No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
The Economic Institutions of Capitalism
... The relevance of NIE is that, instead of the "zero transaction cost" and "complete contract" assumptions of the neoclassical framework, it presupposes incomplete contracts and positive transaction costs, where the interdependence between individual behaviors and the effects they have on one another constitute a major issue (Alchian and Demsetz 1972, Coase 1960, Williamson 1985. It was on these grounds that Demsetz (1969) critically reviewed Arrow (1962), casting a doubt on his conclusions: The benefits of state intervention in information production should be compared with those of the market solution. ...
... Coordination mechanisms with lower transaction costs should be preferred on grounds of efficiency, yet which is superior is by no means obvious. An extension of the boundaries of the neoclassical framework, where institutions become the cornerstone of analysis, enables further exchanges with alternative approaches within economics (Williamson 1985) and with other social sciences (Williamson 2000). 2 We note the limitation that, in NIE, alternatives are usually confined to the market and hierarchical institutions such as firm and government; consequently, the role of commons is still overlooked (Coase 1960, Williamson 1985. ...
... Coordination mechanisms with lower transaction costs should be preferred on grounds of efficiency, yet which is superior is by no means obvious. An extension of the boundaries of the neoclassical framework, where institutions become the cornerstone of analysis, enables further exchanges with alternative approaches within economics (Williamson 1985) and with other social sciences (Williamson 2000). 2 We note the limitation that, in NIE, alternatives are usually confined to the market and hierarchical institutions such as firm and government; consequently, the role of commons is still overlooked (Coase 1960, Williamson 1985. ...
The conceptualization of knowledge as a commons is spreading fast. A distinct yet interrelated strand of the literature on knowledge argues that knowledge could be the fourth fictitious commodity in Karl Polanyi’s framework. The proliferation of these disparate approaches on the (economic) nature of knowledge not only reflects the rising importance of knowledge in coordinating economic activity but also raises concerns about the over-privatization of knowledge that has become increasingly more visible. The gradual extension of intellectual property rights over almost every type of knowledge production makes scholars reconsider the nature of knowledge as an economic good. These concerns point out the inherent limitation of the knowledge as a public good approach which relies on the classic state-versus-market dichotomy. Moving beyond the public good approach has the potential to open new vistas for economics of knowledge if only (i) a broader perspective of the nature of information and knowledge (including tacitness) and (ii) the role of local as well as global communities in which sharing, cooperation, and reciprocity play decisive roles could be integrated into the analytical scheme. Moreover, these extensions are not mutually exclusive. By recourse to them we can show the limits of governance, market-based or otherwise, and the much-needed role of institutional diversity in knowledge production. To this effect, after pointing out the limitations of the knowledge-as-fictitious-commodity argument, we demonstrate the relevance of a tripartite governance framework. We contribute to the ongoing debates on knowledge commons as well as over-privatization of knowledge and emphasize another adverse effect of over-privatization of knowledge that has been overlooked in the literature: the marginalization of reciprocity, sharing, and cooperation that have always been key elements of knowledge governance.
... . Any form of economic organization is characterized by corresponding non-production-related costs: organizational costs (Coase, 1937). Several different definitions and typologies of such organizational costs exist, some of which place emphasis on different sets of costs (for example, Williamson, 1985;Barzel, 1989;Milgrom and Roberts, 1992;Hansmann, 1996). ...
... Williamson expanded on Coase's arguments regarding the transactions costs of organizing economic activities (for example, Williamson, 1975;1985;2000). He identified two types of generic non-production-related costs associated with a transaction: ...
... 1. Market contracting costs, which include costs arising due to inefficient decision making and hold-up problems of various types. 2. Intra-firm organizational costs, which include costs arising due to low-powered incentives, rent seeking, and informational bottlenecks (Williamson, 1985). ...
The current chapter reviews extant literature on organizational costs incurred by agricultural cooperatives, discusses the importance of these costs, and introduces a novel framework for studying organizational costs in these business enterprises. The framework is based on the observation that when a cooperative is founded, original members are faced with substantial formation-related organizational costs in bringing to life their cooperative. However, they are unaware of the significant maintenance-related organizational costs they will have to address in subsequent phases of their cooperative’s evolution. Introducing this temporal dimension enables us to shed new light on the root causes of organizational costs and compare solutions adopted by agricultural cooperatives in Europe and the US in order to ameliorate the underlying intra-organizational constraints.
... This is because all contracts are "cost-plus" in a monopoly context. Consequently, we have used another methodology to analyse French regional rail contracts that is based on the new institutional economics (Williamson, 1985(Williamson, , 1996 and detailed by W. Powell (1990). This methodology had already been used fruitfully applied in transport research (SØrensen, Gudmundsson, 2010), but it seems to be completely new in the literature on rail productive efficiency. ...
... This is because all contracts are "cost-plus" in a monopoly context. Consequently, we have used another methodology to analyse French regional rail contracts that is based on the new institutional economics (Williamson, 1985(Williamson, , 1996 and detailed by W. Powell (1990). This methodology had already been used fruitfully applied in transport research (SØrensen, Gudmundsson, 2010), but it seems to be completely new in the literature on rail productive efficiency. ...
... are not relevant. This is the first time our methodological approach based on institutional economics (Powell, 1990;Williamson, 1985Williamson, , 1996 has been applied to regional rail studies. ...
This paper investigates the productive efficiency of French regional rail operators. Benefiting from unique databases (2012-2016), we use a panel stochastic frontier model to measure and explain the productive efficiency.
We consider the regional monopoly nature of these operators by introducing specific contract-related variables into the model. The technical efficiency level of regional operators ranges from 59 to 98 per cent, revealing a high degree of heterogeneity in productive performance between regional operators.
Factors related to the societal environment (density and delinquency rate), the characteristics of the rail system (network length and number of stations) and contractual design are significantly correlated with the technical efficiency. The policy implications of these results are substantial for both public authorities and rail operators.
... Раціоналізм тих, хто приймає рішення, зумовлений їхніми когнітивними здібностями, які можуть бути порушені через наявність неповної інформації та обмежених комунікативних навичок. Ці ситуації виникають в умовах невизначеності, коли не всі обставини обміну відомі, як ex ante (невизначеність середовища), так і ex post (невизначеність поведінки) [3]. Так, невизначеність середовища пов'язана з проблемою адаптації, що означає труднощі у зміні та адаптації умов контракту через зміни в середовищі, або неможливість передбачити всі умови під час складання контракту. ...
... Так, невизначеність середовища пов'язана з проблемою адаптації, що означає труднощі у зміні та адаптації умов контракту через зміни в середовищі, або неможливість передбачити всі умови під час складання контракту. Невизначеність поведінки, у свою чергу, породжує проблему належної оцінки дій учасників угоди в контексті її надійного виконання [3]. Це викликає значні труднощі при перевірці відповідності наслідків раніше встановленим умовам угоди. ...
... О.Е. Вільямсон визначає опортунізм як підступний егоїзм, включаючи поведінку, таку як брехня, обман і більш витончені форми, такі як порушення контракту [3]. Для цього основним завданням є створення механізмів безпеки за рахунок повної вертикальної інтеграції, тобто спільного управління партнерами, які здійснюють обмін. ...
