
Journal of Public Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 435-450, September.
- Wärneryd, Karl, 1997. "Distributional Conflict and Jurisdictional Organization," Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 173, Stockholm School of Economics.
- Sherwin Rosen, 1982. "Authority, Control, and the Distribution of Earnings," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 311-323, Autumn.
- Hyun-Han Shin & René M. Stulz, 1998. "Are Internal Capital Markets Efficient?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(2), pages 531-552, May.
- Inderst, Roman & Müller, Holger M. & Wärneryd, Karl, 2000.
"Influence Costs and Hierarchy,"
Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications
00-30, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim & Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim.
- Roman Inderst & Holger Müller & Karl Wärneryd, 2005. "Influence costs and hierarchy," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 177-197, 07.
- Inderst, Roman & Müller, Holger M. & Wärneryd, Karl, 2000. "Influence Costs and Hierarchy," Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 392, Stockholm School of Economics.
- Müller, Holger M. & Wärneryd, Karl, 1999.
"Inside vs Outside Ownership: A Political Theory of the Firm,"
Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance
344, Stockholm School of Economics.
- Müller, Holger M. & Wärneryd, Karl, 1999. "Inside vs Outside Ownership - A Political Theory of the Firm," Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications 99-82, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim & Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim.
- Karl Warneryd, 2000. "Inside vs. Outside Ownership: A Political Theory of the Firm," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 0985, Econometric Society.
- Skaperdas, Stergios, 1996.
"Contest Success Functions,"
Economic Theory,
Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 283-90, February.
- Stergios Skaperdas, 1996. "Contest success functions (*)," Economic Theory, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 283-290.
- David S. Scharfstein & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000.
"The Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets: Divisional Rent-Seeking and Inefficient Investment,"
Journal of Finance,
American Finance Association, vol. 55(6), pages 2537-2564, December.
- David S. Scharfstein & Jeremy C. Stein, 1997. "The Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets: Divisional Rent-Seeking and Inefficient Investment," NBER Working Papers 5969, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Richard L. Fullerton & R. Preston McAfee, 1999. "Auctioning Entry into Tournaments," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(3), pages 573-605, June.
- Warneryd, Karl, 2001. "Replicating contests," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 323-327, June.
- Luis Garicano, 2000. "Hierarchies and the Organization of Knowledge in Production," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(5), pages 874-904, October.
- Skaperdas, Stergios, 1998. " On the Formation of Alliances in Conflict and Contests," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 96(1-2), pages 25-42, July.
- Harrington, Joseph E, Jr, 1998. "The Social Selection of Flexible and Rigid Agents," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(1), pages 63-82, March.
- Radner, Roy, 1993. "The Organization of Decentralized Information Processing," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(5), pages 1109-46, September.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Matthias Kräkel, 2006.
"On the “Adverse Selection” of Organizations,"
Bonn Econ Discussion Papers
bgse15_2006, University of Bonn, Germany.
- Kräkel, Matthias, 2006. "On the “Adverse Selection” of Organizations," IZA Discussion Papers 2396, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Kräkel, Matthias, 2006. "On the "Adverse Selection" of Organizations," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 168, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
- Oliver Gürtler, 2010.
"Haggling for Rents, Relational Contracts, and the Theory of the Firm,"
Schmalenbach Business Review (sbr),
LMU Munich School of Management, vol. 62(4), pages 359-377, October.
- Gürtler, Oliver, 2006. "Haggling for Rents, Relational Contracts, and the Theory of the Firm," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 169, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
- Beckmann, Michael & Kräkel, Matthias, 2012.
"Internal rent seeking, works councils, and optimal establishment size,"
European Economic Review,
Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 711-726.
- Michael Beckmann & Matthias Kräkel, 2011. "Internal Rent Seeking, Works Councils, and Optimal Establishment Size," Working papers 2011/14, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
- Felix Höffler & Sebastian Kranz, 2007. "Legal Unbundling can be a Golden Mean between Vertical Integration and Separation," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers bgse15_2007, University of Bonn, Germany.
- Kräkel, Matthias, 2006.
"Firm Size, Economic Situation and Influence Activities,"
IZA Discussion Papers
2391, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Kräkel, Matthias, 2006. "Firm Size, Economic Situation and Influence Activities," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 167, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
- Matthias Kräkel, 2006. "Firm Size, Economic Situation and Influence Activities," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers bgse16_2006, University of Bonn, Germany.
- Renucci, Antoine, 2008. "Access to financing, rents, and organization of the firm," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 337-346, September.
- Felix Höffler & Sebastian Kranz, 2011.
"Imperfect legal unbundling of monopolistic bottlenecks,"
Journal of Regulatory Economics,
Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 273-292, June.
- Felix Höffler & Sebastian Kranz, 2007. "Imperfect Legal Unbundling of Monopolistic Bottlenecks," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers bgse16_2007, University of Bonn, Germany.
- Johannes Münster & Klaas Staal, 2012. "How organizational structure can reduce rent-seeking," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 150(3), pages 579-594, March.
- Aner Sela, 2002. "Contest Architecture (jointly with Benny Moldovanu)," Theory workshop papers 357966000000000088, UCLA Department of Economics.
- Antoine Renucci, 2008. "Access to financing, rents, and organization of the firm," Post-Print halshs-00365983, HAL.
- Sina Risse, 2011. "Two-stage group rent-seeking with negatively interdependent preferences," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 259-276, June.
- Johannes Münster, 2009. "Group contest success functions," Economic Theory, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 345-357, November.
Lists
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.Statistics
Access and download statisticsCorrections
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3315For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ().
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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

