Purpose

How does corporate downsizing contribute to a firm’s long-term value? While the extant empirical findings on this relationship are inconclusive, contradictory and equivocal, the answers to this question remain particularly important in today’s business environment. Considering that downsizing is often directed toward long-term growth and survival, the authors posit that scholars should account for the temporal nature of this strategic decision to understand its economic impact on the firm’s operations. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide a more rigorous empirical examination of how a firm’s decision to downsize its workforce affects that firm’s long-term value.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used Wibbens and Siggelkow’s (2020) measure of long-term investor value appropriation (LIVA) to directly observe the effects of corporate downsizing on firm long-term value and growth. Using a sample of 3,149 US publicly traded manufacturing firms that operated between 2002 and 2018, the authors tested the main effect of downsizing on LIVA and three boundary condition hypotheses.

Findings

The authors found a positive relationship between corporate downsizing and a firm’s long-term value. Interestingly, this positive relationship is stronger among firms that had high human resource slack and R&D intensity. Contrary to our expectations, the authors did not find support for the moderation effect of the proximity to bankruptcy on the relationship between corporate downsizing and a firm’s long-term value.

Originality/value

With these findings, this paper sheds light on the long-term implications of a firm’s decision to downsize its workforce.

中文翻译：

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裁员还是不裁员：企业裁员何时以及如何创造长期价值？

目的

公司裁员如何为公司的长期价值做出贡献？虽然关于这种关系的现有实证结果尚无定论、矛盾和模棱两可，但在当今的商业环境中，这个问题的答案仍然特别重要。考虑到裁员通常是为了长期增长和生存，作者认为学者应该考虑这一战略决策的时间性质，以了解其对公司运营的经济影响。因此，本文的目的是对公司裁员决定如何影响公司的长期价值进行更严格的实证检验。

设计/方法/方法

作者使用 Wibbens 和 Siggelkow (2020) 的长期投资者价值拨款 (LIVA) 衡量标准来直接观察公司裁员对公司长期价值和增长的影响。作者使用 2002 年至 2018 年间运营的 3,149 家美国上市制造公司的样本，测试了裁员对 LIVA 的主要影响和三个边界条件假设。

发现

作者发现公司裁员与公司长期价值之间存在正相关关系。有趣的是，这种正相关关系在人力资源松弛和研发强度高的公司中更强。与我们的预期相反，作者没有找到支持临近破产对公司裁员与公司长期价值之间关系的调节作用的支持。

原创性/价值

通过这些发现，本文阐明了公司裁员决定的长期影响。