@article {706261, title = {Reskilling in the Age of AI}, journal = {Harvard Business Review}, year = {Forthcoming}, author = {Raffaella Sadun and Raffaella Sadun and Leila Doumi and Orsolya Kovacz} } @article {704081, title = {Communication within Firms: Evidence from CEO Turnovers}, journal = {Management Science}, year = {Forthcoming}, author = {Raffaella Sadun and Michael Impink and Andrea Prat} } @article {704076, title = {The Anatomy of a Hospital System Merger: The Patient Did Not Respond Well to Treatment}, journal = {Review of Economics and Statistics}, year = {Forthcoming}, author = {Raffaella Sadun and Gaynor, Martin and Adam Sacarny and Chad Syverson and Shruthi Venkatesh} } @article {687349, title = {Multitasking While Driving: A Time Use Study of Commuting Knowledge Workers to Assess Current and Future Uses}, journal = {International Journal of Human-Computer Studies}, volume = {162}, year = {Forthcoming}, month = {June 2022}, abstract = {Commuting has enormous impact on individuals, families, organizations, and society.Advances in vehicle automation may help workers employ the time spentcommuting in productive work-tasks or wellbeing activities. To achieve this goal,however, we need to develop a deeper understanding of which work and personalactivities are of value for commuting workers. In this paper we present resultsfrom an online time-use study of 400 knowledge workers who commute-bydriving.The data allow us to study multitasking-while-driving behavior of commutingknowledge workers, identify which non-driving tasks knowledge workerscurrently engage in while driving, and the non-driving tasks individuals wouldlike to engage in when using a safe highly automated vehicle in the future. Wediscuss the implications of our findings for the design of technology that supportswork and wellbeing activities in automated cars.}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2022.102789}, author = {Thomaz Teodorovicz and Andrew L. Kun and Raffaella Sadun and Orit Shaer} } @article {706251, title = {Perceptions related to engaging in non-driving activities in an automated vehicle while commuting: A text mining approach}, journal = {Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour}, volume = {94}, year = {2023}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369847823000189}, author = {Raffaella Sadub} } @article {691646, title = {The impact of COVID-19 on digital communication patterns}, journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences Communications}, volume = {9}, year = {2022}, pages = {180}, author = {Evan DeFilippis and Stephen Michael Impink and Madison Singell and Jeffrey T. Polzer and Raffaella Sadun} } @article {693720, title = {The World Management Survey at 18: Lessons and the Way Forward}, journal = {Oxford Review of Economic Policy}, volume = {37}, number = {2}, year = {2021}, pages = {231-258}, url = {https://academic.oup.com/oxrep/article-abstract/37/2/231/6311333}, author = {Daniela Scur and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen and Renata Lemos and Nicolas Bloom} } @article {687347, title = {How Does Working from Home during COVID-19 Affect What Managers Do? Evidence from Time-Use Studies}, journal = {Human-Computer Interaction}, year = {2021}, pages = {1-26}, abstract = {We assess how the sudden and widespread shift to working from home during the pandemic impacted how managers allocate time throughout their working day. We analyze the results from an online time-use survey with data on 1,192 knowledge workers (out of which 973 are managers) in two waves, a pre-pandemic wave collected in August/2019 (615 participants, out of which 506 are managers) and a post-pandemic wave collected in August/2020 (577 participants, out of which 464 are managers). Our findings indicate that the forced transition to WFH created by the COVID pandemic was associated with a drastic reduction in commuting time for managers, but also an increase in time spent in work rather than on personal activities. This included reallocating time gained from commuting into more time spent in meetings, possibly to recoup some of the extemporaneous interactions that typically happen in the office. This change is particularly pronounced for managers employed in larger organizations. We use the results from the time-use studies to discuss implications for the development of new technologies.}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1080/07370024.2021.1987908.}, author = {Thomaz Teodorovicz and Raffaella Sadun and Andrew L. Kun and Orit Shaer} } @article {672696, title = {Turbulence, Firm Decentralization and Growth in Bad Times}, journal = {American Economic Journal: Applied Economics}, volume = {13}, number = {1}, year = {2021}, abstract = {What is the optimal form of firm organization during {\textquotedblleft}bad times{\textquotedblright}? The greater turbulence following macro shocks may benefit decentralized firms because the value of local information increases (the {\textquotedblleft}localist{\textquotedblright} view). On the other hand, the need to make tough decisions may favor centralized firms (the {\textquotedblleft}centralist{\textquotedblright} view). Using two large micro datasets on decentralization in firms in ten OECD countries (WMS) and US establishments (MOPS administrative data), we find that firms that delegated more power from the Central Headquarters to local plant managers prior to the Great Recession out-performed their centralized counterparts in sectors that were hardest hit by the subsequent crisis (as measured by the exogenous component of export growth and product durability). Results based on measures of turbulence based on product churn and stock market volatility provide further support to the localist view. This conclusion is robust to alternative explanations such as managerial fears of bankruptcy and changing coordination costs. Although decentralization will be sub-optimal in many environments, it does appear to be beneficial for the average firm during bad times.