Sascha L. Schmidt

What shapes player performance in soccer? Empirical findings from a panel analysis

In this article, we investigate the pay–performance relationship of soccer players using individual data from eight seasons of the German soccer league Bundesliga. We find a nonlinear pay–performance relationship, indicating that salary does indeed affect individual performance. The results further show that player performance is affected not only by absolute income level but also by relative income position. An additional analysis of the performance impact of team effects provides evidence of a direct impact of team-mate attributes on individual player performance.

Defining the strategic role of boards and measuring boards' effectiveness in strategy implementation

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to explore the potential role and the measurement of the effectiveness of boards of directors in strategy formulation and implementation – two aspects that have so far been left largely unaddressed by corporate governance research and practice.Design/methodology/approach – Based on insights from strategy process literature, the paper suggests that, by ensuring consistency between resource allocation processes and the firms intended strategy, boards could fulfil a meaningful role in strategy implementation. The proposed outside‐in analysis of resource allocation decisions is illustrated by a single case study of a major Swiss pharmaceutical company.Findings – The proposed approach enables corporate governance scholars to look at how boards fulfil their role in strategy implementation from a perspective similar to that of financial analysts. It might thus be suited to complement existing methods in empirical corporate governance research.Practical implications – Th...

How Does Strategy Process Influence Strategy Content? Antecedents of Consistency between Resource Allocation Decisions and Corporate Strategy

We investigate the relative importance of organizational and decision-specific factors that shape decision-making processes as antecedents of consistency between corporate strategy concept and individual resource allocation decisions. Our empirical study examines the Swiss pharmaceutical companies Ciba and Sandoz from 1989 to 1996. We use a model from which we derive hypotheses on the influence of organizational and decision-specific factors on consistency. We test these hypotheses using data on 493 resource allocation decisions, and applying maximum likelihood ordered logit estimation. Our results indicate that factors specific to individual resource allocation decisions are far more important for their consistency with the prevailing corporate strategy concept than are organizational factors. In particular, we find that the longer the time lag between the announcement of a corporate strategy concept and individual resource allocation decisions, the lower the likelihood of high consistency levels. As to the role of organizational factors, lower decision-making levels tend to be associated with higher consistency levels.

Prior Strategy Processes as a Key to Understanding Mega-mergers:: The Novartis Case

Given that the majority of large mergers does not meet expected results, it is imperative to assess ex ante to what extent a merger concept can be realised in the market environment. The merger concept is usually the result of a not immediately transparent process of negotiation between the management bodies of the merging firms. It remains difficult for researchers to study these negotiation processes with first-hand information. The Novartis case study shows that the merger concept is closely aligned to previous strategy processes of the merging firms. Conducting a longitudinal multilevel analysis focused on resource allocations the authors introduce a new way to explore intra-organisational strategy processes using publicly available information.

A process‐based view and its influence on strategic management

Our results are based on the findings of an international empirical study (Ruhli et al., 1995) reporting earlier experiences with the implementation of the business reengineering concept in real practice. The study has provided evidence for some of the reengineering concepts limitations, especially as applied to the relationship between corporate strategy and processes. Reengineering has a limited focus on the redesign of work and managerial processes in a given strategic context and therefore emphasizes only the ‘one-way’ influence of strategy on processes. We instead suggest that there is a mutual relationship between a firms strategy and processes. In contrast to a traditional ‘process follows strategy’ understanding, the influences of processes in determining strategy are integrated into our approach.

Course Formats for Teaching Management Consulting

In this article, the authors introduce 3 different course formats for teaching management consulting at the university. On the basis of data from self-evaluation questionnaires from 159 students, the authors analyze effectiveness of these course designs in raising the self-confidence of participants to cope with the kind of tasks typically faced by entry-level management consultants. Despite differences in their design and format, the 3 consulting course types show similar effects in terms of the increase in self-confidence levels reported by students.

Antecedents of the Performance of Management Consultants

We analyze the importance of both the level and the type of two critical dimensions of human capital for the performance of management consultants, namely education and experience. We use both qualitative and quantitative data on client ratings of the performance of 50 senior management consultants engaged in 100 consulting projects. Our empirical findings suggest that both the level and the type of education and experience are important for performance. In particular, experience within the consulting industry positively affects the performance of management consultants, but there are curvilinear effects on performance ratings of experience in occupations other than consulting.

Game Outcome Uncertainty in the English Premier League: Do German Fans Care?

Despite the increasing internationalization of marketing activities by professional sporting clubs, previous research exploring the role of game outcome uncertainty (GOU) in spectator demand has been exclusively conducted within national contexts. As a consequence, very little is known about the preferences of international television (TV) spectators watching games from abroad. Hence, this study analyzes all 571 English Premier League (EPL) games broadcast in Germany between the seasons 2011-2012 and 2015-2016 in order to explore whether TV demand for transnational football games is affected by GOU. In line with the prominent uncertainty of outcome hypothesis, the results of this analysis reveal a significant and positive relation between German EPL demand and GOU. This result, however, is not consistent for male and female spectators.

Game Outcome Uncertainty and Television Audience Demand: New Evidence from German Football

Abstract Despite its prominence in the economic literature, our knowledge regarding the role of game outcome uncertainty (GOU) in spectator decision-making is fairly limited. Even worse, studies testing the uncertainty of outcome hypothesis (UOH) by exploring TV demand for European football have further intensified the original ambiguity. In this paper, we revisit the role of GOU in spectator decision-making by testing the UOH with regard to two different sporting products: (1) domestic league and (2) knockout tournament games. Analyzing TV demand for almost 1,500 German football games, we find support for the UOH in league, though not in knockout tournament games.

Game Outcome Uncertainty and the Demand for International Football Games: Evidence From the German TV Market

ABSTRACT This article adopts a comprehensive 2-step approach to dissolve recent confusion regarding the role of game outcome uncertainty in the TV demand for international team sports. Analyzing the German TV demand for 457 international football games broadcasted during 6 Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cups and 5 Union des Associations Européennes de Football European Championships and 287 international games played by the Germany national football team, this study reveals that solely the demand for friendly games is affected by increasing uncertainty regarding the expected game outcomes.