Author(s)
Avi Goldfarb and Mo Xiao
Source
NET Institute Working Paper #08-21, 2008
Summary
This paper examines how manager and firm characteristics relate to entry decisions in U.S. local telephone markets.
Policy Relevance
Managers's skills have an extremely strong impact on firms' strategic survival.
Main Points
- Older firms with older, more experienced managers have higher estimated levels of strategic ability.
- Managers with degrees in economics or business, and managers with graduate degrees, also have higher estimated levels of strategic ability.
- This paper finds no evidence that the quality of managers’ degrees, based on their universities, is related to ability.
- The estimates of strategic ability are also correlated with survival: those firms with lower estimated levels of ability are more likely to exit the industry early.
