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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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.
Marijk van der Wende, William C. Kirby, Nian Cai Liu, and Simon Marginson (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198853022
- eISBN:
- 9780191887420
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198853022.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Knowledge Management, Political Economy
This book presents the outcomes of the research project on “The New Silk Road: Implications for higher education and research cooperation between China and Europe.” It addresses questions regarding ...
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This book presents the outcomes of the research project on “The New Silk Road: Implications for higher education and research cooperation between China and Europe.” It addresses questions regarding how academic mobility and cooperation is taking shape along the New Silk Road and what difference it will make in the global higher education landscape. It presents a rich collection of contributions by scholars from Europe, China, the USA, Russia, and Australia, combining perspectives from anthropology, computer sciences, economics, education, history, law, political science, philosophy, science and technology studies, sinology, and sociology. Introductory chapters present the global context for the NSR, the development of Chinese universities along international models, and the history and outcomes of EU–China cooperation. The flows and patterns in academic cooperation along the New Silk Road as they shape and have been shaped by China’s universities are explored in more detail in the following chapters. The conditions for Sino-foreign cooperation are discussed next, with an analysis of regulatory frameworks for cooperation, recognition, data, and privacy. Comparative work follows on the cultural traditions and academic values, similarities and differences between Sinic and Anglo-American political and educational cultures, and their implications for the governance and mission of higher education, the role of critical scholarship, and the state and standing of the humanities in China. The book concludes with contributions focusing on the “Idea of a University”; the values underpinning its mission, shape, and purpose, reflecting on the implications of China’s rapid higher education development for the geo-politics of higher education itself.Less
This book presents the outcomes of the research project on “The New Silk Road: Implications for higher education and research cooperation between China and Europe.” It addresses questions regarding how academic mobility and cooperation is taking shape along the New Silk Road and what difference it will make in the global higher education landscape. It presents a rich collection of contributions by scholars from Europe, China, the USA, Russia, and Australia, combining perspectives from anthropology, computer sciences, economics, education, history, law, political science, philosophy, science and technology studies, sinology, and sociology. Introductory chapters present the global context for the NSR, the development of Chinese universities along international models, and the history and outcomes of EU–China cooperation. The flows and patterns in academic cooperation along the New Silk Road as they shape and have been shaped by China’s universities are explored in more detail in the following chapters. The conditions for Sino-foreign cooperation are discussed next, with an analysis of regulatory frameworks for cooperation, recognition, data, and privacy. Comparative work follows on the cultural traditions and academic values, similarities and differences between Sinic and Anglo-American political and educational cultures, and their implications for the governance and mission of higher education, the role of critical scholarship, and the state and standing of the humanities in China. The book concludes with contributions focusing on the “Idea of a University”; the values underpinning its mission, shape, and purpose, reflecting on the implications of China’s rapid higher education development for the geo-politics of higher education itself.
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 ...
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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 ...
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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?
Roderick Martin
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199657667
- eISBN:
- 9780191751622
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199657667.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy, International Business
This book examines the construction of capitalisms in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania after 1989, within a national business systems framework. Four elements of capitalism are ...
