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Who Lives in the C-Suite? Organizational Structure and the Division of Labor in Top Management

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  • Guadalupe, Maria

    () (INSEAD)

  • Li, Hongyi

    () (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Wulf, Julie M.

    () (Harvard Business School)

Abstract

This paper shows that top management structures in large US firms radically changed since the mid-1980s. While the number of managers reporting directly to the CEO doubled, the growth was driven primarily by functional managers rather than general managers. Using panel data on senior management positions, we explore the relationship between changes in executive team composition, firm diversification, and IT investments – which arguably alter returns to exploiting synergies through corporate-wide coordination by functional managers in headquarters. We find that the number of functional managers closer to the product ("product" functions i.e., marketing, R&D) increase as firms focus their businesses, while the number of functional managers farther from the product ("administrative" functions i.e., finance, law, HR) increase with IT investments. Finally, we show that general manager pay decreases as functional managers join the executive team suggesting a shift in activities from general to functional managers – a phenomenon we term "functional centralization."

Suggested Citation

  • Guadalupe, Maria & Li, Hongyi & Wulf, Julie M., 2012. "Who Lives in the C-Suite? Organizational Structure and the Division of Labor in Top Management," IZA Discussion Papers 6635, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6635
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Frank Wiengarten & Chris K. Y. Lo & Jessie Y. K. Lam, 2017. "“How does Sustainability Leadership Affect Firm Performance? The Choices Associated with Appointing a Chief Officer of Corporate Social Responsibility”," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(3), pages 477-493, February.
    2. Kelman, Steven & Sanders, Ronald & Pandit, Gayatri & Taylor, Sarah, 2013. ""I Won't Back Down?" Complexity and Courage in Federal Decision-Making," Working Paper Series rwp13-044, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    3. Giorgio Barba Navaretti & Lionel Fontagné & Gianluca Orefice & Giovanni Pica & Anna Cecilia Rosso, 2019. "TBTs, Firm Organization and Labour Structure," Working Papers 2019-14, CEPII research center.
    4. MIYAJIMA Hideaki & OGAWA Ryo & USHIJIMA Tatsuo, 2017. "Are Smaller (Larger) Corporate Headquarters Better?," Discussion papers 17004, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    5. Giorgio Barba Navaretti & Lionel Fontagné & Gianluca Orefice & Giovanni Pica & Anna Rosso, 2019. "TBTs, Firm Organization and Labour Structure- The effect of Technical Barriers to Trade on Skills," Working Papers hal-02296142, HAL.
    6. Tahir Ahmad & Amy Van Looy, 2020. "Business Process Management and Digital Innovations: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 12(17), pages 1-1, August.
    7. Yanhui Wu, 2015. "Organizational Structure and Product Choice in Knowledge-Intensive Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(8), pages 1830-1848, August.
    8. Stéphane J. G. Girod & Richard Whittington, 2017. "Reconfiguration, restructuring and firm performance: Dynamic capabilities and environmental dynamism," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 1121-1133, May.
    9. Valerie Smeets, 2017. "Can firms oversee more workers with fewer managers?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 333-333, February.
    10. Sven Kunisch & Markus Menz & David Collis, 2020. "Corporate headquarters in the twenty-first century: an organization design perspective," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 9(1), pages 1-32, December.
    11. Betzer, André & Ibel, Maximilian & Lee, Hye Seung & Limbach, Peter & Salas, Jesus M., 2016. "Are generalists beneficial to corporate shareholders? Evidence from sudden deaths," CFR Working Papers 16-12, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    12. Salman Khan, 2019. "Chief Reputation Officer (CRO): Envisioning the Role," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(3), pages 75-88, August.
    13. Alejandro Drexler & Antoinette Schoar, 2014. "Do Relationships Matter? Evidence from Loan Officer Turnover," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(11), pages 2722-2736, November.
    14. André Betzer & Maximilian Ibel & Hye Seung (Grace) Lee & Peter Limbach & Jesus M. Salas, 2017. "Are Generalists Beneficial to Corporate Shareholders? Evidence from Sudden Deaths," Schumpeter Discussion Papers SDP16009, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    15. M. Díaz-Fernández & M. González-Rodríguez & Biagio Simonetti, 2015. "Top Management Teams’ demographic characteristics and their influence on strategic change," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 1305-1322, May.
    16. Ferramosca, Silvia & Allegrini, Marco, 2018. "The complex role of family involvement in earnings management," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 128-141.
    17. Dessein, Wouter & Galeotti, Andrea & Santos, Tano, 2013. "Rational Inattention and Organizational Focus," CEPR Discussion Papers 9395, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Dessein, Wouter & Lo, Desmond (Ho-Fu) & Minami, Chieko, 2019. "Coordination and Organization Design: Theory and Micro-evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 13938, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Nicolai J. Foss, 2019. "The corporate headquarters in organization design theory: an organizational economics perspective," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, December.
    20. Oriana Bandiera & Andrea Prat & Raffaella Sadun & Julie Wulf, 2012. "Span of Control and Span of Activity," CEP Discussion Papers dp1139, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    21. Kelman, Steven & Sanders, Ronald & Pandit, Gayatri & Taylor, Sarah, 2014. "Tell It Like It Is: Groupthink, Decisiveness, and Decision-Making among U.S. Federal Subcabinet Executives," Working Paper Series rwp14-039, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    22. Pravin Nath & Neeraj Bharadwaj, 2020. "Chief marketing officer presence and firm performance: assessing conditions under which the presence of other C-level functional executives matters," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 670-694, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    communication; organizational design; functions; centralization; M-form; hierarchy; top management team; information technology; activities; diversification;

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis

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