Significant changes in the development of new interdependencies between companies, the development of the value chain concept, and technological progress in the field of electronic communications between companies are the main prerequisites for the significant interest of theorists in network structures. Some scholars believe that the study of two-way relationships reflects the popularity of the concept of affiliate marketing, while the focus on networks is a higher level of marketing development. Given that the achievement of long-term cooperative trade relations primarily depends on the will and capacity of both partner parties (bilateral control), it is clear that their nature can be explored in more detail only through mutual considerations. Significant changes in the development of new interdependencies between companies, the development of the value chain concept, and technological progress in the field of electronic communications between companies are the main prerequisites for the significant interest of theorists in network structures. Some scholars believe that the study of two-way relationships reflects the popularity of the concept of affiliate marketing, while the focus on networks is a higher level of marketing development. Given that the achievement of long-term cooperative trade relations primarily depends on the will and capacity of both partner parties (bilateral control), it is clear that their nature can be explored in more detail only through mutual considerations.
... Any form of economic organization is characterized by corresponding non-production-related costs: organizational costs (Coase, 1937). Several different definitions and typologies of such organizational costs exist, some of which place emphasis on different sets of costs (for example, Williamson, 1985;Barzel, 1989;Milgrom and Roberts, 1992;. ...
... 1. Market contracting costs, which include costs arising due to inefficient decision making and hold-up problems of various types. 2. Intra-firm organizational costs, which include costs arising due to low-powered incentives, rent seeking, and informational bottlenecks (Williamson, 1985). ...
... Organizational costs also matter because they determine the boundaries of an organization, that is, which transactions are organized internally and which are organized through arm's-length transactions (Williamson, 1985;. The issue of organizational boundaries was first introduced by Coase, who focused on the efficient scope (or boundary) of an individual firm (Coase, 1937). ...
... Two factors primarily explain why contractors fail to deliver on their expectations: firstly, the inclination for a contractor to prove deceptive in the fulfillment of their contract (behavioral uncertainty) or secondly, the prevalence of environmental factors that disrupt delivery (environmental uncertainty) (Handley and Benton, 2012;Inman and Green, 2021;Kauppi and van Raaij, 2015;Vecchiato, 2012;Wang et al., 2011;Williamson, 1985). Contractors also have different incentives than the government when engaging in government contracts (Kivleniece and Quelin, 2012), with the government seeking to protect the public interest (securing products or services at a reasonable price) and contractors seeking profitability from contracts and their access to future government contracts. ...
... Dealing with contract delivery failures is all the more challenging in the immediate aftermath of a crisis, given the pressure to rapidly secure products (Manuj and Mentzer, 2008), relaxed regulations governing how contracts are established (OMB, 2011;Ranney et al., 2020), and the prevalence of fraudulent suppliers. Contract managers are therefore even more boundedly constrained in assessing a contractor's potential reliability when they select them (Bernheim and Whinston, 1998;March, 1978;Williamson, 1985) and in designing contracts that minimize the costs of such uncertainties (Balakrishnan and Koza, 1993;Brown and Potoski, 2005;de la Cruz et al., 2020;John and Reve, 2010;Williamson, 1979Williamson, , 1993. ...
... Some contracts failed to be fulfilled simply because the products purchased could not meet public health standards. Williamson (1985) identifies two broad categories of uncertainties that pose risks to contract managers: behavioral uncertainties (uncertainties related to potential opportunistic, strategic behavior on behalf of the contractor) and environmental uncertainties (uncertainties surrounding the market for contracting, and potential disruptions in supplies that could limit a contractor's ability to carry through on their obligations). ...
This paper presents a bargaining model of contract outcomes as a function of contract uncertainties associated with critical supply purchasing after a crisis. It examines contract modifications and termination. The model yields the following results: (1) contract modification by the government alone (unilateral modification) does not change the optimal contract; (2) contract modification by mutual agreement (bilateral modification) makes the optimal contract dependent on product price, acquisition costs, transaction costs, and uncertainty; (3) mutual contract modifications are affected negatively by government costs of contract modification and are affected positively by supplier's costs of contract modification; (4) the government may find it necessary to terminate a contract if the contract elasticity of government utility is zero, and the contractor may want to terminate the contract when its supply price equals the acquisition price.
... Two theoretical perspectives have significantly contributed to how we understand the relationship between financing and the administrative capacity of non-profit organisationsneo-institutional organisation analysis (DiMaggio & Powell, 1991;Meyer & Rowan, 1991) and neo-institutional economic theory, with the latter focusing on transaction costs (Coase, 1937;Williamson, 1985). Both perspectives belong to the concept of ijef.ccsenet.org ...
... According to this perspective, created by Coase (1937) and developed by Williamson (1985), transaction costs are defined as costs associated with identifying potential business partners, conducting negotiations and drawing up and following up on a contract. The need for contract and control arises due to the assumption of the opportunism and limited rationality of the negotiating parties due to asymmetric information between investors and suppliers. ...
The increasing use of targeted social investments has led to relevant research interest in the transaction costs of social efforts. However, the majority of the research is characterised by the following two challenges: first, the analyses are often limited to public sources of revenue and, therefore, exclude private sources; and second, the transaction costs are measured based on self-declared information about administrative costs. The article contributes to the field of research in two ways. First, the contribution is made through an analytical model that brings together private and public revenue streams in a single model, providing a unique opportunity to compare the transaction costs from these two sources. Second, in this article, transaction costs are measured based on the actual development in the number of administrative academic full-time equivalents (FTEs) in the organisations. The latter attribute also achieves a better link to the theory in the field, which precisely focuses on administrative employees. The article derived data from a longitudinal dataset for 2012‒17 with the accounts for revenue in the nationwide voluntary social organisations and register data from Statistics Denmark on the education and working hours of employees in organisations. The article finds that targeted project funds (that is, earmarked funding) from private sources have significantly higher transaction costs than government project funds and general public operating grants. Smaller organisations were also shown to generally have higher costs when striving to secure funding than larger organisations with economies of scale.
... From an academic point of view, the gray market has been studied as a source of higher transaction costs in marketing channel management (Bergen, Heide, and Dutta 1998) due to the consideration that opportunism is a basic behavioral assumption in the business (Williamson 1975(Williamson , 1985. Instead, transaction costs arise from the need for careful selection of the exchange partner (ex-ante) and the need to monitor their actions (ex-post) (Wathne and Heide 2000). ...
... Therefore, in order to understand the motivation of an official channel intermediary to do business with the gray market, we will study its opportunism (Antia et al. 2006;Bergen, Heide, and Dutta 1998), which we understand as noncompliance with its agreements with the official channel. But not as a basic behavioral assumption (Williamson 1975(Williamson , 1985 but as a performance improvement strategy. ...
Purpose
The objective of this research is to analyze the motivation of a distributor belonging to an official marketing channel to participate in the gray market. We explore this motivation not as an opportunistic behavior but as a strategic decision aligned with the reference group to which it belongs and the homogenization or isomorphism of strategic decisions within the group.
Methodology/Approach
Based on a survey of a sample of Spanish official distributors of Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and an empirical study using PLS-SEM, found evidence that the imitation effect conditions strategic decisions and can be graduated according to the hierarchical position occupied or legitimacy within the reference group.
Findings
The hypothesized model was supported by the data. This indicates that the reference group influences the agents that make it up and determines the actions expected of its members, offering a tool to the manufacturer or brand owner to manage the official distribution channel.
