The dissertation consists of three chapters examining U.S. public firms' innovation and patenting activities and their relationship with patent policy and economic growth. In the first chapter, I empirically study the effect of patent publications on firm-level innovation and patenting. Previous works have studied the effect of patent monopoly rights and knowledge disclosure on innovations. The proposed chapter supplements these studies by analyzing the disincentive effect of patent publications on firm innovations through costly knowledge disclosure. Exploiting the American Inventors’ Protection Act of 1999 as a natural experiment that shortened the time it took for patents to get published, I show the negative effect of earlier patent publications on manufacturing firms' patenting and innovation activities. The benchmark analysis shows that the average decline of 10 months in patent publication lag resulted in 13 percentage points lower firm-level patent growth rate during 2001-2005. In the second chapter, I build an endogenous growth model with a patent system. By modeling patenting decisions endogenously, I also introduce patent protection and information disclosure mechanisms through patents. Traditional innovation and growth models assume that innovators patent whenever they innovate and consider patenting and innovating as the same. However, this assumption is no longer innocuous if patenting has an implicit cost to the innovator e.g., the cost of disclosing valuable information. Therefore, to analyze the impact of the patent system’s disclosure mechanism on firm innovation, one must at a minimum work with a model distinguishing between the two concepts. Using my model, I show that a higher patent disclosure policy reduces firm patenting intensity as firms strategically opt out of patenting. In the absence of patents, there is less knowledge diffusion in the economy, which leads to less industry competition and growth. The third chapter studies the effect of firms' ability to build on their previous innovation on firm growth. While innovating, firms can either develop fully novel exploratory ideas or exploit their existing ideas. Using firm patent data, I document that U.S. manufacturing firms' innovation became more exploitative and that their patent growth rate simultaneously declined after 2000. To rationalize these changes in firm innovation, I build a firm-level endogenous growth model with both initial exploratory and subsequent exploitative innovations. Estimating my model using 1990-2000 microdata, I show that a decline in the usefulness of exploratory innovations as a foundation for future exploitation can match a shift in the composition of innovation we saw over this period, resulting in a 0.8 percentage point decline in firm average growth and a 9% decline in firm market value post-2000.

This dissertation examines the way that demands for more control over the collection, processing, and sharing of personal data are being managed by both government and industry leaders with strategies that appear to comply with regulations, but that fail to do so. These are “by-design” strategies used by individuals to unilaterally manage their data with automated tools. I take a multimethod approach that combines autoethnography, reverse engineering techniques, and data analysis to assess the implementation of by-design services implemented by Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in compliance with current European Union regulations for access and portability. I also employ archival research, discourse analysis, interviews, and participant observation. I argue that self-led, by-design approaches do not answer the demands for more control over personal data. The regulatory and technical resources put in place for individuals to control their data are not effective because they turn over decisions about execution to an industry with no interest in sharing that data or being regulated. If policymakers continue to pursue by-design approaches, they will need to learn how to test the techniques, and the execution of the techniques, provided by industry. They will need to assess the impact on data that is made available. So that results can be evaluated, by-design tools like the ones I assessed must be accompanied by clear and detailed details about design choices and procedures. In this vein, I offer directions for critical scrutiny, including standards and measuring the impact of APIs. I conclude that self-managed, by-design approaches are not the source of the problem. But they are a symptom of the need for critical scrutiny over the execution of tools like the ones offered by Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Ultimately, I found that portability and access are legally and technically fraught. However, despite the shortcomings of by-design approaches, personal data can be more effectively regulated in Europe than in the United States as the result of current regulations.

