Redeployment Of Resources Research Articles

Learning or Leaking? Enforcement Spillover Effects Within and Beyond the Firm

We posit and find evidence consistent with a new mechanism of intra-firm enforcement spillovers: the leakage of scarce compliance resources across facilities within a firm. Using a facility-level panel data set of Clean Air Act (CAA) enforcement actions from 2005 to 2017, we find a facility is more likely to violate the CAA following penalties on its same-industry-same-state siblings. In contrast, there is no significant spillover across firms. We show that the intra-firm spillover is not due to changes in regulatory attention or production shifting. Instead, our results suggest it may result from the redeployment of scarce compliance resources across siblings. Consistent with this mechanism, we find compliance leakage only occurs at privately held firms and facilities that lack the resources to invest in pollution prevention. The findings contribute to understanding the efficacy of environmental enforcement and have important implications for intra-firm management of environmental performance and regulatory enforcement approaches.

Balancing allocative and dynamic efficiency with redundant R&D allocation: The role of organizational proximity and centralization

AbstractResearch SummaryResource‐based‐view scholars have mainly examined two resource allocation approaches for competitive advantage in multiunit firms: resource sharing and resource redeployment. These approaches emphasize allocative efficiency—the optimal allocation of resources to maximize their current value. In technology‐intensive industries, firm success also requires achieving dynamic efficiency to increase its future value‐creation. We propose that the redundant allocation of resources—the parallel deployment of non‐scale‐free resources towards the same objective—although allocatively inefficient, increases dynamic efficiency by stimulating inter‐unit competition. Firms' structural features moderate these effects. An analysis of large pharmaceutical firms reveals that redundant R&D increases innovations with high firm‐specific value but simultaneously increases project terminations to reduce wastage. Organizational proximity increases the former effect and decreases the latter. Firm's R&D centralization amplifies the effect of unit proximity.Managerial SummaryIn technology‐intensive industries, multiunit firms often employ redundant allocation of R&D resources, that is, the parallel deployment of scientists and equipment in different units towards realizing the same business objective. Although common, there is little managerial guidance on how this practice impacts firms' R&D outcomes, and how organizational characteristics influence this relationship. An analysis of large pharmaceutical firms reveals that redundant allocation of R&D resources across units increases wastage but also stimulates competing units to create innovations with high firm‐specific value. Organizationally proximate units are less likely to have their redundant projects terminated, while creating more high‐value‐innovations. Centralization of the firm's R&D amplifies the effect of unit proximity.

Who gets redeployed? Inventor characteristics and resource redeployment decisions

AbstractResearch SummaryWhile the literature highlights the benefits of internally redeploying resources, there is less empirical guidance on which resources are most likely to be redeployed. We examine the relationship between inventor characteristics and redeployment decisions, motivated by the tension between costs and benefits of keeping a resource at the source unit versus moving it to a new target unit. We argue that inventors with inventive breadth are more likely to be redeployed, whereas broker inventors are less likely to be redeployed. Moreover, we consider two source‐unit characteristics that influence internal opportunity costs: resource slack and knowledge interdependence. We test our arguments on the redeployment of inventors following an exogenous profitability shift in the US petrochemical industry in 2012 and find support for our predictions.Managerial SummaryManagers move resources between business units to respond to profitability shocks, but which specific resources do they move? Examining the inter‐unit transfers (redeployments) of inventors between business units following the unexpected profitability disparity between ethylene‐based business units and others in the US petrochemical industry, we find that generalist inventors are more likely to be redeployed, while brokers in the collaboration network (inventors who connect others) are less likely to be redeployed. In addition, conditions that alter opportunity costs at the source unit matter. Larger proportions of generalists (and brokers) facilitate redeployment of either type, and knowledge interdependencies in the source unit mitigate redeployment.

Stock Market’s Influences on Resource Redeployment: The Roll of Sell-Side Analysts

Stock Market’s Influences on Resource Redeployment: The Roll of Sell-Side Analysts

Resource Redeployment and the Pursuit of the New Best Use: Economic Logic and Organizational Challenges

Shifting economic circumstances may suggest some degree of resource redeployment of capacity-constrained capabilities. However, a separate question remains as to how corporate actors operate within the space of this economic logic. While prior literature on diversification has tended to highlight the fungibility of resources as a basis for their redeployment, we point to an additional consideration of the complementarity of resources that makes allocation within the firm attractive, what we term a “new best use.” Further, we point to a potential tension as the economic logic suggested by this property of complementarity, and more generally interdependence with the firm’s other resources and activities, may make assessing what constitutes what we term the “new best use” of a resource challenging. The latent fungibility of a resource may differ from the range of reliable assessment of relative value creation. The allocation of resources and capabilities across a firm of any scale or scope is generally guided by the organizational and task structure of the enterprise. Building on these arguments, we consider two classes of factors that might impact the realization of the latent opportunities of resource redeployment. One is the “pipes” of organizational structures and grouping of business units and allocation of decision rights of specific managers to those units, and the other is the “prisms” of the various metrics of performance and value creation that may make resource use across different domains of the business more or less comparable.