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This book examines the construction of capitalisms in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania after 1989, within a national business systems framework. Four elements of capitalism are analysed—property ownership, capital accumulation, production relations (specifically, international), and relations between the state and the economy. This book shows how the capitalisms constructed did not match the expectations of the early 1990s. Economic assets were privatized, but the exercise of shareholders’ rights was more limited in practice than in shareholder value theory. Blockholders dominated boards of directors in all four countries, often aligned with corporate management. Capital markets were developed, but played a greater role symbolically than as sources of finance. Enterprises in all four countries were incorporated into international production chains, with expansion in export and import of intermediate products, especially in motor vehicles. Despite the transition’s aim to reduce the role of politics in the economy, constructing capitalisms was heavily dependent upon political initiatives, nationally and internationally. Labour played only a supporting role in constructing capitalisms, through participation in tripartite forums; union membership declined, and industrial conflict primarily involved state sector workers. The capitalisms that developed were segmented, analysis of Hungary indicating four segments—state, privatized, de novo, and international—with different patterns of ownership, finance, product market relations, and links with the state. Capitalisms in the four countries thus never corresponded to liberal market models. The incentive to follow liberal market models declined further with the financial crisis of Western capitalisms in 2008, and growing investment in the region by sovereign wealth funds, Russian and Chinese.Less
This book examines the construction of capitalisms in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania after 1989, within a national business systems framework. Four elements of capitalism are analysed—property ownership, capital accumulation, production relations (specifically, international), and relations between the state and the economy. This book shows how the capitalisms constructed did not match the expectations of the early 1990s. Economic assets were privatized, but the exercise of shareholders’ rights was more limited in practice than in shareholder value theory. Blockholders dominated boards of directors in all four countries, often aligned with corporate management. Capital markets were developed, but played a greater role symbolically than as sources of finance. Enterprises in all four countries were incorporated into international production chains, with expansion in export and import of intermediate products, especially in motor vehicles. Despite the transition’s aim to reduce the role of politics in the economy, constructing capitalisms was heavily dependent upon political initiatives, nationally and internationally. Labour played only a supporting role in constructing capitalisms, through participation in tripartite forums; union membership declined, and industrial conflict primarily involved state sector workers. The capitalisms that developed were segmented, analysis of Hungary indicating four segments—state, privatized, de novo, and international—with different patterns of ownership, finance, product market relations, and links with the state. Capitalisms in the four countries thus never corresponded to liberal market models. The incentive to follow liberal market models declined further with the financial crisis of Western capitalisms in 2008, and growing investment in the region by sovereign wealth funds, Russian and Chinese.
Jamie Peck
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199580576
- eISBN:
- 9780191595240
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199580576.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
Amongst intellectuals and activists, neoliberalism has become a potent signifier for the kind of free-market thinking that has dominated politics for the past three decades. Forever associated with ...
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Amongst intellectuals and activists, neoliberalism has become a potent signifier for the kind of free-market thinking that has dominated politics for the past three decades. Forever associated with the conviction politics of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, the free-market project has since become synonymous with the ‘Washington Consensus’ on international development policy and the phenomenon of corporate globalization, where it has come to mean privatization, deregulation, and the opening up of new markets. But beyond its utility as a protest slogan as a shorthand signifier for the political-economic Zeitgeist, what do we know about where neoliberalism came from and how it spread? Who are the neoliberals, and why do they studiously avoid the label? This book presents a radical critique of the free-market project, from its origins in the first half of the 20th century through to its near-death experience in the recent global economic crisis, from the utopian dreams of Friedrich von Hayek, through the dogmatic theories of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School, to the hope and hubris of Obamanomics. The book traces how neoliberalism went from crank science to common sense in the period between the Great Depression and the age of Obama. It is an exploration of the antisocial life of the free-market project, examined in its cradles of invention and in its zones of extension and contestation. In the process, the book elaborates (and puts to work) an understanding of neoliberalism as an adaptive, unevenly developed regulatory project.Less
Amongst intellectuals and activists, neoliberalism has become a potent signifier for the kind of free-market thinking that has dominated politics for the past three decades. Forever associated with the conviction politics of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, the free-market project has since become synonymous with the ‘Washington Consensus’ on international development policy and the phenomenon of corporate globalization, where it has come to mean privatization, deregulation, and the opening up of new markets. But beyond its utility as a protest slogan as a shorthand signifier for the political-economic Zeitgeist, what do we know about where neoliberalism came from and how it spread? Who are the neoliberals, and why do they studiously avoid the label? This book presents a radical critique of the free-market project, from its origins in the first half of the 20th century through to its near-death experience in the recent global economic crisis, from the utopian dreams of Friedrich von Hayek, through the dogmatic theories of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School, to the hope and hubris of Obamanomics. The book traces how neoliberalism went from crank science to common sense in the period between the Great Depression and the age of Obama. It is an exploration of the antisocial life of the free-market project, examined in its cradles of invention and in its zones of extension and contestation. In the process, the book elaborates (and puts to work) an understanding of neoliberalism as an adaptive, unevenly developed regulatory project.
