出版社：Suntory Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines
摘要：We develop a model of hierarchies based on the allocation ofauthority. A firm's owners have ultimate authority over a firm'sdecisions, but they have limited time or capacity to exercise thisauthority. Hence owners must delegate authority to subordinates.However, these subordinates also have limited time or capacityand so further delegation must occur. We analyze the optimalchain of command given that different agents have different tasks:some agents are engaged in coordination and others inspecialization. Our theory throws light on the nature of hierarchy,the optimal degree of decentralization, and the boundaries of thefirm