Do Firms Proactively Build Internal Markets for Redeployment? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

The topic of related diversification is of fundamental interest to corporate strategy research. However, the understanding of how the potential for resource redeployment might encourage related diversification is limited. This paper explores the impact of the 2006 German real estate transfer tax (RETT) reform, which led to higher RETT rates but retained the exemption from RETT for corporate restructurings. We propose that firms might have reacted strategically to the threat of higher transfer taxes by combining related businesses into a portfolio, providing an efficient internal market for reallocating property assets in the event of business-specific shocks. Consistent with a dynamic perspective on relatedness, difference-in-differences analyses of the European retail market show that the probability of related diversification increased significantly for firms that were affected by the reform, relative to control firms. This finding contributes to the literature that links firm boundary choices to intertemporal economies of scope and offers new insights into the real effects of transfer tax policies. This paper was accepted by Alfonso Gambardella, business strategy. Funding: This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades [Grant PID2020-115660GB-I00]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.02396 .

Resource redeployment as an entry advantage in resource‐poor settings

AbstractResearch SummaryScarcity of productive factors poses a challenge for firms entering underdeveloped regions. We theorize that incumbent firms can overcome scarcity of skilled human capital in local labor markets by redeploying workers from existing units. We predict that redeployment is more valuable when factor markets exhibit large differences in resource scarcity. Redeployment is also more valuable when output is highly sensitive to worker skill and is responsive to complementarities between labor and other inputs. Important implications are that redeployment can endow firms with superior resources and enable them to enter more markets. Data on sugar mills in Brazil, where a sudden demand boom incentivized expansion, corroborate the predictions. Our research identifies a new mechanism of value‐creation from resource redeployment across factor markets.Managerial SummaryFirms entering underdeveloped regions often struggle to obtain inputs needed for production, such as skilled labor. We propose that incumbent firms expanding into such regions can overcome resource scarcity by redeploying resources from their existing units. Redeployment allows firms to move resources—such as skilled workers—from markets where resources are relatively abundant to markets where they are scarce. We show that such factor market “arbitrage” is most valuable when firms operate across markets with large differences in resource scarcity and when production is sensitive to worker skill and to complementarities between inputs. By redeploying into markets suffering from resource scarcity, firms can enter more markets and seed units with superior resources. This gives incumbent firms with redeployment capabilities an advantage over de novo entrants.

Role of resource investment management and strategic resource deployment capabilities in internationalization-performance relationship

The performance implications of internationalization have been a matter of debate in management literature for decades. Similar to developed market multinational enterprises (DMNEs), scholars found that emerging-market internationalizing firms (EMIFs) have initial costs and subsequent benefits of internationalization such that internationalization-performance (I-P) relationship is U-shaped. Emergingness of EMIFs gives us the opportunity to theorize how these internationalizing firms develop novel capabilities relevant to their state of evolution and resource conditions. Relying on resource management theory, we propose two capabilities – management of R&D investments (RIM) to balance between market and resource seeking motivations and re-deployment of strategic resources (SRD) to catch-up with the competitors. We use 20 years data from 837 Indian firms to empirically test whether the proposed capabilities steepen the I-P relationship and shift the turning point of the U-shaped curve to left. We find empirical support for our hypotheses, and thereby contribute to the literature on resource management in EMIFs and empirical analysis of non-linear relationship.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on changing the ratio of abdominal, vaginal, and laparoscopic hysterectomies

Introduction/Objective. Coronavirus pandemic caused most hospitals in the world to suspend regular activities. The aim of this study was to analyze pandemic influence on patients who underwent hysterectomy with classical (abdominal) and minimally invasive surgery (laparoscopic and vaginal approach) at the Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics of the University Medical Centre of Serbia. Methods. There were 2446 hysterectomies for five-year period. The study analyzed number and types of hysterectomies before and during COVID-19 pandemic. Results. The total number of operated patients was most decreased in the first year of the pandemic. During pandemic, the number of vaginal and laparoscopic hysterectomies did not change, whereas there was an increase in the number of abdominal hysterectomies. Statistical significance (p < 0.01) was found between abdominal and vaginal as well as between abdominal and endoscopic hysterectomies. Conclusion. The global pandemic impact on care of symptomatic patients with COVID-19 has led to the redeployment of staff and resources, which has significantly reduced the total number of operations in many hospitals around the world.

