Organizational change and performance improvement.

• Position: National Bureau of Economic Research meeting

As part of a major project on Industrial Technology and Production sponsored by the Sloan Foundation, the NBER organized a research project on "Organizational Change and Performance Improvement," directed by Susan Helper of Case Western Reserve University. The results of this project were presented at a conference in Santa Rosa, California, on April 22-24. The papers discussed were:

Donald Siegel, David Waldman, and Jonathan Silberman, Arizona State University, and Albert Link, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, "Assessing the Impact of Organizational Practices on the Performance of University Technology Transfer Offices: Quantitative and Qualitative Evidence"

Discussant: Adam B. Jaffe, NBER and Brandeis University

Ashish Arora and Jai Asundi, Carnegie-Mellon University, "Quality Certification and the Economics of Contact Software Development: A Study of the Indian Software Service Companies"

Discussant: David Cole, University of California, Berkeley

Jacques Mairesse, NBER and INSEE, and Nathalie Greenan, Centre d'Etude de l'Emploi, "Organizational Change and Productivity in French Manufacturing: What Do We Learn from Firm Representatives and Their Employees?"

Discussant: David Autor, Harvard University

V. G. Narayanan and Ratna G. Sarkar, Harvard University, "ABC at Insteel Industries"

Discussant: Edward P. Lazear, NBER and Stanford University

Michael R. Darby and Lynne G. Zucker, NBER and University of California, Los Angeles, "Local Academic Science Driving Organizational Change: The Adoption of Biotechnology by Japanese Firms"

Discussant: George P. Baker, NBER and Harvard University

Iain M. Cockburn, NBER and University of British Columbia, and Rebecca Henderson and Scott Stern, NBER and MIT, "The Diffusion of 'Science-Driven' Drug Discovery in Pharmaceutical Research"

Discussant: Kenneth L. Sokoloff, NBER and University of California, Los Angeles

Richard N. Rosett, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Joshua G. Rosett, Tulane University, "Characteristics of TQM: Evidence from the RIT/USA Today Quality Cup Competition"

Discussant: David I. Levine, University of California, Berkeley

Susan Helper, "Complementarity and Cost Reduction: Evidence from the Auto Supply Industry" (NBER Working Paper No. 6033)

Discussant: Michael Piere, MIT

Kathryn L. Shaw, NBER and Carnegie-Mellon University; Jon Gant, Indiana University; and Casey Ichniowski, NBER and Columbia University, "The Evolution toward High-Involvement Organizations...