Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore how and when holacracy works for organizations.

The paper illustrates the idea by drawing insights from the case of Zappos and Gidley’s framework of future organizations.

The paper provides a balanced view on holacracy and how it can be beneficial for organizations. The potential of holarchical structures will be fruitful only if the structure-culture fit is achieved. The paper also highlights the lessons learned from previous implementations of holacracy and concludes with possible solutions for organizations.

The structure-culture fit is still a pertinent question especially when organizations are growing in size. Organizations need to address the intergenerational differences and core tenets of organizational culture while adopting flat structures to promote flexibility and individualization. New ideas and ways of organizing are therefore best treated as experiments guided by strategic vision and a defined direction.

The paper extends the existing knowledge on holacracy by applying Gidley’s framework and providing practical insights for practitioners in implementing holacracy.

By applying upper echelons perspective to the choice of full or shared control entry modes, this study aims to explore the moderating effect of interorganizational network on the top management team (TMT) characteristics and entry mode choice relationship. Existing studies on TMT’s demographic characters’ influence on entry mode choice remains inconclusive. The implicit assumption in extant literature is that firms share similar network structural advantages. This study integrates the largely ignored, network structural concept with entry mode to show how firm-level decisions are the outcome of interaction between internal and external environment.

The interorganizational network is modeled using board interlock data. The moderating effect of network is modeled on network size, centrality of the firms and density of ties, considering tenure and international experience of the upper echelons. The hypotheses are tested based on a sample of 83 publicly listed Indian firms from 2012 to 2015.

The findings indicate that despite a high international experienced TMT’s preference of full control entry mode, the high central position of the firm can influence the decision against full control entry modes. However, the choice of full control entry mode is also enhanced by the density of firm’s network. Similar evidence is also observed with tenure variable as well where the moderating variables showed a trend toward influencing the entry mode choices.

Thus, this study attempted to reconcile the inconsistencies prevalent in the relationship between TMT variables and choice of entry mode by introducing the contextual factor of interorganizational networks.

The study explores extant knowledge on the nature of the relationship between internal and external corporate governance mechanisms, particularly board characteristics and audit quality, respectively, while also investigating how the relationship varies across geographies.

The extant knowledge is synthesized using a meta-analysis, which is conducted using a sample of 56 empirical studies from publications of varying grades. The studies span over 25 years (1996–2021) and cover 147 empirical samples (343,787 firm-year observations) across more than 20 countries. The dependent variable is audit fees, and the independent variable captures 12 different measures of board characteristics.

Overall, the results reveal a positive association between board characteristics and audit fees, indicating complementarity between governance mechanisms. Effect size analysis shows board characteristics, like size and independence, are positively associated with audit fees. However, heterogeneity is noted for some characteristics, and further analysis by geography (developed vs emerging countries) explains the heterogeneity.

This study helps multiple stakeholders like firms, shareholders, boards, regulators and policymakers in designing and strengthening governance frameworks.

Both governance and auditing literature benefit from identifying specific board characteristics that drive audit quality consistently across different institutional settings and samples. Heterogeneity analysis helps improve the understanding of contradictions documented in prior literature.

This meta-analysis is the first to explore the interplay between internal and external corporate governance mechanisms, with a focus on board characteristics and audit quality. The study provides valuable insights on how different governance mechanisms influence each other while highlighting, for the first time, how the interaction between governance mechanisms varies by a country's level of development.