Originality/Value
The investigation of the effect of the reference group on the behavior of the official distributor offers an alternative to the classical explanation of its participation in the gray market, which has not been addressed by the academic literature so far, and which has traditionally been explained by the individual opportunism of the agents.
Practical implications
The main managerial implication is to provide a monitoring element to the official distribution channel leader, such as influencing the behaviors of the reference group to efficiently manage the marketing channel.
... To explain why start-up companies choose one coordinator role over the other, we can refer to the combination of transaction cost theory (TCE; Coase, 1937;Williamson, 1975Williamson, , 1985 and the shared value perspectives (Porter and Kramer, 2011). TCE is based on the idea that when transaction costs are high, companies choose vertical integration (make), while they opt for the market (buy) when transaction costs are low. ...
... There are three main drivers of transaction costs, i.e. transaction frequency, transaction uncertainty and asset specificity. Out of these three, asset specificity is the most critical variable (Williamson, 1975(Williamson, , 1985. Under the shared value perspective, companies should align their success with the success of their community, so they should simultaneously act to create economic, social and environmental value (Porter and Kramer, 2011). ...
Purpose
The theory of complex adaptive systems (CASs) represents an interesting perspective to study the characteristics of circular supply chains (CSCs). In this regard, the current literature lacks evidence regarding coordination and integration mechanisms, characteristics of the environment and emerging system properties of CSCs. This paper aims to fill this gap and focuses on how and why companies design (i.e. configure and coordinate) their CSCs and what value these design choices help to create across different industries.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a multiple case study approach and analyze data collected from a sample of five sustainable start-ups operating in the fashion and construction industries in Italy to better understand how these companies design (i.e. configure and coordinate) their CSCs.
Findings
Results reveal that in the two industries under investigation, the design of CSCs built around open and closed–loop logic is triggered by the intention to solve a negative sustainability impact. The sustainability impact determines whether the value is restored within the same supply chain, in another, or inside or outside the same industry. Interestingly, start-ups appear to coordinate other CSC actors with three leading roles: (1) orchestrator, (2) integrated orchestrator and (3) circular manufacturer. The coordination role of the start-ups differs in each supply chain configuration based on the level of vertical integration of manufacturing activities.
Originality/value
From a theoretical perspective, the authors' results expand previous supply chain management (SCM) literature by presenting an empirical analysis of the configuration and coordination of CSCs, and discussing the drivers for creating such circularity from a CAS perspective. From a managerial perspective, the authors offer a practical experience to entrepreneurs on how to transform circular and sustainable business model aspirations into CSC practices.
... In this context, individual members' sales outside the PO should be seen as opportunistic behaviour and one may wonder why such a behaviour occurs. Based on New Institutional Economics theory we assume that contract defaults arise when monitoring and sanctioning mechanisms are ineffective (Williamson, 1985). These mechanisms are both formal and informal. ...
The aim of the paper is to explain the importance of social capital for the survival and growth of producer organizations in agriculture. Our main research question concerns the underlying causes of lack of loyalty of growers-members to producer organizations. We link the problem of outside individual sales to deficits in necessary formal institutions safeguarding against member disloyalty. To assess the scale of the problem and to identify ways to counter this opportunistic behaviour, we use data from direct interviews with CEOs of 65 fruit and vegetable producer organizations (POs). We proved that in the smallest POs the occurrence of opportunism was completely eliminated by informal institutions related to bonding social capital. Conversely, in larger POs weak bridging-type relationships proved insufficient to build trust - producers were highly susceptible to outside incentives. Moreover, the use of formal institutions to protect from opportunism turned out to be surprisingly low in medium and large entities.
... It may be recalled that most management theorists have hitherto relied on the transaction cost perspective to understand the existence of the firm. Under the premises of this theory, economic activities are internalized into hierarchies (firms) when contractual and market-based arrangements fail, primarily as a consequence of bounded rationality on the part of actors, asset specificities in transactions, and the possibility of opportunistic or "morally hazardous" behavior by contractual partners (Williamson, 1985). ...
The knowledge-based view of the firm has gained currency in organizational theory since the 1990s. This paper evaluates it in a historical perspective, and suggests that the new theories of the firm as a receptacle of knowledge emerged in the context of the intensified knowledge communication within organizations in the early 1990s, and organizational practices that appropriated public property through the regime of intellectual property rights. This paper contends that organizational theory and practice are both in a state of dynamic mutual interaction, with theory often playing a lagging role. In other words, organizational actions precede, and are retroactively described (and legitimized) by theoretical developments. This paper subjects knowledge-based theories of the firm to scrutiny, and concludes that they resort to simplistic definitions of knowledge. Using information from other social sciences, this paper identifies some of the facets of knowledge that need to be considered in order to make the theories posited more meaningful.
... Par ailleurs, en accord avec la théorie d'agence présentée pour la première fois par Jensen et Meckling (1976), le banquier considère que l'emprunteur est un individu opportuniste, ce dernier ne lui fournit pas toujours la bonne information sur la structure financière de l'entreprise, privilégie ses intérêts au détriment de ceux du prêteur. Suite à cela, le banquier engage des coûts d'agences pour mieux contrôler l'emprunteur (Williamson, 1985). ...
Ce papier explore l’effet synergique des déterminants de l’accès au financement bancaire par les Petites et Moyennes Entreprises (PME) au Cameroun. La méthodologie d’analyse est la régression logistique binomiale appliquée sur des données collectées par un questionnaire administré auprès d’un échantillon de 78 PME. Trois principaux résultats découlent de cette recherche. Premièrement, la relation banque-entreprise, mesurée par la durée de la relation et le nombre de banques en relation de financement avec l’entreprise, a un effet positif et significatif sur l’accès au crédit bancaire. Deuxièment, la structure de propriété de l’entreprise impacte significativement sur l’accès au financement bancaire. Troixièment, le profil du dirigeant capté à travers l’âge, exerce une influence significative sur l’accès des PME au financement bancaire.
... The product quality is the outcome of economic coordination, based on quality conventions. The product properties therefore cannot be regarded as a pre-given "product specificity," from which an "optimal" institutional arrangement could be derived as assumed in the institutional approach of transaction cost economics (Williamson 1985). Instead, for one product category (as camembert) a plurality of institutional settings is possibleresulting in a plurality of product qualities. ...
... The first assumption of agency theory is the incidence of opportunism which suggests that agents are inherently inclined to pursue and satisfy their personal interests with guile, to the disadvantage of principals (Wright et al., 2001). This guile takes the form of deceit or deception (Noreen, 1988), but may also be blatantly exuded through agents' outright lying, stealing and cheating (Williamson, 1985). Indeed, self-interested behaviour has long been deemed to be the only rational and viable explanation of economic conduct as scholars including Friedman (1953) and Mueller (1986) supported its predictive accuracy. ...
... The first assumption of agency theory is the incidence of opportunism which suggests that agents are inherently inclined to pursue and satisfy their personal interests with guile, to the disadvantage of principals (Wright et al., 2001). This guile takes the form of deceit or deception (Noreen, 1988), but may also be blatantly exuded through agents' outright lying, stealing and cheating (Williamson, 1985). Indeed, self-interested behaviour has long been deemed to be the only rational and viable explanation of economic conduct as scholars including Friedman (1953) and Mueller (1986) supported its predictive accuracy. ...