Helen Callaghan
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198815020
- eISBN:
- 9780191853517
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198815020.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Corporate Governance and Accountability, Political Economy
When two parties quarrel, the third rejoices, according to a well-known proverb. This book highlights the role of rejoicing “profiteers” in political efforts to expand market-based competition. ...
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When two parties quarrel, the third rejoices, according to a well-known proverb. This book highlights the role of rejoicing “profiteers” in political efforts to expand market-based competition. Marketization appears puzzling if it is conceptualized as a political struggle between the established incumbents and their challengers, or between producers and consumers. Challengers and consumers often lack the resources to overcome barriers to market entry, and collective action problems afflict both groups. Why, then, do incumbents fail to protect their turf? The present book resolves this puzzle by casting light in a new direction, toward those who profit from a contest while remaining above the fray. The rejoicing band of profiteers grows alongside the arena of competition. Once the suppliers of market support services have established themselves on the sidelines of a contest, they accumulate resources that help them expand that arena further. Political struggles surrounding the gradual marketization of corporate control in Britain, Germany, and France from the 1860s onward provide empirical illustration. The book maps and analyzes the path-dependent evolution of support for shareholder rights relating to takeover bids among key interest groups, including managers, creditors, shareholders, and takeover service providers, as well as among political parties. By comparing the self-reinforcing and self-undermining policy feedback of market-enabling and market-restraining rules, it helps explain why market containment is an uphill struggle, while market expansion becomes easier with time.Less
When two parties quarrel, the third rejoices, according to a well-known proverb. This book highlights the role of rejoicing “profiteers” in political efforts to expand market-based competition. Marketization appears puzzling if it is conceptualized as a political struggle between the established incumbents and their challengers, or between producers and consumers. Challengers and consumers often lack the resources to overcome barriers to market entry, and collective action problems afflict both groups. Why, then, do incumbents fail to protect their turf? The present book resolves this puzzle by casting light in a new direction, toward those who profit from a contest while remaining above the fray. The rejoicing band of profiteers grows alongside the arena of competition. Once the suppliers of market support services have established themselves on the sidelines of a contest, they accumulate resources that help them expand that arena further. Political struggles surrounding the gradual marketization of corporate control in Britain, Germany, and France from the 1860s onward provide empirical illustration. The book maps and analyzes the path-dependent evolution of support for shareholder rights relating to takeover bids among key interest groups, including managers, creditors, shareholders, and takeover service providers, as well as among political parties. By comparing the self-reinforcing and self-undermining policy feedback of market-enabling and market-restraining rules, it helps explain why market containment is an uphill struggle, while market expansion becomes easier with time.
Steven Casper
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199269525
- eISBN:
- 9780191710025
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199269525.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
Through the 1990s and early 2000s, a strength of the United States economy has been its ability to foster large numbers of small innovative technology companies, a few of which have grown to dominate ...
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Through the 1990s and early 2000s, a strength of the United States economy has been its ability to foster large numbers of small innovative technology companies, a few of which have grown to dominate new industries, such as Microsoft, Genentech, or Google. US technology clusters such as Silicon Valley have become engines of innovation and wealth creation, and the envy of governments around the world. This book examines trajectories by which new technology industries emerge and become sustainable across different types of economies. Governments around the world have poured vast sums of money into policies designed to foster clusters of similar start-up firms in their economies. The book employs empirical studies of the biotechnology and software industries in the US and several European economies to examine the relative success of policies aimed at cultivating the “Silicon Valley Model” of organizing and financing companies in Europe. Research associated with the “varieties of capitalism” literature has argued that countries with liberal market orientations, such as the US and the UK, can more easily design policies to cultivate success in new technology industries compared to countries associated with organized economies, such as Germany and Sweden. The book's empirical findings support the view that national institutional factors strongly condition the success of new technology policies. However, the study also identifies important cases in which radically innovative new technology firms have thrived within organized economy. Through examining cases of both success and failure, this book helps identify constellations of market and governmental activities that can lead to the emergence of sustainable clusters of new technology firms across both organized and liberal market economies.Less
Through the 1990s and early 2000s, a strength of the United States economy has been its ability to foster large numbers of small innovative technology companies, a few of which have grown to dominate new industries, such as Microsoft, Genentech, or Google. US technology clusters such as Silicon Valley have become engines of innovation and wealth creation, and the envy of governments around the world. This book examines trajectories by which new technology industries emerge and become sustainable across different types of economies. Governments around the world have poured vast sums of money into policies designed to foster clusters of similar start-up firms in their economies. The book employs empirical studies of the biotechnology and software industries in the US and several European economies to examine the relative success of policies aimed at cultivating the “Silicon Valley Model” of organizing and financing companies in Europe. Research associated with the “varieties of capitalism” literature has argued that countries with liberal market orientations, such as the US and the UK, can more easily design policies to cultivate success in new technology industries compared to countries associated with organized economies, such as Germany and Sweden. The book's empirical findings support the view that national institutional factors strongly condition the success of new technology policies. However, the study also identifies important cases in which radically innovative new technology firms have thrived within organized economy. Through examining cases of both success and failure, this book helps identify constellations of market and governmental activities that can lead to the emergence of sustainable clusters of new technology firms across both organized and liberal market economies.
