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Real options and real value: the role of employee incentives to make specific knowledge investments

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  • Heli Wang
  • Sonya Seongyeon Lim

Abstract

Real options reasoning emphasizes the strategic value of making flexible investments in a turbulent environment. Employees' investments in specific human capital are often critical to the success of a real option project, but the very flexibility that allows a firm to change course in response to new information also affects employees' incentives to make such specific human capital investments. We develop a model of real option investment that explicitly incorporates the role of employee incentives. The model suggests that the effect of investing in a real option project on employee incentives may be positive, further increasing the value of the project, or negative, sometimes more than offsetting the benefit of flexibility and resulting in reduced project value. Therefore, firms and managers should take into consideration the role of employee incentives when applying real options logic to investment decision making. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Heli Wang & Sonya Seongyeon Lim, 2008. "Real options and real value: the role of employee incentives to make specific knowledge investments," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(7), pages 701-721, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:29:y:2008:i:7:p:701-721
    DOI: 10.1002/smj.681
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Alexandre Garel & Arthur Petit-Romec, 2021. "Engaging Employees for the Long Run: Long-Term Investors and Employee-Related CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(1), pages 35-63, November.
    2. Ahlers, Oliver & Hack, Andreas & Kellermanns, Franz W., 2014. "“Stepping into the buyers’ shoes”: Looking at the value of family firms through the eyes of private equity investors," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 384-396.
    3. Zhou, William Chongyang & Yan, Daying & Sun, Sunny Li, 2022. "Climbing the Ladder: Inward Sourcing as an Upgrading Capability in Global Value Chains," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(3).
    4. Podoynitsyna, Ksenia & Song, Michael & van der Bij, Hans & Weggeman, Mathieu, 2013. "Improving new technology venture performance under direct and indirect network externality conditions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 195-210.
    5. Anglin, Aaron H. & Short, Jeremy C. & Drover, Will & Stevenson, Regan M. & McKenny, Aaron F. & Allison, Thomas H., 2018. "The power of positivity? The influence of positive psychological capital language on crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 470-492.
    6. Caroline Flammer & Jiao Luo, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility as an employee governance tool: Evidence from a quasi-experiment," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 163-183, February.
    7. Tailan Chi & Jing Li & Lenos G Trigeorgis & Andrianos E Tsekrekos, 2019. "Real options theory in international business," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(4), pages 525-553, June.
    8. Kyungwon Kim & Jae Wook Song, 2018. "Managing Bubbles in the Korean Real Estate Market: A Real Options Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-25, August.
    9. Murad Antia & Christos Pantzalis & Jung Chul Park, 2021. "Does CEO myopia impede growth opportunities?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1503-1535, May.
    10. Kaouthar Lajili, 2015. "Embedding human capital into governance design: a conceptual framework," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(4), pages 741-762, November.

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