Longstanding assumptions underlying strategic alliances, such as agency theory, are actively being revoked by dynamics in the new economy. The mechanism of inter-firm cooperation is increasingly being altered by radical developments in blockchains and artificial intelligence among other technologies. To capture and address this shift, this review takes a problematization approach and focuses wholly on the pertinence of agency theory. First, it begins by acknowledging the established corpus in the area before, second, appraising the seven long-held assumptions in the principal-agent relationship encompassing (1) self-interest, (2) conflicting goals, (3) bounded rationality, (4) information asymmetry, (5) pre-eminence of efficiency, (6) risk aversion and (7) information as a commodity. Third, to add a fresh perspective, the review proceeds to proffer seven assumptions to advance a novel 'Blockchain Agency Theory' that would better describe new attributes and relaxed agency behaviour in blockchain alliances. These counter assumptions are (1) common interests, (2) congruent goals, (3) unbounded rationality, (4) information symmetry, (5) smart contracts, (6) mean risk and (7) information availability. In the fourth part, the prior audience of principals and agents is appraised and this culminates into, fifth, a consideration of a new audience of blockchain agency in algocratic environments. Altogether, the seven new assumptions extend and provoke new agency thinking among scholars and blockchain practitioners alike.
... This reading of history is known as 'commercialisation model' (Wood 2002). 20 Capitalism, in this view, can be defined as a market system coordinating all economic activities of private for-profit firms that control the production and allocation of most goods and services (Chandler 1990;Friedman 1962;Williamson 1985). ...
Less than thirty years after civil war and genocide, the government of post-conflict Rwanda has achieved a remarkable level of state-building and economic growth. This thesis uses a political settlements framework to make sense of the country’s recent development trajectory. Rwanda's political economy is characterized by a dominant ruling party whose leadership pursues a full-fledged capitalist transformation of society to cement its legitimacy, while also distrusting its domestic firms in a capitalist sector that is extraordinarily small and weak and exhibits low capabilities. In addition, there is substantial political repression to keep political control maximal. Shaped by these characteristics, an elaborate governance system of performance contracts (imihigo) has evolved, resembling results-based frameworks. This institutionalised construct compels all public sector employees to put in very high efforts to reach their respective annual targets. But the system is also overly rigid, focuses too strongly on directly measurable indicators, leads to uncritical acceptance of crude top-down decisions, and creates perverse incentives for data tweaking. Using 139 interviews from ten months of fieldwork and other qualitative and quantitative evidence, the thesis presents case studies of four economic sectors: coffee-processing, tourism, food crops, and manufacturing. The results reveal nuanced industry trajectories and varied sector performance, ranging from impressive (partial) transformational success in coffee-processing and the hospitality sector to disappointing (preliminary) failure in agriculture and manufacturing. Connecting the country’s political economy with the respective industry paths, the thesis concludes that the Rwandan government succeeded with its economic development strategy in sectors where its control-maximising governance system was sufficient to enforce transformational change, while it failed in more complex sectors, where experimental tinkering and learning from failure were crucial to eventually getting things right. This perspective is useful for thinking about necessary governance reforms to overcome current structural weaknesses. Finally, the merits and limits of political settlements theory for explaining varied economic sector performance are discussed.
... However, given that Industry 4.0 is a relatively recent phenomenon, scholarly research on its impact on firms and their global presence has thus far remained limited. Most extant studies explore how an Industry 4.0 orientation may confer a general advantage by unlocking opportunities and reducing transaction costs for firms across the GVC (Brun, Gereffi, & Zhan, 2019;Williamson, 1975Williamson, , 1985. While both upstream and downstream activities of a firm can leverage the benefits Industry 4.0 offers, our understanding of the actual mechanisms through which Industry 4.0 is restructuring value chain activities and the associated opportunities, remains limited. ...
In anticipation of the upcoming changes and turbulence caused by Industry 4.0, in which digital integration connects all value chain members, managers at leading multinational enterprises (MNEs) are scrambling to predict the associated changes in the market. This pioneering study advances our understanding by investigating the impact of an MNE’s Industry 4.0 orientation on the globalization of its value chain network. Identifying two types of value-generation activities as potential moderators, namely value creation and value capturing, we compare the moderation effects when these activities are conducted by headquarters versus foreign subsidiaries. We test the proposed model using a panel dataset comprising 5572 subsidiary-year observations from 358 Korean MNEs from 2011 to 2019. The results show that an MNE’s Industry 4.0 orientation leads to a more rapid expansion of its distribution network than of its supplier network. Furthermore, value creation by headquarters has a stronger positive impact on the globalization of its distribution network than that of its supplier network, whereas value creation by subsidiaries has a stronger positive impact on the globalization of its supplier network than that of its distribution network. However, value capturing has a stronger impact on the globalization of the MNE’s distribution network than that of its supplier network when performed by both locations. This study concludes by discussing the theoretical and managerial implications.
... Such dynamism implies particular challenges to the management or orchestration of ecosystems. Traditional management thinking would advise that in conditions of high environmental uncertainty, relationship-specific investments, and multiple transactions, the companies should insource more operations (Williamson, 1985) instead of looking for external partners (Kohtamäki et al., 2019). The issue often relates to the difficulties of defining the interaction, its outcome, or reward obtained ex ante, making it difficult or even impossible to rationalise whether a specific actor should partake in the collective activity. ...
The aim of this chapter is to explore the role of ecosystems in sustainability transitions. The chapter begins by identifying global challenges in relation to business and management and comparing the emerging conceptual landscape of sustainability governance and corporate social responsibility. Then, it explores sustainability transitions as a system-level phenomenon and discusses the opportunities that ecosystems open for innovation in this context. The findings suggest that ecosystems open new insight into the present discussion on sustainability transitions. By enabling novel forms of collaboration and governance, ecosystems allow solution-specific innovation, development and realisation of innovative value propositions influencing the wider industry and society. Furthermore, this chapter argues that ecosystems can support more sustainable forms of production, knowledge creation, and business activities. This chapter contributes to both management and sustainability transitions theory by showing how the current discourses on sustainability governance and corporate social responsibility calls for novel forms of governance, collaboration, and co-creation of knowledge across geographical and socio-economic boundaries. The conclusion is that ecosystems offer a promising construct for inducing the collaboration among diverse agents to enable innovation for mitigating global challenges. Lastly, this chapter suggests that to validate these claims, further research is needed to establish how ecosystems may be governed and evolve over time.
... Another concern relates to opportunism, as occurs when one exchange party deceptively engages in self-serving behaviors or strategies to their own benefit, at the expense of a weaker exchange partner, whether actively (e.g., overt contract violations) or passively (e.g., knowledge hiding; Wathne & Heide, 2000). According to Villena and Craighead (2017;Williamson, 1985), power asymmetries increase the risk and perceptions that a more powerful partner will be opportunistic, even if that partner does not objectively behave opportunistically. Further, AI alleviates the additional effort required from sellersdemand management and sales augmentation benefits previously discussed. ...
... Si la situation était complexe mais que les capacités cognitives des agents étaient illimitées, l'incertitude procédurale n'existerait pas. Cette notion est en lien avec celle de Williamson (1985) où l'incertitude correspond à une situation où la complexité de l'environnement de décision est trop large par rapport aux capacités cognitives des agents. ...