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When developing client acceptance and retention policies and procedures, an audit firm's policy-makers are required to adhere to quality control and auditing standards established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) that are not well defined. As a result, the policies and procedures across firms may differ significantly. These differences arise from the development as well as the implementation of client acceptance and retention policies when evaluating prospective and continuing clients. My research study examines these differences in client acceptance and retention policies and procedures and also investigates the potential differences in policies and procedures across firms of different sizes (international, national, and regional). Using a qualitative setting, I interview risk management and local office partners across multiple firms to gather firm-specific and partner-specific information about client acceptance and retention policies and procedures. My results contribute to the existing literature on the processes and procedures developed by audit firms to assess and evaluate risks that may arise from prospective and/or continuing clients. / Doctor of Philosophy / Auditing standards provide requirements and recommendations for audit firms to follow when performing financial statement audits. These auditing standards also include both required and recommended procedures related to an audit firm’s decision to accept new clients and retain existing clients. Using a qualitative research methodology, I interview audit partners from five audit firms who are responsible for helping establish the firm-specific policies and procedures around client acceptance and client retention processes. I also interview partners from the same five audit firms who are responsible for performing those procedures when deciding whether to accept a prospective client or keep an existing client. I find that there are differences between the two partner groups as to the importance of certain client acceptance and client retention procedures. I also find that there are differences among the firms as well as the individual partners within each firm as to which procedures are key considerations in the client acceptance and retention processes.

No / Human resource information systems (HRIS) usage allows the human resource (HR) professional to become a strategic player. With both increasing functionality and affordability, HRIS are being used extensively in organisations of all sizes. Despite this, surprisingly little is know about the current usage, whether disparities exist between companies of different sizes, or about the impact HRIS has on the general professional standing of the HR professional. We developed and administered a survey and gave structured interviews to assess and compare the specific areas of use and to introduce a taxonomy that provides a framework for academic discussion and comparison. We further determined whether HRIS usage was strategic, a perceived value-add for the organisation, and its impact on professional standing for HR professionals. These findings were compared to those for other professions that also use MIS. Our results showed that, on average, few differences exist between SME and large company usage. Moreover, we found that the professional standing of HR professionals has been enhanced by the specific use of HRIS for strategic partnering but that this is not as pronounced as that experienced by those from other professions.

This dissertation consists of three papers related to firms' resiliency to supply chain disruptions. The first paper seeks to evaluate the effects of supply chain disruptions on firms' performance by using a recent dataset of supply chain disruptions. To this end, we analyzed operating and stock market performances of over 300 firms that experienced a supply chain disruption during 2005 to the end of 2014. The results show that supply chain disruptions are still associated with a significant decrease in operating income, return on sales, return on assets, sales, and a negative performance in total assets. Supply chain disruptions are also associated with a significant negative abnormal stock return on the day of the supply chain disruption announcements. These results are in line with previous findings in the literature. In the second paper, in order to provide a more detailed characterization of negative impacts of disruptions on firms' performance, we develop three complementary measures of system loss: the initial loss due to the disruption, the maximum loss, and the total loss over time. Then, we utilize the contingent resource-based view to evaluate the moderating effects of operational slack and operational scope on the relationship between the severity of supply chain disruptions and the three complementary measures of system loss. We find that maintaining certain aspects of operational slack and broadening business scope can affect these different measures of loss in different ways, although these effects are contingent on the disruptions' severity. The third paper examines relationships between the origin of supply chain disruptions, firms' past experience, and the negative impacts of supply chain disruptions on firms' performance. This third study shows that the impact of external and internal supply chain disruptions on firms' performance can be different when firms do and do not have past experience with similar events. For example, the results show that past experience significantly decreases initial loss, recovery time, and total loss over time experienced by firms after internal disruptions, although past experience may not decrease initial loss, recovery time, and total loss over time in the case of external disruptions. / Ph. D. / Supply chain disruptions occur frequently in today’s complex and interdependent business environment. The Kumamoto earthquakes, Hanjin Shipping’s bankruptcy, and Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, are just a few events that led to major supply chain disruptions in the U.S. and other parts of the world in 2016 and 2017 alone. In this dissertation, we first use a recent dataset of supply chain disruptions to evaluate the effects of supply chain disruptions on firms' performance. The results show that supply chain disruptions are still associated with significant negative impacts on firms’ performance as they have been shown to be in previous studies of earlier datasets. Next, we provide a broader assessment of supply chain disruptions’ impacts on firms’ performance. To accomplish this, we specifically consider the negative impacts with respect to three complementary metrics borrowed from the systems resilience literature: the initial loss, the maximum loss, and the total loss over time. The initial loss and maximum loss metrics evaluate different characteristics of the magnitude of a disruption’s impact on a firm’s performance, whereas total loss over time gives a broader measure of the overall effect of that disruption on that firm, over time. By adopting a more comprehensive view of firms’ performance through the use of such systems resilience concepts, we develop new and expanded inferences about how and when maintaining operational slack and broadening operational scope can benefit firms by helping to reduce the negative impacts of disruptions. Finally, we study the relationships between the negative impacts of supply chain disruptions on firms’ performance, the origin of supply chain disruptions, and firms’ prior experience. The results show that the impact of internal and external supply chain disruptions on firms’ performance can be different when firms do and do not have past experience with similar events. In particular, the results show that past experience significantly decreases initial loss, recovery time, and total loss over time experienced by firms after internal disruptions. However, past experience may not decrease initial loss, recovery time, and total loss over time in the case of external disruptions.