Janelle Knox-Hayes
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198718451
- eISBN:
- 9780191787737
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198718451.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy, Public Management
This book explores the establishment of emissions trading as a form of environmental market-based governance in Australia, China, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. It argues that ...
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This book explores the establishment of emissions trading as a form of environmental market-based governance in Australia, China, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. It argues that international efforts to promulgate markets run up against local cultures of markets that shape economic practices and knowledge to different degrees. While the global agenda under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has sought to develop similar systems to enable interconnected and synchronized emissions reductions, each of the cases analyzed here has produced different results. The markets and climate policies established reflect the syncretic impact of sociopolitical and cultural context on the institutional transfer of markets. Each country expresses a varying degree of ease or unease with the establishment of markets as systems of climate governance. The book also examines the material implications of emissions markets on the environment and climatic systems. It finds that cultures of markets present a substantial challenge to a universalist prescription for resolving climate change and highlights issues of citizen, state, and industry participation, and the materiality of economic and financial productivity.Less
This book explores the establishment of emissions trading as a form of environmental market-based governance in Australia, China, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. It argues that international efforts to promulgate markets run up against local cultures of markets that shape economic practices and knowledge to different degrees. While the global agenda under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has sought to develop similar systems to enable interconnected and synchronized emissions reductions, each of the cases analyzed here has produced different results. The markets and climate policies established reflect the syncretic impact of sociopolitical and cultural context on the institutional transfer of markets. Each country expresses a varying degree of ease or unease with the establishment of markets as systems of climate governance. The book also examines the material implications of emissions markets on the environment and climatic systems. It finds that cultures of markets present a substantial challenge to a universalist prescription for resolving climate change and highlights issues of citizen, state, and industry participation, and the materiality of economic and financial productivity.
Patrick Dunleavy, Helen Margetts, Simon Bastow, and Jane Tinkler
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199296194
- eISBN:
- 9780191700750
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199296194.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Information Technology, Political Economy
Government information systems are big business (costing over 1% of GDP a year). They are critical to all aspects of public policy and governmental operations. Governments spend billions on them — ...
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Government information systems are big business (costing over 1% of GDP a year). They are critical to all aspects of public policy and governmental operations. Governments spend billions on them — for instance, the United Kingdom alone commits £14 billion a year to public sector information technology (IT) operations. Yet governments do not generally develop or run their own systems, instead relying on private sector computer services providers to run large, long-run contracts to provide IT. Some of the biggest companies in the world (IBM, EDS, Lockheed Martin, etc.) have made this a core market. This book shows how governments in some countries (the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands) have maintained much more effective policies than others (in the United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia). It shows how public managers need to retain and develop their own IT expertise and to carefully maintain well-contested markets if they are to deliver value for money in their dealings with the very powerful global IT industry. This book describes how a critical aspect of the modern state is managed, or in some cases mismanaged.Less
Government information systems are big business (costing over 1% of GDP a year). They are critical to all aspects of public policy and governmental operations. Governments spend billions on them — for instance, the United Kingdom alone commits £14 billion a year to public sector information technology (IT) operations. Yet governments do not generally develop or run their own systems, instead relying on private sector computer services providers to run large, long-run contracts to provide IT. Some of the biggest companies in the world (IBM, EDS, Lockheed Martin, etc.) have made this a core market. This book shows how governments in some countries (the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands) have maintained much more effective policies than others (in the United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia). It shows how public managers need to retain and develop their own IT expertise and to carefully maintain well-contested markets if they are to deliver value for money in their dealings with the very powerful global IT industry. This book describes how a critical aspect of the modern state is managed, or in some cases mismanaged.
