Ewald Engelen, Ismail Ertürk, Julie Froud, Sukhdev Johal, Adam Leaver, Mick Moran, Adriana Nilsson, and Karel Williams
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199589081
- eISBN:
- 9780191731150
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199589081.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Finance, Accounting, and Banking, Political Economy
This book addresses two important questions: first, why did financial innovation lead to the crisis in the banking sector that developed in 2007–8; and, second, why the political reform of finance ...
More
This book addresses two important questions: first, why did financial innovation lead to the crisis in the banking sector that developed in 2007–8; and, second, why the political reform of finance has apparently proved so difficult across a variety of political jurisdictions? This ambitious book draws on a team of researchers from different disciplines to develop an innovation and distinctive argument in response to these two critical issues. In the first half of this book our question is about how crisis was generated. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 develop our answer, which is that innovation in and around the financial markets took the form of bricolage which did not consider the risks, uncertainty, and unintended consequences of volume-based business models and complex circuits. The direct implication is that finance needs to be simplified, rather than regulation made more sophisticated. In the second half of the book, our question is about why democratic political control both before and after the crisis has proved so difficult? Chapters 5, 6, and 7 develop our answer, which is that self-serving financial elites are not easily controlled by technocratic elites who are themselves recovering from knowledge failure, or by the rest of the governing classes concerned with political positioning for electoral advantage on issues which are technical, opaque, and illegible to the electorate at large. In Chapter 8, we discuss some of the implications of this analysis for how reform of both banking regulation and democracy is required.Less
This book addresses two important questions: first, why did financial innovation lead to the crisis in the banking sector that developed in 2007–8; and, second, why the political reform of finance has apparently proved so difficult across a variety of political jurisdictions? This ambitious book draws on a team of researchers from different disciplines to develop an innovation and distinctive argument in response to these two critical issues. In the first half of this book our question is about how crisis was generated. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 develop our answer, which is that innovation in and around the financial markets took the form of bricolage which did not consider the risks, uncertainty, and unintended consequences of volume-based business models and complex circuits. The direct implication is that finance needs to be simplified, rather than regulation made more sophisticated. In the second half of the book, our question is about why democratic political control both before and after the crisis has proved so difficult? Chapters 5, 6, and 7 develop our answer, which is that self-serving financial elites are not easily controlled by technocratic elites who are themselves recovering from knowledge failure, or by the rest of the governing classes concerned with political positioning for electoral advantage on issues which are technical, opaque, and illegible to the electorate at large. In Chapter 8, we discuss some of the implications of this analysis for how reform of both banking regulation and democracy is required.
Colin Crouch, David Finegold, and Mari Sako
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198294382
- eISBN:
- 9780191685040
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198294382.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, HRM / IR, Political Economy
This study of the problems confronting institutions for the creation of occupational skills in seven advanced industrialised countries contributes to two different areas of debate. The first is the ...
More
This study of the problems confronting institutions for the creation of occupational skills in seven advanced industrialised countries contributes to two different areas of debate. The first is the study of the diversity of institutional forms taken by modern capitalism, and the difficulties currently surrounding the survival of that diversity. Most discussions of this theme analyse economic institutions and governance in general. This book is more specific, focusing on the key area of skill creation. The second theme is that of vocational education and training in its own right. While sharing the consensus that the advanced countries must secure competitive advantage in a global economy by developing highly skilled work-forces, the book draws attention to certain awkward aspects of this approach that are often glossed over in general debate: the employment-generating power of improvements in skill levels is limited; employment policy cannot depend fully on education policies. While the acquisition of skills has become a major public need, there is increasing dependence for their provision on individual firms, which can have no responsibility for general needs, with government action being restricted to residual care for the unemployed rather than contributing at the leading edge of advanced skills policy.Less
This study of the problems confronting institutions for the creation of occupational skills in seven advanced industrialised countries contributes to two different areas of debate. The first is the study of the diversity of institutional forms taken by modern capitalism, and the difficulties currently surrounding the survival of that diversity. Most discussions of this theme analyse economic institutions and governance in general. This book is more specific, focusing on the key area of skill creation. The second theme is that of vocational education and training in its own right. While sharing the consensus that the advanced countries must secure competitive advantage in a global economy by developing highly skilled work-forces, the book draws attention to certain awkward aspects of this approach that are often glossed over in general debate: the employment-generating power of improvements in skill levels is limited; employment policy cannot depend fully on education policies. While the acquisition of skills has become a major public need, there is increasing dependence for their provision on individual firms, which can have no responsibility for general needs, with government action being restricted to residual care for the unemployed rather than contributing at the leading edge of advanced skills policy.
