Learning across the life cycle: Experimentation and performance among the Hollywood studio heads

被引:234
作者
Miller, D
Shamsie, J
机构
[1] Ecole Hautes Etud Commerciales, Montreal, PQ H4A 2S9, Canada
[2] Columbia Univ, Grad Sch Business, New York, NY 10027 USA
[3] Univ Calif Los Angeles, Anderson Grad Sch Management, Los Angeles, CA 90024 USA
关键词
CEO life cycle; organizational change; product line experimentation; Hollywood film studios;
D O I
10.1002/smj.171
中图分类号
F [经济];
学科分类号
02 ;
摘要
Guided by notions from the literature on organizational learning, this paper investigates how product line experimentation and organizational performance change across the careers of top managers. Its subjects are the studio heads who ran all the major Hollywood film studios from 1936 to 1965. The study found first, that product line experimentation declines over the course of executive tenures; second, that there is an inverse U-shaped relationship between top executive tenure and an organization's financial performance; and third, that product line experimentation is more likely to benefit financial performance late in top executives' tenures. These findings are consistent with a three-stage 'executive life cycle'. During the early years of their tenures, top managers experiment intensively with their product lines to learn about their business, later on their accumulated knowledge allows them to reduce experimentation and increase performance; finally, in their last years, executives reduce experimentation still further, and performance declines. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
引用
收藏
页码:725 / 745
页数:21
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