This dissertation focuses on the formation, growth and discontinuance of business populations and firms in Sweden during the 20th century. It addresses some key issues in the domain of economic and social sciences, and in particular entrepreneurship and small business research: if and when firms grow, stagnate and decline, as well as how long firms survive and when they are likely to disband. Previous research has primarily analyzed these questions from a short time frame. Further, an individual or firm-oriented focus is commonly assumed. In that, alternative or complementary explanations to the growth and survival of firms may be disregarded. In contrast to much previous research, this dissertation assumes a micro-to-macro, longitudinal and demographic population approach. The period of investigation is over one hundred years. In addressing the growth and survival of firms, it takes into account the impact of firm-specific structural factors (such as firm age and size), generation (cohort) effects, as well as the influence of macroeconomic, exogenous factors. Further, the relationship between managerial/ownership succession and firm performance is also addressed. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal databases are employed in the dissertation. Its main empirical material consists of unique longitudinal data on new business firms, traced at the firm level from their birth to their termination. More specifically, seven birth cohorts – generations – of approximately 2,200 firms founded in 1899, 1909, 1912, 1921, 1930, 1942 and 1950 are included. The main findings show that ownership/management succession in firms had a quite weak correlation with firm performance and survival. At least at an aggregate level, and with some exceptions, it is debatable if the loss and replacement of owner-managers in small and in larger firms have any observable effects on firm performance. Furthermore, macroeconomic phenomena influence the conditions of individual firms as well as populations/aggregates of businesses. Both the growth and termination of firms and firm populations are found to be related to real economic (environmental) conditions; e.g. favorable macroeconomic conditions implied that firms grew in size. At the same time, under certain circumstances, the influence of structural variables (firm age and size) – as suggested in much previous research – is found to be of importance. As concerns firm growth, as well as firm termination, the economic environment and structural factors interact. These findings challenges individual or firm-level research that mainly focus on personal traits and behaviors in explaining firm success and failure. Other previous assumptions are also challenged when taking a longer time perspective into consideration. For decades, organization and business research have acknowledged a liability of newness and of size for business firms. While this might be true under some conditions, this liability of newness is falsified in the study: the termination behavior of some firm generations did not correspond with these assumptions. Thus, the perspectives and methodology applied in the dissertation complement earlier approaches in entrepreneurship and small business research.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Ongoing business sustainability today is one of the major issues facing the management of organizations. How to remain in the profit zone, that area where a company will be allowed to make high profit in its industry, is a constant challenge. Continued profitability in a fast changing industry, where the profit zone moves as competitors offer the same solutions, requires constant innovation, implementation of new ideas and heavy financial commitments. The key is to identify clear and rational business design choices that are responsive to customers and that will ensure profitability. This document will illustrate how the four major food retail companies in South Africa, and their visionary leaders, have reinvented their business designs in ways that kept or returned them to the profit zone. Shoprite's target market is the middle to lower income group. The company has built up core competencies within its business to serve this segment. There are currently a number of issues facing Shoprite's core market, and as a result the company is diversifying its income streams