Puttin' on the Ritz: Pre-Ipo Enlistment of Prestigious Affiliates as Deadline-Induced Remediation
研究了公司在IPO前一年提升声望的两种理论模型，发现声望贫乏的公司会在最后一年积极高价招募有声望的高管和董事，作为截止日期驱动的补救措施。
We describe two theoretical explanations for the amount, pace, and costs of the prestige enhancement a firm engages in during the year before its initial public offering. The “snowball model” captures well-known processes whereby prestige-rich organizations accumulate even more prestige. The “dressing-up model” builds upon deadline-induced remediation, a phenomenon not previously studied in a macro-organizational context. In 242 software IPOs, the snowball model substantially explains final-year prestigious hiring. But there is also strong evidence of a tandem dressing-up process. As the final year counts down, prestige-poor firms aggressively hire prestigious executives and directors and pay higher prices to do so.