}, url = {https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20180752}, author = {Philippe Aghion and Bloom, Nicholas and Brian Lucking and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen} } @article {672700, title = {CEO Behavior and Firm Performance}, journal = {Journal of Political Economy}, volume = {128}, number = {4}, year = {2020}, abstract = {We develop a new method to measure CEO behavior in large samples via a survey that collects high-frequency, high-dimensional diary data and a machine learning algorithm that estimates behavioral types. Applying this method to 1,114 CEOs in six countries reveals two types: {\textquotedblleft}leaders{\textquotedblright} who do multi-function, high-level meetings, and {\textquotedblleft}managers{\textquotedblright} who do individual meetings with core functions. Firms that hire leaders perform better, and it takes three years for a new CEO to make a difference. Structural estimates indicate that productivity differentials are due to mismatches rather than leaders being better for all firms.}, url = {https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/705331?mobileUi=0\&af=R}, author = {Oriana Bandiera and Stephen Hansen and Andrea Prat and Raffaella Sadun} } @article {672699, title = {Healthy Business? Managerial Education and Management in Healthcare}, journal = {Review of Economics and Statistics}, volume = {102}, number = {3}, year = {2020}, abstract = {We investigate the link between hospital performance and managerial education by collecting a large database of management practices and skills in hospitals across nine countries. We find that hospitals that are closer to universities offering both medical education and business education have lower mortality rates from Acute Myocardial Infarction (heart attacks), better management practices and more MBA trained managers. This is true compared to the distance to universities that offer only business or medical education (or neither). We argue that supplying bundled medical and business education may be a channel through which universities improve management practices in local hospitals and raise clinical performance.}, url = {https://direct.mit.edu/rest/article/102/3/506/96786/Healthy-Business-Managerial-Education-and}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Renata Lemos and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen} } @article {672697, title = {Measuring Collaboration in Modern Organizations}, journal = {American Economic Association papers and Proceedings}, volume = {110}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Internal communication has been a central theme in organizational economics, as employee collaboration provides insight into the structure of firms. Use of electronic communications data can be transformational for organizational economics, as these data provide a standardized way to measure organizational communication patterns and to determine the connection between these patterns and firm performance. We discuss the value of data that capture patterns of employee interactions, the benefits and risks associated with the use of electronic communication data (email and meetings) as empirical proxies for these collaboration patterns, and the research possibilities for studies across larger sets of firms.}, url = {https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pandp.20201068}, author = {Stephen Impink and Andrea Prat and Raffaella Sadun} } @article {672701, title = {Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work}, journal = {Review of Financial Studies}, volume = {31}, year = {2018}, pages = {1605{\textendash}1653}, abstract = {We present evidence on the labor supply of CEOs, and on whether family and professional CEOs di↵er on this dimension. We do so through a new survey instrument that allows us to codify CEOs{\textquoteright} diaries in a detailed and comparable fashion, and to build a bottom-up measure of CEO labor supply. The comparison of 1,114 family and professional CEOs reveals that family CEOs work 9\% fewer hours relative to professional CEOs. Hours worked are positively correlated with firm performance, and di↵erences between family and non-family CEOs account for approximately 18\% of the performance gap between family and non-family firms. We investigate the sources of the di↵erences in CEO labor supply across governance types by exploiting firm and industry heterogeneity, and quasi-exogenous meteorological and sport events. The evidence suggests that family CEOs value{\textendash}or can pursue{\textendash}leisure activities relatively more than professional CEOs.}, url = {https://academic.oup.com/rfs/article/31/5/1605/4708267}, author = {Oriana Bandiera and Renata Lemos and Andrea Prat and Raffaella Sadun} } @article {672702, title = {International Data on Measuring Management Practices}, journal = {American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings}, volume = {106}, number = {5}, year = {2016}, abstract = {We examine methods used to survey firms on their management and organizational practices. We contrast the strengths and weaknesses of "open ended questions" (like the World Management Survey) with "closed questions" (like the MOPS). For this type of data, open ended questions give higher quality responses, but are more costly than closed question-based surveys.}, url = {https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.p20161058}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Renata Lemos and Raffaella Sadun and Daniela Scur and John Van Reenen} } @article {672708, title = {Does Planning Regulation Protect Independent Retailers?