to be less dependant on a vulnerable target market. . The visionary leadership of Raymond Ackerman, who applied principles of customer sovereignty long before his peers, has resulted in one of the best-run companies in South Africa. Pick 'n Pay's ability lies within the middle to upper segment of the market. The company has built its business on one core element - the customer, and has adapted the company business design to meet the needs of the customer and capture value . .Spars' philosophy of giving the small retailer the power to compete with the larger retailer, who buys in bulk, has proved to be a successful formula and is threatening the traditional hierarchy. Owners who are in close contact to customers have the flexibility to align their businesses with the customer requirements. 'Woolworths has one of the strongest brands in the South African retail industry. However, the company has in recent years been in serious trouble having lost its way because it lost touch with its customers. Concentrating back on the core customers and building back confidence in its goods, have taken considerable focus. Each of the business designs are built on a deep understanding of what the customer needs are of the target market they serve and how they will be allowed to make a profit. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Een van die grootste knelpunte vir organisasies vandag is volhoubare besigheidsbestuur. Die uitdaging is om in die area te bly waar die organisasie toegelaat sal word om hoë wins te maak. Voortgesette winsgewendheid in 'n industrie waar die wins area veskuif as gevolg van mededingers wat oplossings naboots, vereis voortdurende vernuwing en strawwe finansiële verpligtinge. Die sleutel is om duidelike en rasionele besigheidsontwerpbesluite te neem wat kliente behoeftes aanspreek en wat na 'n wins sal lei. Hierdie dokument beskryf hoe die vier groot voedselhandelaars en hulle leiers hul besighede herontwerp het sodat hulle winsgewend kan bly. Shoprite se teiken mark is die middel - tot lae inkomste groep. Die firma het kern bevoegdhede binne sy besigheid ontwikkel om hierdie segment te bedien. Shoprite diversifeer huidiglik sy inkomste stroom as gevolg van die kwesbaarheid van sy teiken mark. Pick 'n Pay word as een van Suid Afrika se beste bestuurde firmas beskou. Die sukses word toegeskryf aan die leierskap van Raymond Ackerman wat die beginsels van kliënte soewereiniteit lank voor sy portuurgroep geïmplimenteer het. Pick 'n Pay se fokus is die middel - tot hoë inkomste groep. Die firma is op een kern element gebou, die kliënt, en sy besigheids ontwerp is aangepas om die behoeftes van die kliënt te bevredig. Spar se filosofie is om die kleiner handelaar in 'n posisie te stel om met die groot handelaar, wat in grootrnaat aankoop, te kan meeding. Die groei wat Spar toon bedreig die traditionele hiërargie en bewys die sukses van hierdie formule. Winkel eienaars wat noue kontak met kliënte het, kan hulle besighede aanpas om in kliënte se behoeftes te voorsien. Woolworths het een van die sterkste handelsmerke in die Suid Afrikaanse handels industrie. Die firma was in die laaste paar jaar in groot moeilikheid omdat hy tred verloor het met sy kliënte. Deur weer te konsentreer op die kern kliënt en om vertroue op te bou in sy goedere het beduidende fokus vereis. Elk van die besigheids ontwerpe is gebou op 'n intieme begrip van die behoeftes van die teiken mark wat bedien word en hoe die firma toegelaat sal word om 'n wins te maak.

In my study, I examine the relationship between founding family ownership and firm performance. Using publicly listed companies in Indonesia, I observe families are much more prevalent than in the US; in my sample, families are present in over 60% of Indonesian listed companies and families own an average outstanding equity of 50.4%. Contrary to previous literatures, I present new evidence to show founding family ownership and control is a more efficient form of ownership structure only when the family is a majority-shareholder in the company. Additional investigations shows that founding family ownership has a U-shaped quadratic relationship with firm performance, indicating that an increase in family ownership is initially associated with worsening firm performances, but is then associated with improving firm performances after passing a certain level of equity ownership.