Narasimhan Srinivasan

An Empirical Test of a Model of External Search for Automobiles

A structural equations model of the determinants of external search for automobiles is developed and tested on survey data from recent automobile purchasers. By considering how perceived risk and perceived benefits affect search, by specifying the role of experience and knowledge in the search process more precisely than in other field studies of search, and by modeling the interrelationship between the various determinants of search, the authors attempt to provide new insights into the determinants of search behavior for automobiles and other consumer durables. Copyright 1991 by the University of Chicago.

Proposing and Testing an Intellectual Capital-Based View of the Firm

This study examines one specific aspect of the resource-based view, intellectual capital, and its three knowledge components human, organizational, and social capital. We hypothesize that the impact of each component on financial performance is contingent upon the values of the other components, and that these leveraging effects are themselves contingent upon the industry conditions in which a business operates. Our hypotheses are supported using line-of-business survey and FDIC data (within-industry/within-geographic region) from two non-competing resource niches of the banking industry (personal and commercial banking).

Valuing Volunteers: An Economic Evaluation of the Net Benefits of Hospital Volunteers

The use of volunteers in hospitals has been an age-old practice. This nonmarket community involvement is a distinctive aspect of North American life. Hospitals may be attracted to increase the use of volunteers, both to provide increased quality of care and to contain costs. Hospitals rely on the use of professional administrators to use the donated time of volunteers efficiently. This study examines the benefits and costs of volunteer programs and derives an estimate of the net value of volunteer programs that accrue to the hospitals and volunteers. In particular, the costs and benefits to hospitals are detailed. Using 31 hospitals in and around Toronto and surveying hospital volunteer administrators, hospital clinical staff members, and volunteers themselves, a striking pay-off for hospitals was found: an average of

Effect of Technology on Sales Performance: Progressing from Technology Acceptance to Technology Usage and Consequence

6.84 in value from volunteers for every dollar spent—a return on investment of 684%. Civic and community participation is indeed valuable.

Merger Strategies and Shareholder Value During Times of Relaxed Antitrust Enforcement: The Case of Large Mergers During the 1980s

Technology plays an ever-increasing role in personal selling and customer relationship management (CRM). Over the past decade, many models examining the acceptance of technology have been proposed and refined, contributing significantly to our knowledge of technology adoption. An implicit assumption made in such models is that increasing the usage of technology is better—that is, more usage is better than less usage. This is a critical assumption that has not been tested in the literature. What if technology has diminishing returns? We propose that it is time to progress to a Technology Performance Usage Model (TPUM) and to look for usage levels that lead to optimum effect on performance. Our model is tested using a sample of 131 salespeople in an operational CRM context. Results show a curvilinear relationship between a salesperson’s prime task performance (measured as sales percent to quota) and their usage of the “enabling” CRM technology. Initially, the CRM technology is enabling on sales performance, but diminishing return sets in, and beyond a point, a disabling effect on sales performance can be observed. This finding offers a valuable insight to practitioners and provides a strategic direction—achieving and maintaining a particular level of technology usage to optimize prime task performance.

The Demand for Volunteer Labor: A Study of Hospital Volunteers

Most of what we know about the merger strategy-shareholder value relationship comes from studies based on the 1948-1979 FTC Large Merger Series. However, the market for acquisitions changed dramatically in the 1980s as government policies facilitated “mergers for efficiency, ” rather than “merger for diversity. ” We update the list of large mergers through 1988, classify each with a categorical and continuous measure of merger “relatedness, ” and then calculate three capital market measures of value creation. Regardless of construct de& nition, we find no evidence that the mergers in the 1980s were more strategic or value creators than those from prior periods.

Project selection A process analysis

The authors challenge the assumption that organizations are willing to use all the volunteer labor available to them. Rather, they are influenced by the costs incurred of utilizing volunteer labor. This article provides a modest first look at the demand for volunteers by nonprofit institutions. Specifically, the article presents an economic analysis of the demand of volunteer labor by hospitals in the Toronto area and examines some of the factors that may determine the hospitals’ willingness to use volunteer labor. Using data generated from 28 hospitals in Toronto, which use a total of more than 2 million volunteer hr per year, the authors show that the quantity of volunteer hours demanded is a decreasing function of their costs. Other factors such as productivity, output, and labor market institutions also influence the demand for volunteers.

Technological innovations in hospitals: what kind of competitive advantage does adoption lead to?

Abstract Technology-oriented companies involved in rapidly changing markets are interested in the value of collaborative efforts aimed at the realization of shared benefits, while spreading the costs and risks across multiple partners. The experiences and insights of participants in such ventures can contribute to the understanding of how to build more productive alliances. This study examines the project evaluation processes employed by the most successful industry–university research centers sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The delivery of highly satisfying research programs, as indicated by the industrial representatives, is defined as being successful. This paper focuses on the process management issues involved in the formulation and evaluation of research proposals, structural advantages and liabilities associated with the process, as well as the conditions/contexts that favor their application. These processes are strategically significant because they define the organizations research agenda, focus resource allocations by linking capabilities and commitments, and frame the performance assessment process.

An Empirical Assessment of Multiple Operationalizations of Involvement

The authors propose an analytical framework for innovations, based on the resource-advantage theory of competition. Categorisation of innovations depends on how they contribute to a firms competitive advantage. Essentially, do innovations reduce costs to the organisation, or do they increase the value of its market offerings? They apply this framework to an important segment of the US economy: healthcare (specifically hospitals), to examine the impact of technological innovations for competitive advantage. The findings show that adoption is higher among bigger hospitals and also teaching hospitals.