This thesis attempts to shed new light on an already extensive literature on the effects of uncertainty on economic activity. Since the 2007-2008 crisis, uncertainty has been seen as harmful to the economy. However, in the theoretical and empirical literature with recent works such as Ludvigson et al. (2021), highlighting a positive effect of macroeconomic uncertainty, some forms of uncertainty can have a positive effect. Chapter 1 reviews the methodologies to measure uncertainty and develops a general uncertainty index for the United States from a PCA. This PCA highlights the limit of the decomposition between macroeconomic and financial uncertainty of Ludvigson et al. (2021). Chapter 2 examines the model of these authors and shows that their positive effect is based on a constraint linked to Bretton Woods which can be discussed. The results also show that these results are not robust if we add new constraints (Ex: 09/11). Chapters 3 and 4 will find a positive effect more robust than these authors applying nonlinear methodologies. Chapter 3 examines the effect of the nature of uncertainty shocks with quantile regression techniques while chapter 4 studies the asymmetric effect of the nature of shocks under different uncertainty regimes with local projection methods of Jordá (2005). The results of these chapters establish a framework in which a positive effect can occur: uncertainty must be non financial nature during in a period of high, moderate general uncertainty or in a period of recession.
... Uma dicotomia tradicional é a que se dá entre o velho institucionalismo (estadunidense e alemão), com forte ênfase histórica, com o novo ou neoinstitucionalismo (marcadamente anglo-saxão), com ênfase na crítica à teoria das firmas tradicional, conforme Hodgson (2008) comenta. Nessa nova versão, algumas possibilidades de interpretação histórica são deixadas de lado, como os diálogos marxistas que haviam no institucionalismo alemão, e surgem análises que enfatizam muito o questionamento da fundamentação microeconômica da conduta dos agentes econômicos, sobretudo, com a teoria dos custos de transação (NORTH, 2006;COASE, 1986;WILLIAMSON, 1985 É do neoinstitucionalismo que se extrai o conceito de ambiente institucional como forma de criação de mecanismos sociais de incentivos à coordenação do comportamento do consumidor e da conduta de organizações por meio daquelas pessoas responsáveis por sua gestão. E é da economia comportamental que se defende a ideia de que o Estado é capaz de criar arranjos que incentivem comportamentos de consumo financeiros adequados e desincentivem comportamentos indesejados porque prejudiciais à coletividade, quer sejam a conduta de organizações por meio de estratégias de oferta de bens e serviços perniciosas, ou o consumo irracional, por parte de consumidores (SUNSTEIN, 2017;THALER, 2015;DEATON, 2013;THALER & SUNSTEIN, 2008). ...
O consumo é um fenômeno social complexo cuja compreensão envolve tanto questões objetivas quanto subjetivas. As abordagens subjetivas destacam os aspectos irracionais (homo consumericus) e emocionais (homo sentimentalis) do comportamento consumidor, em oposição ao enfoque estritamente racional trazido pela economia neoclássica (homo oeconomicus), em um mundo marcado pelo paradoxo da escassez na abundância. Esse enfoque no homo consumericus ajuda a explicar muitos dos efeitos preocupantes do consumo na sociedade contemporânea. Em um capitalismo neoliberal, desigual e financeirizado, aspectos irracionais do consumo acarretam riscos, especialmente porque todo consumo passa a ser, de alguma forma, consumo financeiro, cuja proteção demanda uma ação do Estado, e a falta dela pode trazer efeitos trágicos como os da crise financeira de 2008. A proteção ao consumo financeiro se estabelece, então, a partir desta crise e do reconhecimento do homo consumericus, como um marco consumerista do século XXI, levando à modificação de órgãos como bancos centrais que passaram a se aproximar deste tema. Isso ocorreu também no Banco Central do Brasil (BC). Com base nessa visão do homo consumericus, cujos elementos estão na economia comportamental e neoinstitucional, analisa-se o ambiente institucional consumerista-financeiro do Brasil, destacando o papel do BC no complexo arranjo de proteção dado pelo Sistema Nacional de Defesa do Consumidor (SNDC), que combina órgãos de níveis variados e naturezas diferentes. Conclui-se que, nesse ambiente complexo, está-se diante de um desafio regulatório particular que deve tentar evitar conflitos (horizontais e verticais) entre as várias entidades envolvidas na proteção ao consumidor financeiro.
... Asset specificity, uncertainty, and transaction frequency are three key factors that affect transactions [26]. If the special assets invested in the transaction are misappropriated, the value of the assets will be reduced, and business operations will be affected [27]. ...
Vertical integration is conducive to the realization of complementary interests and sustainable development of pig industry. The outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in 2018 has disrupted many activities along pig industry chain in China. The production capacity of breeding pigs has dropped rapidly, and the supply of pig is tight. The vertical integration of pig industry chain is the main driving force to ensure food supply. Based on the data of 12 listed pig companies from 2012 to 2019, we examine the ways and reasons for vertical integration of pig companies when external shocks increase by taking ASF as an example, breakpoint regression and Tobit model are used to analyze differences and determinants of the forward and backward integration of pig industry chain under ASF. The empirical results showed that the forward integration of the feed processing link and slaughter circulation link is higher than the backward integration. ASF had different effects on the vertical integration degree of each link. ASF promoted forward integration. The main factors have different influences on the vertical integration of pig industry in China. Forward integration increased mainly depending on previous asset specificity, legal system environment, market demand, and transaction frequency. The findings of the study imply that pig industry chain is taking the forward integration to cope with the ASF shock. The combination of feed link and breeding link reduces feed cost and ensures pig supply. Pig companies tend to reduce transaction costs by strengthening the control of downstream supply.
... Classroom silence, which can be interpreted as a situation where a student refuses to participate in class discussion, or supplies a particularly low level of participation, unless their participation is highly appreciated by the teachers and their classmates, can be a typical hold-up problem in the management literature [76][77][78]. This kind of silence can be a sign of power in situations where the student can influence the teachers and classmates, and even dominate the cultural environment in the classroom. ...
This paper investigated the relationship between cultural distance, classroom silence, and the performance of culturally responsive and inclusive education (CRIE) using a survey of 1051 college students in Shanghai in 2022. We found a significantly positive association between migrant students’ cultural distance and their perceived learning gains in class. Students’ cultural distance increased their classroom silence as a form of protection but had no significant effect on their classroom silence as a sign of power. The classroom silence as protection decreased students’ perceived learning gains. However, classroom silence as power could be used by both local and migrant students as a hold-up strategy to strengthen their influence in class discussions, which could improve their perceived learning gains. Teachers’ CRIE played the most important role in migrant students’ perceived learning gains, while the effectiveness of CRIE was also actually dependent on the different channels and mechanisms of cultural distance and classroom silence. A cautious identification of classroom silence will improve the effectiveness of CRIE. Suggestions are offered to lighten the practice of educators, administrators, and instructors who face classroom silence from subnational migrant students.
... 9 These orders of worth can also be regarded as quality conventions, which can be applied in real situations to the collective construction of the value of goods, services, events and persons. In opposition to the transaction cost approach of Oliver Williamson (1985), which derives the best institutional arrangement for the production from objects' asset specificities, EC/SC conceives of quality conventions as the origin of product properties, because the quality conventions structure economic production and they enable in the production process (as orders of worth) the social construction of worth and value. ...