}, journal = {Review of Economics and Statistics}, volume = {97}, number = {5}, year = {2015}, pages = {983-1001}, abstract = {Regulations curbing the entry of large retail stores have been introduced in many countries to protect independent retailers. Analyzing a planning reform launched in the United Kingdom in the 1990s, I show that independent retailers were actually harmed by the creation of entry barriers against large stores. This is because the entry barriers created the incentive for large retail chains to invest in smaller and more centrally located formats, which competed more directly with independents and accelerated their decline. Overall, these findings suggest that restricting the entry of large stores may exert negative competitive effects on independent retailers.}, url = {https://direct.mit.edu/rest/article/97/5/983/58272/Does-Planning-Regulation-Protect-Independent}, author = {Raffaella Sadun} } @article {672706, title = {Matching Firms, Managers, and Incentives}, journal = {Journal of Labor Economics}, volume = {30}, number = {3}, year = {2015}, pages = {623-681}, abstract = {We combine unique administrative and survey data to study the match between firms and managers. The data include manager characteristics, firm characteristics, detailed measures of managerial practices, and outcomes for the firm and the manager. A parsimonious model of matching and incentives generates implications that we test with our data. We use the model to illustrate how risk aversion and talent determine how firms select and motivate managers. We show that empirical links between firm governance, incentives, and performance, which have so far been studied in isolation, can instead all be interpreted within our simple unified matching framework.}, url = {https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/679672}, author = {Oriana Bandiera and Luigi Guiso and Andrea Prat and Raffaella Sadun} } @article {672705, title = {Does Management Matter in Schools?}, journal = {Economic Journal}, volume = {125}, number = {5}, year = {2015}, pages = {647-674}, abstract = {We collect data on management practices in over 1,800 high schools in eight countries. We show that higher management quality is strongly associated with better educational outcomes. The UK, Sweden, Canada and the US obtain the highest management scores, followed by Germany, with a gap before Italy, Brazil and India. We also show that autonomous government schools (government funded but with substantial independence like UK academies and US charters) have higher management scores than regular government or private schools. Almost half of the difference between the management scores of autonomous and regular government schools is accounted for principal leadership and governance.}, url = {https://academic.oup.com/ej/article-abstract/125/584/647/5077880?redirectedFrom=fulltext}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Renata Lemos and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen} } @article {672704, title = {Do private equity firms have better management practices?}, journal = {American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings}, volume = {105}, number = {5}, year = {2015}, pages = {442{\textendash}446 }, abstract = {Using an innovative survey measure of management practices on over 15,000 firms, we find private equity firms are better managed than government, family, and privately owned firms, and have similar management to publicly listed firms. This is true both in developed and developing countries. Looking at management practices in detail we find that private equity owned firms have strong people management practices (hiring, firing, pay, and promotions), but even stronger monitoring management practices (lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, and monitoring). Plant managers working in private equity owned firms also report greater autonomy from headquarters over sales, marketing, and new product introduction.}, url = {https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.p20151000}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen} } @article {672703, title = {Hospital Board And Management Practices Are Strongly Related To Hospital Performance On Clinical Quality Metrics}, journal = {Health Affairs}, volume = {34}, number = {8}, year = {2015}, pages = {1304{\textendash}1311}, url = {https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2014.1282}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Gawande, Atul and Robert Huckman and Ashish Jha and Raffaella Sadun and Thomas Tsai} } @article {672710, title = {The Distinct Effects of Information Technology and Communication Technology on Firm Organization}, journal = {Management Science}, volume = {60}, number = {12}, year = {2014}, pages = {2859-2885}, abstract = {Guided by theories of {\textquotedblleft}management by exception,{\textquotedblright} we study the impact of information and communication technology on worker and plant manager autonomy and span of control. The theory suggests that information technology is a decentralizing force, whereas communication technology is a centralizing force. Using a new data set of American and European manufacturing firms, we find indeed that better information technologies (enterprise resource planning (ERP) for plant managers and computer-assisted design/computer-assisted manufacturing for production workers) are associated with more autonomy and a wider span of control, whereas technologies that improve communication (like data intranets) decrease autonomy for workers and plant managers. Using instrumental variables (distance from ERP{\textquoteright}s place of origin and heterogeneous telecommunication costs arising from regulation) strengthens our results.