Multi-business firms redeploy human capital to strengthen individual business units. However, we know little about the antecedents of such redeployments and their effects on unit outcomes. Contributing to the resource redeployment and strategic human capital literatures, we test the relationships between parent–unit industry relatedness, the direction of redeployment (parent-to-unit and unit-to-parent), the type of human capital, the likelihood of redeployment, and post-redeployment unit closure. Using Norwegian population-level microdata of spinouts, we find that parent–unit industry relatedness increases the likelihood of human capital redeployment and that this effect is stronger for generalists than for specialists. Further, we find that parent-to-unit and unit-to-parent redeployment of generalists and specialists have distinct effects on unit closure, largely because of differences in post-redeployment unit performance.
Ostergaard, Charlotte; Sasson, Amir & Sørensen, Bent E. (2020)
Cash flow sensitivities and bank-finance shocks in non-listed firms
We study how small firms manage cash flows by estimating cash flow sensitivities for all sources and uses of cash. Our data are Norwegian non-listed firms which can be matched to the banks they borrow from. Firms with low cash holdings mainly use external finance to offset cash flow fluctuations over the cycle, whereas firms with high cash holdings rely mainly on internal finance. Estimating how cash flow sensitivities change with exogenous bank shocks, we find that the cyclicality of cash-poor firms' investment is amplified because they do not substitute internal for external finance. Our results imply that for small firms, the transmission of financial shocks to the real economy is closely tied to their accumulation of cash.
Sasson, Amir (2018)
At the Forefront, Looking Ahead: Research-Based Answers to Contemporary Uncertainties of Management
Universitetsforlaget.
This book presents research-based answers to some of the uncertainties that managers, investors, employees and policymakers face. On its 75th anniversary, BI Norwegian Business School is undoubtedly a researchbased school at the forefront of global research. Its research groups contribute excellent, original research that is at the international forefront appearing in top international journals, while its graduates, more than those of any other school, populate CEO positions. Being at the forefront requires that we look ahead, not merely celebrate past successes. This book does exactly that. It covers three themes: 1. The digital organization, including algorithm-based decision making and management, digital labour, business models, corporate reputation and branding 2. The governance of corporations, with specific reference to state-owned and family-owned firms and their auditing 3. Decision-making, incentives and innovation, covering issues such as employee motivation and creativity, environmental R&D, political decision-making and customer experience
O'Brien, Jonathan & Sasson, Amir (2017)
A contingency theory of entrepreneurial debt governance
Access to debt can be crucial for entrepreneurs who need capital. Embedding economic ties within a social relationship with the debt provider can ensure capital availability and attenuate opportunism. However, such a relationship requires substantial investments in time and effort. We advance a solution to this entrepreneurial conundrum by proposing a contingency theory which prescribes aligning the fundamental transactional properties (i.e., asset specificity, uncertainty and frequency) with the nature of the entrepreneur-bank relationship (i.e., embedded versus arm's length). Our theory predicts that transactional properties affect the optimal governance of the entrepreneur-bank relationship, and that social embeddedness can transform what looks like a market transaction (e.g., a debt transaction) into a hybrid form of governance more akin to a hierarchy. Using a sample of small businesses in the U.S., we find that congruence between the optimal governance structure and the actual governance structure results in higher firm performance
Sasson, Amir & Johnson, John Chandler (2016)
The 3D printing order: variability, supercenters and supply chain reconfigurations
International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 46(1), s. 82- 94. Doi: 10.1108/IJPDLM-10-2015-0257
Luzzi, Alessandra & Sasson, Amir (2016)
Individual Entrepreneurial Exit and Earnings in Subsequent Paid Employment
Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 40(2), s. 401- 420. Doi: 10.1111/etap.12225