The article discusses main contributions and results of the monograph Enrichment: A Critique of Commodities, written by the French sociologists Luc Boltanski and Arnaud Esquerre. Boltanski and Esquerre focus on the strategy to transform ‘the past’ (patrimony, luxury objects, tradition, collections) into new sources of richness. The book focuses on valuation forms and valuation discourses. Enrichment links Boltanski’s work again to the socio-economic movement of the economics and sociology of conventions (in short, EC/SC), which is part of the new French social sciences and regards conventions as logics of valuation and interpretation. This approach of EC/SC is introduced as a frame to evaluate the recombination of pragmatism and structuralism which is proposed by Boltanski and Esquerre. Finally, open questions and desiderata are addressed from the standpoint of EC/SC.
... Classroom silence, which can be interpreted as a situation where a student refuses to participate in class discussion, or supplies a particularly low level of participation, unless their participation is highly appreciated by the teachers and their classmates, can be a typical hold-up problem in the management literature [76][77][78]. This kind of silence can be a sign of power in situations where the student can influence the teachers and classmates, and even dominate the cultural environment in the classroom. ...
This paper investigated the relationship between cultural distance, classroom silence, and the performance of culturally responsive and inclusive education (CRIE) using a survey of 1051 college students in Shanghai in 2022. We found a significantly positive association between migrant students' cultural distance and their perceived learning gains in class. Students' cultural distance increased their classroom silence as a form of protection but had no significant effect on their classroom silence as a sign of power. The classroom silence as protection decreased students' perceived learning gains. However, classroom silence as power could be used by both local and migrant students as a holdup strategy to strengthen their influence in class discussions, which could improve their perceived learning gains. Teachers' CRIE played the most important role in migrant students' perceived learning gains, while the effectiveness of CRIE was also actually dependent on the different channels and mechanisms of cultural distance and classroom silence. A cautious identification of classroom silence will improve the effectiveness of CRIE. Suggestions are offered to lighten the practice of educators, administrators, and instructors who face classroom silence from subnational migrant students.
... Langfristige Verträge sind in den letzten Jahren unter verschiedenen Aspekten diskutiert worden. Im Vordergrund steht dabei das Argument, daß die bei einer Investition anfallenden versunkenen Kosten zu sichern sind (siehe z.B. Williamson 1985). Ein langfristiger Vertrag soll opportunistisches Verhalten der Geschäftspartner verhindern, einer Enteignung der "Quasirenten" (Klein et al. 1978) Das Ziel eines Anbieters ist es, seinen erwarteten Gewinn 8 n (7) ...
... This theory approaches the ideas mentioned in the literature on inter-functional integration, since its inception, through the theory of organizations (Lawrence and Lorsch, 1967). There are also relations between coordination theory and integration mechanisms between firms, such as mentioned by Transaction Cost Economics (Williamson, 1985). ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is twofold. First, this study proposes to investigate the impact of inter-functional value co-creation (VCC) in a manufacturing firm’s value chain on supply chain performance, considering the moderating role of external integration. Second, this study proposes to validate a modified version of the VCC considering the inter-functional interaction context.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative data were collected using survey approach from 129 managers from 51 departments of 22 manufacturing firms performing roles in several areas, such as procurement, logistics, sales, marketing and production. This study uses a PLS-SEM to analyze the model measurement, through confirmatory factor analysis.
Findings
The empirical data supported the proposition of this study that the VCC degree (i.e. value co-production/value in use) between functions of the firm has significant positive effects on the performance of the supply chain, in customer service and flexibility.
Practical implications
This study could be exceedingly useful for practitioners suggesting them to improve inter-functional integration by adopting VCC practices grounded on “value co-production” and “value in use.” Such practices may help to maximize supply chain performance.
Originality/value
The coordination theory was useful to deepen the analysis of its quadrant named “participatory design,” considering the relationship between VCC and inter-functional integration. This paper extended the knowledge about the relationship between the participatory design quadrant and the quadrant referring to organizational structures and processes.
... Acreditamos que os postulados fornecidos pela AED trazem mais benefícios do que perdas, sendo, inclusive, capazes de evidenciar comportamentos oportunistas que afetam negativamente o Direito. Comportamentos oportunistas seriam ocasiões em que uma das partes busca maximizar o seu interesse pessoal em detrimento de uma alternativa melhor para o coletivo, ou seja, aquele comportamento baseado na astúcia (WILLIAMSON, 1985). ...
O estudo insere-se no campo do Direito Constitucional, Tributário e Previdenciário. Analisar-se-á a questão levada ao Supremo Tribunal Federal no Agravo em Recurso Extraordinário 664335, cuja decisão poderá colocar em risco a aposentadoria especial. Essa prestação é destinada ao segurado que tenha trabalhado exposto a agentes nocivos e é concedida quando confirmado o exercício do ofício em condições adversas por 15, 20 ou 25 anos. Para fazer jus a esse benefício, exige-se a comprovação da efetiva exposição do trabalhador, por meio do formulário denominado perfil profissiográfico. Contudo, defende a Previdência Social no Agravo em Recurso Extraordinário 664335 que se houver a informação acerca da eficácia dos equipamentos de proteção individual, não deve ser concedida a aposentadoria, sob pena de ofender a precedência da fonte de custeio. Nesse passo, a proposta do trabalho é examinar os possíveis efeitos da decisão do Supremo Tribunal Federal, caso sejam aceitos os argumentos do Instituto Nacional de Seguridade Social. Para tanto, será dado enfoque aos argumentos tributários, passando pela natureza jurídica das contribuições sociais, pelo seu cunho finalístico e pelas fontes de financiamento da Previdência Social. Também será utilizado o arcabouço fornecido pela Análise Econômica, o que sugere um cenário bastante desfavorável ao segurado, em que a assimetria informacional poderá levar a um ambiente de risco moral e seleção adversa.
... Duality occurs when the CEO also serves as chairman of the board. With such positioning he/she may buffer or limit the amount of control a board might impose on management (Donaldson & Davis, 1989Williamson, 1985). Duality has been linked to board independence (Chatterjee, Harrison, & Bergh, 2003) and to firm profitability (Donaldson & Davis, 1991: Frankforter, Davis, & Vollrath, 2001. ...
In this paper, we examine a possible antecedent to board effectiveness – the presence of a nominating committee. We argue that director cooptation by CEOs, and therefore ineffectual governance, may result from allowing CEOs to appoint sympathetic directors. Thus, because outside independent board members are more likely to be effective in their roles as monitors of the CEO, and because such members are more likely to have been selected by nominating committees, measures of board effectiveness should be positively associated with the presence of a nominating committee. Our results are largely consistent with our hypotheses, and are thus instructive in the design of optimal governance mechanisms. We find that firm profitability, frequency of compensation committee meetings, compensation committee size, and CEO experience of compensation committee members are all higher among firms with nominating committees.
... 16. Ver também Williamson (1985;1986). | 205 assimetria de informação e criar uma "falha de governo", principalmente em situações de fragilidade institucional (Pereira, 2011). ...
... A conflict of interest occurs between the member (principal) and management (agent). Sen, (1987) and Freeman & Williamson, (1987), mention that the owners assign the task to the managers to manage the firm with a hope that managers will work for the benefit of the owners. However, managers are more interested in their maximization of compensation. ...