Supply‐side inducements and resource redeployment in multiunit firms

AbstractResearch SummaryWe examine to what extent and when multiunit firms internally redeploy managers between units. While theory has emphasized how changes in demand conditions affect redeployment, we argue that optimal internal resource allocation involves consideration of both demand and each unit's resource supply. We formalize this argument, showing how redeployment arises from “supply‐side inducements”—return advantages in new over existing resource uses resulting from changes in resource supply. Empirical tests using manager deaths as an exogenous, supply‐side shock to firms' resource stocks support our arguments, showing that firms frequently redeploy resources away from better‐endowed and toward negatively affected units. Incorporating supply‐side inducements into redeployment theory implies additional value‐creation opportunities from redeployment and carries novel predictions for the direction of intra‐firm resource flows.Managerial SummaryFirms continuously decide how to allocate valuable resources—such as their most productive workers, unique inputs, or machinery—among different units. We argue that to optimally allocate such resources, managers must respond to changes in both the demand environment and in the resource stock of different units. When some units successfully accumulate resources while others suffer adverse shocks, opportunity exists to improve efficiency by internally redeploying resources. Counterintuitively, optimal redeployment frequently involves shifting resources away from successful, well‐endowed units. New business units, being resource‐poor, are often the most important recipients of resources. Empirical analyses studying how firms allocate managers in a large sample of Brazilian firms offer support for these arguments.

Strategic transition

AbstractThere are few theories explaining how firms can persist through large‐scale changes. Extending Penrose's maxim that the firm can continue to grow or exist by exiting unprofitable markets and entering higher‐growth areas, we explicate a theory of how firm resources affect the success of this transformational phenomenon, which we call strategic transition. We propose that resource redeployability, relatedness of industries, and slack resources enable firms to transform themselves such that they operate in an entirely new domain. Furthermore, we point to the equifinality of strategic transition and produce a typology of the paths firms may take to achieve it.Key Points We extend Penrose's maxim that the firm can continue to grow or exist by exiting unprofitable markets and entering higher‐growth areas. We explicate a theory of how firm resources affect this transformational phenomenon, which we call strategic transition. We propose that resource redeployability, the relatedness between the old and new industry, and slack resources affect the ability of firms to transform themselves such that they operate in an entirely new domain. We also illustrate to the equifinality of strategic transition and produce a typology of the paths firms may take to achieve it.

The Application of Information Systems to Improve Ambulance Response Times in the UK

Emergency ambulance services in the UK are tasked with providing pre-hospital patient care and clinical services with a target response time between call connect to on-scene attendance. In 2017, NHS England introduced four new response time categories based on patient needs. The most challenging is to be on-scene for a life-threatening situation within seven minutes of the call being connected when such calls are random in terms of time and place throughout a large territory. Recent evidence indicates emergency ambulance services regularly fall short of achieving the target ambulance response times set by the National Health Service (NHS). To achieve these targets, they need to undertake transformational change and apply statistical, operations research and artificial intelligence techniques in the form of five separate modules covering demand forecasting, plus locate, allocate, dispatch, monitoring and re-deployment of resources. These modules should be linked in real-time employing a data warehouse to minimise computational data and generate accurate, meaningful and timely decisions ensuring patients receive an appropriate and timely response. A simulation covering a limited geographical area, time and operational data concluded that this form of integration of the five modules provides accurate and timely data upon which to make decisions that effectively improve ambulance response times.

Human resource redeployability and entrepreneurial hiring strategy

AbstractResearch SummaryThe timing of talent acquisition is a central decision for new ventures. On one hand, hiring after demand is proven minimizes losses. On the other hand, hiring before demand is proven allows new ventures to start developing unique capabilities. We resolve this tension by proposing that the timing depends on human resource redeployability. We test our theory with the population of Finnish ventures showing that portfolio entrepreneurs hire more employees early on because of higher redeployment potential and that they hire employees with more transferable skills in order to benefit from the redeployment option. To probe our mechanisms, we examine how talent acquisition strategies in portfolio and standalone ventures vary with external conditions that reduce or amplify the benefits of redeployment.Managerial SummaryThis paper explores when startups begin scaling their team. Our findings suggest that the potential to redeploy employees (to another startup, for example) motivates entrepreneurs to scale earlier. At the same time, we find that the entrepreneurs who scale earlier due to redeployment potential tend to hire employees with skills that can be transferred more easily. We further show that our results are affected by the level of rigidity in the labor market. When labor markets become more flexible, the impact of easy redeployment on an entrepreneur's hiring strategy becomes less important. Our findings provide important insights into how the external environment and policy changes can affect the trajectory of startups even at their earliest stages.