Philip Cooke and Kevin Morgan
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198290186
- eISBN:
- 9780191684784
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198290186.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation, Political Economy
This book explores important issues of corporate reorganization in the context of heightened global competition. Its special focus is upon how firms associate with regional milieux. Innovation is a ...
More
This book explores important issues of corporate reorganization in the context of heightened global competition. Its special focus is upon how firms associate with regional milieux. Innovation is a key factor in corporate and regional economic performance and the book shows how interactive innovation based on collective learning and associative practices are becoming increasingly significant. In-depth studies of inter-firm and firm-agency interactions are presented for four European regions: Baden-Württemberg and Emilia-Romagna as accomplished regional economies; Wales and the Basque Country as learning regions. The book is theoretically informed by an evolutionary economics perspective and draws policy conclusions which emphasize the importance of decentralized industrial policy in support of both corporate and regional economic development ambitions. It concludes that the associational economy may be the ‘third way’ between state and market co-ordination of modern economies.Less
This book explores important issues of corporate reorganization in the context of heightened global competition. Its special focus is upon how firms associate with regional milieux. Innovation is a key factor in corporate and regional economic performance and the book shows how interactive innovation based on collective learning and associative practices are becoming increasingly significant. In-depth studies of inter-firm and firm-agency interactions are presented for four European regions: Baden-Württemberg and Emilia-Romagna as accomplished regional economies; Wales and the Basque Country as learning regions. The book is theoretically informed by an evolutionary economics perspective and draws policy conclusions which emphasize the importance of decentralized industrial policy in support of both corporate and regional economic development ambitions. It concludes that the associational economy may be the ‘third way’ between state and market co-ordination of modern economies.
Bob Hancké, Martin Rhodes, and Mark Thatcher (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199206483
- eISBN:
- 9780191709715
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199206483.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
Since the early 1990s, Europe's economies have been facing several new challenges: the 1992 single market programme, the collapse of the Berlin wall and eastward enlargement, and monetary ...
More
Since the early 1990s, Europe's economies have been facing several new challenges: the 1992 single market programme, the collapse of the Berlin wall and eastward enlargement, and monetary unification. Building on the influential Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) perspective, this book critically analyses these developments in the European political economy and their effects on the continental European economies. The chapters include debate about how VoC can help understand the political-economic challenges that Europe is facing today, and how understanding these new challenges can in turn enrich and enhance the VoC perspective. Thematically, the contributions to this volume are organised in four sections: how the macro-economics of EMU influenced different European models of capitalism; how the Single Market programme was received in the different institutional regimes in European capitalism; how welfare and labour market reforms are debated and implemented; and how European capitalism travelled east after 1989. The book aims to demonstrate that the VoC approach remains — as the editors put it in their introduction — a rich seam to mine, capable of accommodating new developments, and theoretically flexible enough to branch out into new arguments.Less
Since the early 1990s, Europe's economies have been facing several new challenges: the 1992 single market programme, the collapse of the Berlin wall and eastward enlargement, and monetary unification. Building on the influential Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) perspective, this book critically analyses these developments in the European political economy and their effects on the continental European economies. The chapters include debate about how VoC can help understand the political-economic challenges that Europe is facing today, and how understanding these new challenges can in turn enrich and enhance the VoC perspective. Thematically, the contributions to this volume are organised in four sections: how the macro-economics of EMU influenced different European models of capitalism; how the Single Market programme was received in the different institutional regimes in European capitalism; how welfare and labour market reforms are debated and implemented; and how European capitalism travelled east after 1989. The book aims to demonstrate that the VoC approach remains — as the editors put it in their introduction — a rich seam to mine, capable of accommodating new developments, and theoretically flexible enough to branch out into new arguments.
Richard Whitley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199205172
- eISBN:
- 9780191709555
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199205172.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
Twenty-first century capitalism has been marked by an increasing international economic independence, and considerable differences between dominant economic systems of coordination and control. In ...