}, url = {https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2014.2013}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Luis Garicano and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen} } @article {672707, title = {The New Empirical Economics of Management}, journal = {Journal of the European Economic Association}, volume = {12}, number = {4}, year = {2014}, pages = {835-876}, abstract = {Over the last decade the World Management Survey (WMS) has collected firm-level management practices data across multiple sectors and countries. We developed the survey to try to explain the large and persistent total factor productivity (TFP) differences across firms and countries. This review paper discusses what has been learned empirically and theoretically from the WMS and other recent work on management practices. Our preliminary results suggest that about a quarter of cross-country and within-country TFP gaps can be accounted for by management practices. Management seems to matter both qualitatively and quantitatively for performance at the level of the firm and the nation. Competition, governance, human capital, and informational frictions help account for the variation in management. We make some suggestions for both policy and future research.}, url = {https://academic.oup.com/jeea/article-abstract/12/4/835/2318424?redirectedFrom=fulltext}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Renata Lemos and Daniela Scur and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen} } @article {672716, title = {Management Practices across Firms and Countries}, journal = {Academy of Management Perspectives}, volume = {26}, number = {1}, year = {2012}, pages = {12-33}, abstract = {For the last decade we have been using double-blind survey techniques and randomized sampling to construct management data on over 10,000 organizations across twenty countries. On average, we find that in manufacturing American, Japanese, and German firms are the best managed. Firms in developing countries, such as Brazil, China and India tend to be poorly managed. American retail firms and hospitals are also well managed by international standards, although American schools are worse managed than those in several other developed countries. We also find substantial variation in management practices across organizations in every country and every sector, mirroring the heterogeneity in the spread of performance in these sectors. One factor linked to this variation is ownership. Government, family, and founder owned firms are usually poorly managed, while multinational, dispersed shareholder and private-equity owned firms are typically well managed. Stronger product market competition and higher worker skills are associated with better management practices. Less regulated labor markets are associated with improvements in incentive management practices such as performance based promotion.}, url = {https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amp.2011.0077}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Christos Genakos and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen} } @article {672715, title = {Americans Do IT Better: US Multinationals and the Productivity Miracle}, journal = {American Economic Review}, volume = {102}, number = {1}, year = {2012}, pages = {167{\textendash}201}, abstract = {US productivity growth accelerated after 1995 ( unlike Europe{\textquoteright}s ), particularly in sectors that intensively use information technologies (IT). Using two new micro panel dataseis we show that US multina- tionals operating in Europe also experienced a "productivity mira- cle " US multinationals obtained higher productivity from IT than non-US multinationals, particularly in the same sectors responsible for the US productivity acceleration. Furthermore , establishments taken over by US multinationals ( but not by non-US multination- als) increased the productivity of their IT. Combining pan-European firm-level IT data with our management practices survey , we find that the US IT related productivity advantage is primarily due to its tougher " people management " practices.}, url = {https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.102.1.167}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen} } @article {672713, title = {Regulation and UK Retailing Productivity: Evidence from Microdata}, journal = {Economica}, volume = {79}, year = {2012}, pages = {425-448}, abstract = {We explore the effects of planning regulation on the UK retail sector between 1997 and 2003 using micro data from the UK census. We document a shift to smaller shops following a 1996 regulatory change that increased the costs of opening large stores. Our analysis suggests that total factor productivity (TFP) of multi-store retail chains fell after the introduction of the reform due to, the reduction in store size. Overall, the reduction in store size was associated with TFP of retail chains falling by 0.4\% per annum, or 40\% of the post-1995 slowdown in UK retail TFP growth.}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-0335.2011.00903.x}, author = {Jonathan Haskel and Raffaella Sadun} } @article {672712, title = {The Organization of Firms Across Countries}, journal = {Quarterly Journal of Economics}, volume = {127}, number = {4}, year = {2012}, pages = {1663-1705}, abstract = {We argue that social capital as proxied by trust increases aggregate prod- uctivity by affecting the organization of firms. To do this we collect new data on the decentralization of investment, hiring, production, and sales decisions from corporate headquarters to local plant managers in almost 4,000 firms in the United States, Europe, and Asia. We find that firms headquartered in high-trust regions are significantly more likely to decentralize. To help identify causal effects, we look within multinational firms and show that higher levels of bilateral trust between the multinational{\textquoteright}s country of origin and subsidiary{\textquoteright}s country of location increases decentralization, even after instrumenting trust using religious similarities between the countries. Finally, we show evidence suggesting that trust raises aggregate productivity by facilitating reallocation between firms and allowing more efficient firms to grow, as CEOs can decen-tralize more decisions.