Strategic Renewal and Resource Redeployment in Horizontal Acquisitions

Strategic Renewal and Resource Redeployment in Horizontal Acquisitions

Behavioral Biases In Resource Redeployment: The Role of Upfront Investments in Flexibility

Behavioral Biases In Resource Redeployment: The Role of Upfront Investments in Flexibility

Flexible Resource Allocation Strategies: Resource Redeployment and Resource Idling

Flexible Resource Allocation Strategies: Resource Redeployment and Resource Idling

Resource Redeployment and the Pursuit of Multiple Categories in a Stigmatized Industry

Resource Redeployment and the Pursuit of Multiple Categories in a Stigmatized Industry

Resource Redeployment as an Entry Advantage in Resource-Poor Settings

Resource Redeployment as an Entry Advantage in Resource-Poor Settings

Perceived impacts of COVID-19 and bushfires on the implementation of an obesity prevention trial in Northeast Victoria, Australia.

Calls for the adoption of a systems approach to chronic disease prevention date back at least ten years because of the potential to empower communities to identify and address the complex causes of overnutrition, undernutrition and climate change. Australia, like many countries, has high levels of obesity and extreme climate events. The Reflexive Evidence and Systems interventions to Prevent Obesity and Non-communicable Disease (RESPOND) trial aims to prevent unhealthy weight gain in children in 10 intervention and two pilot communities in north-east Victoria, Australia using community-based participatory approaches informed by systems science. Intervention activities co-designed in 2019 were disrupted by COVID-19 and bushfires. This paper explores the impacts of these 'shocks' on the local prevention workforce to implement actions within communities. A case study design involving one-hour online focus groups and an on-line survey (November 2021-February 2022). Purposive sampling was used to achieve diverse representation from RESPOND stakeholders including local council, health services, primary care partnerships and department of health. The focus group interview schedule and survey questions were based on Durlak and DuPre's implementation factors. Twenty-nine participants from seven different communities participated in at least one of nine focus groups to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 and bushfires on localised implementation. Twenty-eight participants (97% of focus group sample) also completed the on-line survey. Implementation of RESPOND stalled or stopped in most communities due to bushfires and/or COVID-19. These shocks resulted in organisational priorities changing, loss of momentum for implementation, redeployment of human resources, culminating in fatigue and exhaustion. Participants reported adaptation of RESPOND, but implementation was slowed due to limited resources. Further research is needed to advance risk management strategies and protect resources within health promotion. System shocks such as bushfires and COVID-19 are inevitable, and despite multiple adaptation opportunities, this intervention approach was not 'shock proof'.

Different people, different pathways: Human capital redeployment in multi‐business firms

AbstractResearch SummaryMulti‐business firms redeploy human capital to strengthen individual business units. However, we know little about the antecedents of such redeployments and their effects on unit outcomes. Contributing to the resource redeployment and strategic human capital literatures, we test the relationships between parent–unit industry relatedness, the direction of redeployment (parent‐to‐unit and unit‐to‐parent), the type of human capital, the likelihood of redeployment, and post‐redeployment unit closure. Using Norwegian population‐level microdata of spinouts, we find that parent–unit industry relatedness increases the likelihood of human capital redeployment and that this effect is stronger for generalists than for specialists. Further, we find that parent‐to‐unit and unit‐to‐parent redeployment of generalists and specialists have distinct effects on unit closure, largely because of differences in post‐redeployment unit performance.Managerial SummaryFirms with multiple business units often transfer employees between units to strengthen them. However, we do not know which employees are more likely to be sent and which employees, if any, affect the receiving unit's survival and performance. Analyzing over 9000 spinouts in Norway between 2004 and 2015, we find that employees are more likely to be sent when the parent and the unit are in related industries. We further show that employees with specialized professional knowledge are sent regardless of relatedness, while generalists are sent when industries are related. Regarding post‐transfer unit survival, we find that parent‐to‐unit and unit‐to‐parent redeployment of generalists and specialists have distinct effects on survival, largely because of differences in the impact on post‐transfer unit performance.