Hierarchical structure in Brazilian industrial firms: an econometric study

The paper investigates different implications of theoretical models for hierarchical structure. A sample of 6578 firms in the Brazilian manufacturing industry is considered and explanatory factors pertaining structural characteristics, network technology, technological innovations, managerial innovations and Incentive mechanisms are investigated. Important joint effects are detected for all groups of variables in partial contrast with the related previous literature. Moreover, one detects significant joint effect of the newly considered group of incentive mechanisms variables. The evidence in terms of individual effects is largely consistent with the predicted effects from the theoretical literature on hierarchy.