}, url = {https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/127/4/1663/1842108?redirectedFrom=fulltext}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen} } @article {672719, title = {Recent Advances in the Empirics of Organizational Economics}, journal = {Annual Review of Economics}, volume = {2}, year = {2010}, pages = {105{\textendash}137}, abstract = {We present a survey of recent contributions in empirical organizational economics, focusing on management practices and decentralization. Productivity dispersion between firms and countries has motivated the improved measurement of firm organization across industries and countries. There appears to be substantial variation in management practices and decentralization not only between countries, but also especially within countries. Much of the poorer average management quality in countries like Brazil and India seems to result from a long tail of poorly managed firms, which barely exist in the United States. Some stylized facts include the following: (a) Competition seems to foster improved management and decentralization; (b) larger firms, skill-intensive plants, and foreign multinationals appear better managed and are more decentralized; (c) firms that are both family owned and managed appear to have worse management and are more centralized; and (d) firms facing an environment of lighter labor market regulations and more human capital specialize relatively more in people management. There is evidence for complementarities between information and communication technology, decentralization, and management, but the relationship is complex, and identification of the productivity effects of organizational practices remains a challenge for future research.}, url = {https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.economics.050708.143328}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen} } @article {672718, title = {Does Product Market Competition Lead Firms to Decentralize?}, journal = {American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings}, volume = {100}, number = {2}, year = {2010}, pages = {434{\textendash}438}, abstract = {There is a widespread sense that over the last two decades firms have been decentralizing decisions to employees further down the managerial hierarchy. Economists have developed a range of theories to account for delegation, but there is less empirical evidence, especially across countries. This has limited the ability to understand the phenomenon of decentralization. To address the empirical lacuna, we have developed a research program to measure the internal organization of firms{\textemdash}including their decentralization decisions{\textemdash}across a large range of industries and countries.}, url = {https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.100.2.434}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen} } @article {672717, title = {Modern Management: Good for the Environment or Just Hot Air?}, journal = {Economic Journal}, volume = {120}, number = {544}, year = {2010}, pages = {551{\textendash}572}, abstract = {We use an innovative methodology to measure management practices in over 300 manufacturing firms in the UK. We then match this management data to production and energy usage information for establishments owned by these firms. We find that establishments in better managed firms are significantly less energy intensive. This effect is quantitatively substantial: going from the 25th to the 75th percentile of management practices is associated with a 17.4\% reduction in energy intensity. Better managed firms are also significantly more productive. These results suggest that management practices that are associated with improved productivity are also linked to lower greenhouse gas emissions.}, url = {https://academic.oup.com/ej/article-abstract/120/544/551/5089677?redirectedFrom=fulltext}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Christos Genakos and Ralf Martin and Raffaella Sadun} } @article {672720, title = {Measuring and Explaining Management Practices in Italy}, journal = {La Rivista di Politica Economica}, year = {2008}, pages = {15-56}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen} } @case {706256, title = {Ferrari: Shifting to Carbon Neutrality}, year = {2023}, url = {https://store.hbr.org/product/ferrari-shifting-to-carbon-neutrality/723446?sku=723446-PDF-ENG}, author = {Raffaella Sadun and Elena Corsi and Leila Doumi} } @inbook {672730, title = {Are Founder CEOs Good Managers?}, booktitle = {Measuring Entrepreneurial Businesses: Current Knowledge and Challenges}, year = {2017}, publisher = {University of Chicago Press}, organization = {University of Chicago Press}, address = {Chicago}, author = {Victor Bennet and Megan Lawrence and Raffaella Sadun} } @inbook {672733, title = {Italian Managers: Fidelity or Performance?}, booktitle = {The Ruling Class: Management and Politics in Modern Italy}, year = {2010}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, organization = {Oxford University Press}, author = {Oriana Bandiera and Luigi Guiso and Andrea Prat and Raffaella Sadun} } @inbook {672732, title = {Entry, Exit and Labor Productivity in U.K. Retailing: Evidence from Micro Data}, booktitle = {Producer Dynamics: New Evidence from Micro Data}, year = {2009}, publisher = {University of Chicago Press}, organization = {University of Chicago Press}, address = {Chicago}, author = {Jonathan Haskel and Raffaella Sadun} } @inbook {672731, title = {Do Private Equity-owned Firms Have Better Management Practices?}, booktitle = { The Global Economic Impact of Private Equity Report 2009}, year = {2009}, pages = {1-23}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, organization = {World Economic Forum}, address = {Geneva}, author = {Bloom, Nicholas and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen} } @inbook {672734, title = {Productivity and ICTs: A Review of the Evidence}, booktitle = {The Oxford Handbook of Information and Communication Technologies}, year = {2007}, pages = {100-147}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, organization = {Oxford University Press}, address = {Oxford}, author = {Mirko Draca and Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen} }