More
Twenty-first century capitalism has been marked by an increasing international economic independence, and considerable differences between dominant economic systems of coordination and control. In this context, national competition and coordination within industries has increased, but the governance of leading firms and the kinds of competences they develop remains quite diverse. This book suggests how we can understand this combination of diversity and integration by developing the comparative business systems framework in three major ways. First, by identifying the particular circumstances in which distinctive business systems and innovation systems become nationally established and reproduced, as well as how changing endogenous and exogenous pressures have affected the major kinds of business systems that developed in many OECD states during the post-war period. Second, by showing how variations in authority sharing with employees and business partners and in the provision of organizational careers lead institutional regimes to affect the nature of organizational capabilities that dominant firms develop and enable them to deal with different kinds of risks and opportunities in particular technologies and markets. Third, by identifying the circumstances in which multinational firms are likely to develop distinctive transnational organizational capabilities through such authority sharing and careers, and so become different kinds of companies from their more domestically focused competitors. In many if not most cases of cross-national managerial coordination, these conditions rarely exist, and so the extent to which multinational firms do indeed constitute distinct organizational forms and strategic actors is much less than is sometimes claimed.Less
Twenty-first century capitalism has been marked by an increasing international economic independence, and considerable differences between dominant economic systems of coordination and control. In this context, national competition and coordination within industries has increased, but the governance of leading firms and the kinds of competences they develop remains quite diverse. This book suggests how we can understand this combination of diversity and integration by developing the comparative business systems framework in three major ways. First, by identifying the particular circumstances in which distinctive business systems and innovation systems become nationally established and reproduced, as well as how changing endogenous and exogenous pressures have affected the major kinds of business systems that developed in many OECD states during the post-war period. Second, by showing how variations in authority sharing with employees and business partners and in the provision of organizational careers lead institutional regimes to affect the nature of organizational capabilities that dominant firms develop and enable them to deal with different kinds of risks and opportunities in particular technologies and markets. Third, by identifying the circumstances in which multinational firms are likely to develop distinctive transnational organizational capabilities through such authority sharing and careers, and so become different kinds of companies from their more domestically focused competitors. In many if not most cases of cross-national managerial coordination, these conditions rarely exist, and so the extent to which multinational firms do indeed constitute distinct organizational forms and strategic actors is much less than is sometimes claimed.
Subramanian Rangan (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- June 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198825067
- eISBN:
- 9780191863745
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198825067.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Corporate Governance and Accountability, Political Economy
Our quest for prosperity has produced great output but not always great outcomes. The list of concerns is growing and familiar. Fundamentally, when it comes to well-being, fairness, and the scope of ...
More
Our quest for prosperity has produced great output but not always great outcomes. The list of concerns is growing and familiar. Fundamentally, when it comes to well-being, fairness, and the scope of our humanity, the modern economic system still leaves much to be desired. In turn, trust in business and the liberal market system (aka “capitalism”) has been declining and regulation has been rising. A variety of forces—civic, economic, and intellectual—have been probing for better alternatives. The contributions in this volume, coauthored by eminent philosophers, social scientists, and a handful of thoughtful business leaders, are submitted in this spirit. The thrust of the work is conveyed in the volume’s titular question: Capitalism Beyond Mutuality? Mutuality, or the exchange of benefits, has been established as the prime principle of interaction in addressing the chronic dilemma of human interdependence. Mutuality is a fundament in the social contract approach and it serves us well. Yet, to address the concerns outlined here, we must help evolve an economic paradigm where mutuality is more systematically complemented by reasoned and elective morality. Otherwise the state will remain the sole (if inadequate) protector and buffer between market and society. Hence, rather than just regulate power we must also educate power. Philosophy has a natural role, especially when education is the preferred vehicle of transformation. Accordingly, the essays in this volume integrate philosophy and social science to outline and explore concrete approaches to these important concerns emanating from business practice and theory.Less
Our quest for prosperity has produced great output but not always great outcomes. The list of concerns is growing and familiar. Fundamentally, when it comes to well-being, fairness, and the scope of our humanity, the modern economic system still leaves much to be desired. In turn, trust in business and the liberal market system (aka “capitalism”) has been declining and regulation has been rising. A variety of forces—civic, economic, and intellectual—have been probing for better alternatives. The contributions in this volume, coauthored by eminent philosophers, social scientists, and a handful of thoughtful business leaders, are submitted in this spirit. The thrust of the work is conveyed in the volume’s titular question: Capitalism Beyond Mutuality? Mutuality, or the exchange of benefits, has been established as the prime principle of interaction in addressing the chronic dilemma of human interdependence. Mutuality is a fundament in the social contract approach and it serves us well. Yet, to address the concerns outlined here, we must help evolve an economic paradigm where mutuality is more systematically complemented by reasoned and elective morality. Otherwise the state will remain the sole (if inadequate) protector and buffer between market and society. Hence, rather than just regulate power we must also educate power. Philosophy has a natural role, especially when education is the preferred vehicle of transformation. Accordingly, the essays in this volume integrate philosophy and social science to outline and explore concrete approaches to these important concerns emanating from business practice and theory.
