Asymmetric information, competitive intelligence, and organizational performance

Downs, Joshua Austin

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/110478 Copy

Description

Title

Asymmetric information, competitive intelligence, and organizational performance

Author(s)

Downs, Joshua Austin

Issue Date

2021-04-19

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Somaya, Deepak

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

• Mahoney, Joseph M
• Somaya, Deepak

Committee Member(s)

• Michael, Steven
• Subramanyam, Ramanath

Department of Study

Business Administration

Discipline

Business Administration

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Asymmetric Information
• Competitive Intelligence
• Strategic Factor Markets
• Employee Mobility
• Major League Baseball

Abstract

This dissertation examines the effects of two sources of asymmetric information on organizational performance. The first source, residual knowledge, is conceptualized in the first chapter as the knowledge held by organizations about their former resources that now belong to competitor organizations. It is posited that residual knowledge can lead to a competitive advantage against the focal rival relative to its other competitors by complementing the resources deployed against them in dyadic competition. The second source of asymmetric information, illicit competitive intelligence, is posited to lead to competitive advantage by providing an organization with exclusive access to a competitor’s secret information for use against them in dyadic competition. Chapters 2 and 3 test the effects of each source of asymmetric information respectively on organizational performance under certain conditions within the empirical context of Major League Baseball. Results from analysis of the relative performance of batters against their former organizations over 32 years in Chapter 2 corroborate the hypothesis that advantages from residual knowledge will erode with the proliferation of analytics capabilities across competitors. Evidence to corroborate the hypotheses related to employee and manager quality is not found. Chapter 3 exploits the Houston Astros cheating scandal from 2017-2018 as a documented usage of illicit competitive intelligence. A difference-in-differences approach analyzing home and away performance before and after the cheating period finds no evidence to corroborate the hypotheses relating the use of illicit competitive intelligence to positive performance. Implications of the findings and non-findings for each are discussed. Chapter 4 summarizes the dissertation and discusses the contributions to the literature concerning asymmetric information and organizational performance.

Graduation Semester

2021-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110478

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Copyright 2021 Joshua Downs

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