Dividend policy is one of the functions of financial management with regard to the distribution of corporate earnings after tax or the cooperative surplus to the owner. Dividend policy in cooperatives organization is regulated based on regulations and member agreements stipulated in the articles of association and by-laws of the cooperative. The purpose of this study is to analysis the determinant factors of dividend policy in cooperative organization. This study uses research and analysis of descriptive qualitative approach. Data were obtained from 4 cooperatives, where the cooperative determined with consideration of routinely distributing cooperative surplus.The results of the study show that the determinant factors of cooperative dividend policies are found in several additional determinants such as: member participation, cooperative principles, member conditions and regulation, in addition to determinants that have been widely researched and used as guidelines for in general, such as: liquidity, profitability, firm size, capital requirement (leverage), and risk. New findings from the determinants of dividend policy in cooperatives organization such as member participation, cooperative principles, member conditions and regulation need to be studied further with a quantitative research approach, so that the conclusions can be generalized.
This paper studies a delegation problem faced by the planner who wants to regulate receivers' reaction choices in markets for matching between receivers and senders with signaling. We provide a noble insight into the planner's willingness to delegate and the design of optimal (reaction) interval delegation as a solution to the planner's general mechanism design problem. The relative heterogeneity of receiver types and the productivity of the sender' signal are crucial in deriving optimal interval delegation in the presence of the trade-off between matching efficiency and signaling costs.
This article is a study on the possible common theoretical approaches shared by three heterodox associations—Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE), Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE), and Association for Social Economics (ASE). We analyze their closeness and potentially common approaches as reported in papers published by the associations’ main journals from 2010 to 2019. Using bibliometrics, the papers are analyzed in terms of convergent issues shared by these heterodox associations. Our article concludes, first, that building alternative approaches based on a criticism of both mainstream and New Institutional Economics is a possible point of convergence for AFEE, URPE, and ASE. Second, criticism of capitalism and studies on economic development could act as a convergence point for AFEE and URPE. Third, ASE seems to be more open to heterodox approaches than AFEE and URPE, and can make room for other convergence points. However, the ASE-AFEE and ASE-URPE dyads have not yet explored such opportunities for convergence.
We examine the externalisation of labour as a strategic response to a temporary exogenous shock (i.e. COVID-19). Combining ideas from employment externalisation theory and the CATO framework (which are both extensions of transaction costs economics), we argue that firms that are hit harder by the COVID-19 shock are more likely to plan hiring freelancers that replace permanent employees. The mechanism we argue for is that firms seek to reposition quickly, which lowers comparative adjustment costs and reduces constraints on switching employment modes in future, depending on the extent of task co-specialisation. Analysing survey data obtained from 1,090 Danish small medium enterprises during the initial COVID-19 lockdown supports our hypotheses. Our findings contribute to the research on strategic responses to crises and provide novel understanding of why firms may externalise employment.
The purpose of the article is to develop the theoretical and conceptual foundations of adaptive management of business
processes in the conditions of digitalization of the economy of Ukraine. The work improved the conceptual and categorical
apparatus of the theory of adaptive management of business processes in the context of digitalization of the economy; the
principles and criteria of adaptive management of business processes in conditions of digitalization are determined; the conceptual
scheme of adaptive management of business processes based on the system-activity approach is substantiated, and a number of
problematic issues that need to be resolved in the study of adaptive management of business processes in the context of the
digitalization of the Ukrainian economy are identified. The paper presents the main hypothesis of this study. The concept of
"adaptation" is identified according to systemic, process and reflexive approaches. The theory of adaptive management of business
processes has been improved by introducing such concepts as: business process at the micro- and meso-levels in the era of
digitalization of the economy of Ukraine; competence potential in the conditions of digitalization of the economy; adaptive
management of the business process in the conditions of the impact of digitalization on business processes; reflexive and active
environment of interaction and coordination of business processes in the era of digital transformation. Five blocks of theoretical and
conceptual foundations of adaptive management of business processes in the conditions of digitalization of the economy are
proposed and substantiated: 1) prerequisites for adapting business process management to the requirements of digitalization of the
economy; 2) conceptual and categorical apparatus of the theory of adaptive management of business processes in the context of
digitalization of the economy; 3) principles and criteria of adaptive management of business processes in conditions of digitalization;
4) problematic issues of adaptive management of business processes in the conditions of digitalization of the economy based on the
system-activity approach; 5) subsystems of performance indicators of adaptive management of business processes in conditions of
digitalization. Ways of further research on this issue are identified.
Keywords: adaptive management, business process, digitalization, digital economy.
The article considers a set of problems related to the possibility of an institutional approach to the study of the development and functioning of labour law. An analysis of the features of institutionalism in economics, its main characteristics and differences from both neo-institutionalism and new institutionalism is given. The main features of this phenomenon are presented. Particular attention is paid to the “old” institutionalism and especially its legal direction, associated with the activities of the American scientist J. R. Commons. At the same time, the role of scientists of this direction in the development of problems of labour law, as well as in the formation of American labour and social security legislation in the first third of the 20th century, is emphasized. The author comes to the conclusion that lawyers, including the first scientists in the field of labour law, also used the institutional approach in their research. It is concluded that the institutional approach allows us to take a fresh look at the traditional problems of science and the branch of labour law, given that they are closely related to the economic processes taking place in society. It is argued that it is the institutional approach that makes it possible to reach the signs of an employment relationship, but from a slightly different angle. In this regard, it is not by chance that among the ideologists and authors of the first bills related to the regulation of labour relations in the United States in the thirties of the 20th century, supporters of institutionalism prevailed. The author connects the emerging doctrine of social partnership and the doctrine of “human relations” by F. Mayo precisely with institutional approaches to economics and law. All this makes it possible to include the institutional approach in the methodological tools of modern research into the problems of labour law.
Taking reference to relational perspectives and to the idea of organizationality, this article wonders what different strands of Austrian economics and institutional economics can contribute to the understanding of the business relationship. This research question is fanned out along three core topics: (a)symmetries in the relationship; coordination and cooperation problems; and the distinction between organizational actors and organized social interaction. Drawing from insights gained from the theories used in this article, the article concludes that the business relationship is an organized form of social interaction, as are organizations and markets. Unlike the organization, however, the business relationship is a non-constitutional form of organized social interaction.
This chapter by Shah is concerned with drawing lessons from OECD experiences with environmental federalism. The chapter presents a synthesis of conceptual underpinnings in the assignment of environmental functions from the literature on federalism, public choice, political science, and neo-institutional economics. It offers a comparative perspective on environmental federalism practices in Australia, Canada, Germany, the United States, and the European Union. It concludes with lessons from the experiences of these mature federations.
International business scholars have successfully applied transactions cost economics theories of the firm to understand a wide variety of global business phenomena. However, because this theory takes the value of a global exchange as given, and then examines how to organize this exchange most efficiently, it cannot be considered a “strategic theory of the firm.” Some of the key elements of such a strategic theory of the firm, and how their introduction to international business research could change both theory and practice, are discussed.