Colin Crouch
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199286652
- eISBN:
- 9780191713354
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199286652.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
Over the last decade, the neo-institutionalist literature on comparative capitalism has developed into an influential body of work. This book assesses this literature and proposes a major ...
More
Over the last decade, the neo-institutionalist literature on comparative capitalism has developed into an influential body of work. This book assesses this literature and proposes a major re-orientation of the field. It critiques many aspects of this work and finds a way of modelling how creative actors trying to achieve change — institutional entrepreneurs — tackle these constraints. Central to the account is the concept of governance, as it is by recombining governance mechanisms that these entrepreneurs must achieve their goals. In seeking how to analyse the spaces in which they operate, the book criticises and deconstructs some dominant approaches in socio-political analysis: to typologies, to elective affinity and complementarity, to path dependence. It develops a theory of governance modes, which includes potentially decomposing them into their core components. Finally, it proposes a reorientation of the neo-institutionalist research programme to take more account of detailed diversity and potentiality for change. The book is primarily theoretical, but it makes liberal use of examples, particularly from studies of local economic development and politics.Less
Over the last decade, the neo-institutionalist literature on comparative capitalism has developed into an influential body of work. This book assesses this literature and proposes a major re-orientation of the field. It critiques many aspects of this work and finds a way of modelling how creative actors trying to achieve change — institutional entrepreneurs — tackle these constraints. Central to the account is the concept of governance, as it is by recombining governance mechanisms that these entrepreneurs must achieve their goals. In seeking how to analyse the spaces in which they operate, the book criticises and deconstructs some dominant approaches in socio-political analysis: to typologies, to elective affinity and complementarity, to path dependence. It develops a theory of governance modes, which includes potentially decomposing them into their core components. Finally, it proposes a reorientation of the neo-institutionalist research programme to take more account of detailed diversity and potentiality for change. The book is primarily theoretical, but it makes liberal use of examples, particularly from studies of local economic development and politics.
Richard Whitley and Xiaoke Zhang (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198729167
- eISBN:
- 9780191795886
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198729167.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, International Business, Political Economy
This book examines the changing patterns of economic organization across Northeast and Southeast Asia against the backdrop of market liberalization, political changes and periodic economic crises ...
More
This book examines the changing patterns of economic organization across Northeast and Southeast Asia against the backdrop of market liberalization, political changes and periodic economic crises since the 1990s. It provides an interdisciplinary account of variations, continuities and changes in the institutional structures that shape business systems and practices and govern innovation patterns, together with analyses of their impact on established systems of economic coordination and control. It makes important contributions to current theoretical and policy debates on the comparative analysis of socio-economic institutions and dominant forms of economic organization by: (1) mapping recent changes in the major business systems of Northeast and Southeast Asian economies; (2) developing a range of causal propositions about how changing institutions and socio-political coalitions are affecting the nature of Asian business organizations; and (3) illustrating the causal pathways through which changing business systems have shaped the development of innovation patterns and strategies in the region.Less
This book examines the changing patterns of economic organization across Northeast and Southeast Asia against the backdrop of market liberalization, political changes and periodic economic crises since the 1990s. It provides an interdisciplinary account of variations, continuities and changes in the institutional structures that shape business systems and practices and govern innovation patterns, together with analyses of their impact on established systems of economic coordination and control. It makes important contributions to current theoretical and policy debates on the comparative analysis of socio-economic institutions and dominant forms of economic organization by: (1) mapping recent changes in the major business systems of Northeast and Southeast Asian economies; (2) developing a range of causal propositions about how changing institutions and socio-political coalitions are affecting the nature of Asian business organizations; and (3) illustrating the causal pathways through which changing business systems have shaped the development of innovation patterns and strategies in the region.
Wyn Grant and Graham K. Wilson (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199641987
- eISBN:
- 9780191741586
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199641987.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy, Finance, Accounting, and Banking
The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) is the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression. Many books have explored its causes, but this book systematically explores its consequences. The ...
