Vlerick Repository
The Vlerick Repository is a searchable open-access publication database, containing the complete archive of research output written by Vlerick Business School faculty and researchers.
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Item The Value of Control in Private Companies(De Gruyter, 2025-05)The controlling shareholder of a company has the potential to extract private benefits of control (PBC). In contrast to shared benefits, PBC are proceeds that accrue only to the majority shareholders. They can take a variety of forms that range from outright theft to a (covert) compensation for private costs incurred in controlling the company. It is notoriously difficult to measure PBC and the literature only provides a rough guidance based on two methods: the control premium method and the voting premium method. These two methods are based on the logic that PBC must be the reason why the controlling shareholder pays a premium over the market price for a controlling block or why voting and non-voting shares are priced differently. This paper introduces a third method to estimate the PBC. We look at the discount (compared to a baseline valuation made at the controlling level) that minority shareholders ask to invest in a company. In the context of private companies, we find a discount of 16.72 % that translates into estimated PBC of 20.08 % (premium per share). We argue that the discount for lack of control can be explained as a discount for private benefits.Item The use of continuous action representations to scale deep reinforcement learning for inventory control(Oxford University Press (OUP), 2025)Abstract Accepted by: M. Zied Babai Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) can solve complex inventory problems with a multi-dimensional state space. However, most approaches use a discrete action representation and do not scale well to problems with multi-dimensional action spaces. We use DRL with a continuous action representation for inventory problems with a large (multi-dimensional) discrete action space. To obtain feasible discrete actions from a continuous action representation, we add a tailored mapping function to the policy network that maps the continuous outputs of the policy network to a feasible integer solution. We demonstrate our approach to multi-product inventory control. We show how a continuous action representation solves larger problem instances and requires much less training time than a discrete action representation. Moreover, we show its performance matches state-of-the-art heuristic replenishment policies. This promising research avenue might pave the way for applying DRL in inventory control at scale and in practice.Item The Effect of Process and Outcome Accountability on Individual Exploration(Academy of Management, 2016-01)Most organizations today use various management control systems that make employees accountable for what they do and/or how they do it. Accountability systems that emphasis either outcomes or processes have been found to differentially influence performance in various contexts. In this paper, the effect of these types of accountability on individual exploration (innovation) is examined. Using the concept of performance pressure (the stakes and demands associated with the task) and employing a motivated information processing perspective, it is predicted that process accountability will increase exploration of new ideas while outcome accountability will lead to more exploitation of existing ideas. An experiment is described that tests the main effects of accountability type and examines the mediating role of performance pressure. Results show support for the main effect of accountability type on exploration and provide partial support for the mediating role of performance pressure.Publication How to stand out in a company’s global manufacturing network(Harvard Business School Corporation, 2025)Global manufacturers are constantly revamping their network of plants. Surviving over the long term for a factory—especially one located in a high-cost country—can be extremely difficult. But an exception to the rule—a Pfizer plant in Belgium that ended up producing its mRNA Covid-19 vaccine—demonstrated that it can be done. An extensive study of the steps that the plant’s leaders took beginning in the mid-2000s—revealed how a plant can become indispensable. They took the facility through five stages: 1) improve operational excellence, 2) improve capabilities for making new products, 3) specialize, 4) increase responsiveness, and 5) build a knowledge network.