The rise of 'smart' – or technologically advanced – cities has been well documented, while governance of such technology has remained unresolved. Integrating surveillance, AI, automation, and smart tech within basic infrastructure as well as public and private services and spaces raises a complex set of ethical, economic, political, social, and technological questions. The Governing Knowledge Commons (GKC) framework provides a descriptive lens through which to structure case studies examining smart tech deployment and commons governance in different cities. This volume deepens our understanding of community governance institutions, the social dilemmas communities face, and the dynamic relationships between data, technology, and human lives. For students, professors, and practitioners of law and policy dealing with a wide variety of planning, design, and regulatory issues relating to cities, these case studies illustrate options to develop best practice. Available through Open Access, the volume provides detailed guidance for communities deploying smart tech.
This chapter, Economic Systems, introduces the analytical tools of comparative economicsComparative economics (CE) through the prism of the “institutions hypothesisInstitutions hypothesis.” The central idea is that the institutional rules and normsNorm around which societies organize themselves, by shaping positive and negative incentivesIncentives, are at the root of the differences in the level and sharedness of prosperity and the scope for political freedom. Furthermore, the interlinkages between ownership and control rightsControl rights to property strongly suggest that the theoretical justifications for the superiority of a private-market system and a market-socialist system are almost identical. This perspective, developed by LangeLange, O., KornaiKornai, J., and StiglitzStiglitz, J., provides an excellent template for our subsequent scrutiny of the dynamics of post-socialist transitionPost-socialist transition.
Anti‐corruption is highlighted as one of the key institutional principles by the United Nations, as corruption hinders the progress in achieving sustainable development goals. However, the extant literature on how private firms' efficiency is influenced by corruption prevailing in regulatory agencies across economies has been inconclusive. Analyzing the World Bank Enterprise Survey data across 45,121 firms from 80 countries, this study finds that bribe payments to corrupt public officials by firms causes bureaucratic delays. Employing an instrumental variable Tobit framework to address the issue of endogeneity inherited with observational data, this study demonstrates that an increase in the magnitude of bribes and depth of corruption by one percentage point separately expands the firm managers' time being spent on regulatory requirements by 2.78 percentage points and 2.47 percentage points, respectively. The findings are robust to different specifications. The results imply the importance of promoting anti‐corruption measures across countries to create a conducive environment for firms to enhance efficiency, and thereby to achieve sustainable development goals successfully.
With the rapid development of information technology, the logistics mode has undergone revolutionary changes. The circulation elements dominated by logistics enterprises are reconstructed to reduce circulation links, improve supply capacity and significantly improve efficiency. However, due to the overall small scale of logistics enterprises, there are some problems in the innovation of logistics mode, such as low performance of supply chain, quality of product supply hardly meeting the demand of quality consumption, shortage of new talents and so on. On the basis of systematically expounding the connotations and manifestations of the logistics mode innovation, this paper analyzes the impact of logistics mode innovation on quality consumption and the problems faced, and finally puts forward countermeasures and suggestions in order to provide reference for promoting the logistics mode innovation.
Die französische „economie des conventions“ (engl.: “economics of convention”, kurz EC) – auch Konventionentheorie genannt – hat sich seit den 1980er-Jahren im Raum Paris formiert und sich in den letzten zehn Jahren international etabliert. Die EC ist ein transdisziplinärer institutionentheoretischer Ansatz, der mit dem Konzept der „Konvention“ Koordinations- und Bewertungslogiken bezeichnet, die die Koordination, Interpretation und (E)Valuation im Rahmen ökonomischer Situationen der Produktion, Distribution und Rezeption strukturieren. Die EC vermittelt insgesamt in spezifischer Weise die beiden sozialwissenschaftlichen Megaparadigmen Strukturalismus und Pragmatismus in neuer Weise miteinander.
Around 15,000 years ago, almost all humans lived in small mobile foraging bands. By about 5,000 years ago, the first city-states had appeared. This radical transformation in human society laid the foundations for the modern world. We use economic logic and archaeological evidence to explain six key elements in this revolution: sedentism, agriculture, inequality, warfare, cities, and states. In our approach the ultimate cause of these events was climate change. We show how shifts in climate interacted with geography to drive technological innovation and population growth. The accumulation of population at especially rich locations led to creation of group property rights over land, stratification into elite and commoner classes, and warfare over land among rival elites. This set the stage for urbanization based on manufacturing or military defense and for elite-controlled states based on taxation. Our closing chapter shows how these developments eventually resulted in contemporary global civilization.
East Asia has received much attention due to the extraordinary economic transition which led much of the region to a more balanced growth despite the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In search of a common development model for sub-Saharan Africa, an extensive examination of the economic growth from East Asia is compared from 1965 to 2015. Focusing mainly on economic growth features and differences in selected East Asian and sub-Saharan African countries, a comparative analysis investigates the patterns of development and identifies major economic indicators. A review of East Asia’s transition looks at the historical and socioeconomic evolution of key sectors that contribute to different development model strategies in the region. This chapter centers on questions that try to identify positive indicators as well as reasons to how East Asia developed, the rapidity of the development, and if there is a unified development model. Post-Second World War research catalogs how East Asian countries mobilized towards industrialization by engaging their populations using effective public policies. Comparatively, sub-Saharan African countries, dating back to the same period, were considered among those with growth potential. Since then, they face underutilization of economic growth, inappropriate fiscal reform, and low human capital investment—attributing to the poor economic performance and growth seen over the review period. A secondary examination explores the case of South Korea and Nigeria as representative countries of the two subregions. These countries help to identify critical economic growth deviation and suggest possible growth enhancement policies for sub-Saharan Africa. By examining economic growth divergence, lessons are drawn out and development strategies highlighted. Key facets of South Korea’s development model are described including the increase in labor force, investment in capital, export led growth, technological advancement, and top-down reform policies. Nigeria’s economic performance factors point to a lack of development of the financial markets with limited size and stability, poor productivity of human resources in every sector of the economy, and ineffective institutional order correlating with high corruption and a shadow economy of 50% of gross domestic product. Recommendations center on developing other sectors of the economy and increasing domestic demand to serve as a security measure. This can aid in protecting the economy from potential global market shocks, e.g., the COVID-19 crisis, strengthen budgetary control to improve fiscal solvency, and maintain a low external debt profile to reduce government expenditure on debt servicing. To this end, the restructuring and optimization of trade through the reduction of imports, and exports expansion for more efficient trade balance could aid economic diversification and stabilize financial and healthy fiscal policies—reinforcing sub-Saharan Africa’s economic future and stressing country-specific development as a way forward.
This chapter presents the theoretical introduction of Artificial Intelligence to Relational Economics as a foundation for the subsequent conceptualising of its Relational Governance in Chapter 3. Thus, my focus lies on developing a structural model for AI governance to address the correlation of ethical risks, the rising number of concerns about societal shifts, and consequential inequalities coming with its adoption. To achieve this objective, the model structurally integrates an ethical dimension, without, however, imposing one particular normative position. At this stage of the book, the context of fierce competition in the private sector, on the one hand, and the demand for AI governance, on the other hand, seemingly oppose one another. Additionally, the negative externalities perceivable in practice, which affect society in an unchecked manner, seem to demand a collaborative approach to prevent these effects from happening. Hence, this chapter aims to move from a problem-oriented perspective of traditional AI ethics research to a rather solution-oriented approach in AI governance, as recommended by, for example, Berendt (2019), Mittelstadt (2019), and Hagendorff (2020).
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.