More
The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) is the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression. Many books have explored its causes, but this book systematically explores its consequences. The focus is primarily on the policy and political consequences of the GFC. This book asks how governments responded to the challenge and what the political consequences of the combination of the GFC itself and policy responses to it have been. Based on workshops held in the United States and the United Kingdom, it brings together leading academics to consider the divergent ways in which particular countries have responded in different ways to the crisis, including China, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Part of what is happening is a structural shift in economic power from east to west, but China has its fragilities while Germany offers an example of a largely successful Western model. The book also assesses attempts to develop global economic governance and to reform financial regulation and looks critically at the role of credit rating agencies. Unlike earlier crises, no new paradigm has emerged to challenge existing ways of thinking, meaning that neoliberalism has emerged relatively unscathed. The crisis has lacked a coherent and innovative intellectual response and has been characterized by remarkable policy stability.Less
The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) is the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression. Many books have explored its causes, but this book systematically explores its consequences. The focus is primarily on the policy and political consequences of the GFC. This book asks how governments responded to the challenge and what the political consequences of the combination of the GFC itself and policy responses to it have been. Based on workshops held in the United States and the United Kingdom, it brings together leading academics to consider the divergent ways in which particular countries have responded in different ways to the crisis, including China, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Part of what is happening is a structural shift in economic power from east to west, but China has its fragilities while Germany offers an example of a largely successful Western model. The book also assesses attempts to develop global economic governance and to reform financial regulation and looks critically at the role of credit rating agencies. Unlike earlier crises, no new paradigm has emerged to challenge existing ways of thinking, meaning that neoliberalism has emerged relatively unscathed. The crisis has lacked a coherent and innovative intellectual response and has been characterized by remarkable policy stability.
Grahame F. Thompson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199594832
- eISBN:
- 9780191746079
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199594832.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, International Business, Political Economy
Modern constitutions are relatively recent instruments of rule and are closely associated with the formation of national states from the eighteenth century onwards. So what is this term doing in ...
More
Modern constitutions are relatively recent instruments of rule and are closely associated with the formation of national states from the eighteenth century onwards. So what is this term doing in respect to global business practices and corporate affairs? This question is the one the book sets out to explore. The argument is that with the advent of globalization — where corporate organizations and the commercial relations that accompany them are argued to have become increasingly transnational — the locus of powers, authorities, and responsibilities has shifted to the global level. The nation-state arena is losing its capacity to regulate and control commercial processes and practices as a transformational logic kicks-in, associated with new forms of global rule making and governance. And it is this new arena of global rule making can be considered as a surrogate form of global constitutionalization, or ‘quasi-constitutionalization’. But as might be expected, this surrogate process of constitutionalization is not a coherent program or a set of rounded outcomes but is full of contradictory half-finished currents and projects: an ‘assemblage’ of many disparate advances and often directionless moves — almost an accidental coming together of elements. Thus, the book is about governance, law, and constitutional matters. these are discussed in the context of international corporate constitutional governance. So, the emphasis is upon how and why the business world, commercial relations, and particularly company activities have increasingly become subject to legal and constitutional forms of regulation and governance at the international level. The questions asked is how to characterize the process that has seen the international corporate sphere increasingly subject to juridical and constitutional-like regulatory initiatives and interventions. Does this amount to a new attempt to subject international commercial relations to the ‘rule by law’ and, indeed, to rule the world through these very means?Less
Modern constitutions are relatively recent instruments of rule and are closely associated with the formation of national states from the eighteenth century onwards. So what is this term doing in respect to global business practices and corporate affairs? This question is the one the book sets out to explore. The argument is that with the advent of globalization — where corporate organizations and the commercial relations that accompany them are argued to have become increasingly transnational — the locus of powers, authorities, and responsibilities has shifted to the global level. The nation-state arena is losing its capacity to regulate and control commercial processes and practices as a transformational logic kicks-in, associated with new forms of global rule making and governance. And it is this new arena of global rule making can be considered as a surrogate form of global constitutionalization, or ‘quasi-constitutionalization’. But as might be expected, this surrogate process of constitutionalization is not a coherent program or a set of rounded outcomes but is full of contradictory half-finished currents and projects: an ‘assemblage’ of many disparate advances and often directionless moves — almost an accidental coming together of elements. Thus, the book is about governance, law, and constitutional matters. these are discussed in the context of international corporate constitutional governance. So, the emphasis is upon how and why the business world, commercial relations, and particularly company activities have increasingly become subject to legal and constitutional forms of regulation and governance at the international level. The questions asked is how to characterize the process that has seen the international corporate sphere increasingly subject to juridical and constitutional-like regulatory initiatives and interventions. Does this amount to a new attempt to subject international commercial relations to the ‘rule by law’ and, indeed, to rule the world through these very means?
Accounting for Oneself
Adjusting to a World in Motion
Advancing the Human Right to Health
Aid and Development
The AIDS Generation
Aliens and Strangers?
The Alternatives to War
Altruism in Humans
American Arcadia
