An Innovation Theory of Headquarters Value in Multibusiness Firms
提出并检验了一个新理论：在多业务公司中，总部通过促进业务单元间的市场式互动来推动创新和增长，而非传统的资源分配。对银行业的数据分析支持了这一理论。
A fundamental question in corporate strategy is how headquarters in multibusiness firms can create value above and beyond the burden of its own overhead. The leading theories from Chandler and Williamson hold that this is possible through resource allocation across businesses. Yet, there are multibusiness firms for whom reallocation opportunities are limited—e.g., chains. Accordingly, we propose, model, and test an alternative theory, one in which headquarters facilitates market-like dynamics between businesses that fuel innovation and growth. Whereas Chandler’s and Williamson’s theories involve the visible hand of managers, ours involves an invisible hand of managers. We construct an interacting agent model of the theory, which yields three propositions relating multibusiness structure to firm growth. We test those propositions in the banking industry and obtain results consistent with the model’s predictions. In particular, knowledge growth increases in the number of units and heterogeneity in their knowledge, and increases then decreases in their geographic distance. Interestingly, once we account for these structural elements, scale and hierarchy both suppress innovation. Thus, neither Williamson’s nor Chandler’s theories hold in our setting (consistent with the argument motivating the need for an additional theory).