Andrew Walter and Xiaoke Zhang (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199643097
- eISBN:
- 9780191741944
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199643097.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy, International Business
This book brings together conceptual and empirical analyses of the evolving patterns of East Asian capitalism against the backdrop of global market integration and periodic economic crises since the ...
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This book brings together conceptual and empirical analyses of the evolving patterns of East Asian capitalism against the backdrop of global market integration and periodic economic crises since the 1980s. More specifically, it seeks to provide an interdisciplinary account of variations, continuities, or changes in institutional structures that govern financial systems, industrial relations, and product markets and shape the evolution of national political economies. The geographical focus of the volume is China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand. In line with this analytical focus, the volume has three different yet interrelated objectives. First, building on extant comparative institutional analyses, it develops a typology of East Asian capitalism that can identify key institutional domains to be included in cross-national comparisons and establish the guiding principles for categorizing political economies across the region. Second, it provides an analytical framework to elucidate the nature and mode of institutional changes in East Asian countries over the past two decades. Finally, the volume advances theoretical propositions concerning the potential causes of these institutional changes. While particular chapters emphasize different causal variables, collectively they constitute a coherent effort to theorize the changing varieties of East Asian capitalism.Less
This book brings together conceptual and empirical analyses of the evolving patterns of East Asian capitalism against the backdrop of global market integration and periodic economic crises since the 1980s. More specifically, it seeks to provide an interdisciplinary account of variations, continuities, or changes in institutional structures that govern financial systems, industrial relations, and product markets and shape the evolution of national political economies. The geographical focus of the volume is China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand. In line with this analytical focus, the volume has three different yet interrelated objectives. First, building on extant comparative institutional analyses, it develops a typology of East Asian capitalism that can identify key institutional domains to be included in cross-national comparisons and establish the guiding principles for categorizing political economies across the region. Second, it provides an analytical framework to elucidate the nature and mode of institutional changes in East Asian countries over the past two decades. Finally, the volume advances theoretical propositions concerning the potential causes of these institutional changes. While particular chapters emphasize different causal variables, collectively they constitute a coherent effort to theorize the changing varieties of East Asian capitalism.
David Marsden (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199605439
- eISBN:
- 9780191806803
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199605439.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
Over the last fifteen years, the deregulation of Britain's labour market has led to economic growth, employment opportunities, and a more diverse workforce: the ‘fat years’. However, now as Britain ...
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Over the last fifteen years, the deregulation of Britain's labour market has led to economic growth, employment opportunities, and a more diverse workforce: the ‘fat years’. However, now as Britain faces its lean years with job cuts, rising unemployment, income insecurity, and related social strains, how can and should the government and key labour market policy makers ensure the labour market provides job opportunities and reasonable levels of social justice? The fundamental changes that have occurred in labour market institutions mean that ‘solutions’ of previous decades no longer work. This volume sets out to address the major challenges faced: unemployment, immigration, housing and job subsidies; key institutional changes, such as the decline of collective regulation and the rise of occupational licensing; pay inequality and minimum wages; and pay and subsidies in the private and public sector.Less
Over the last fifteen years, the deregulation of Britain's labour market has led to economic growth, employment opportunities, and a more diverse workforce: the ‘fat years’. However, now as Britain faces its lean years with job cuts, rising unemployment, income insecurity, and related social strains, how can and should the government and key labour market policy makers ensure the labour market provides job opportunities and reasonable levels of social justice? The fundamental changes that have occurred in labour market institutions mean that ‘solutions’ of previous decades no longer work. This volume sets out to address the major challenges faced: unemployment, immigration, housing and job subsidies; key institutional changes, such as the decline of collective regulation and the rise of occupational licensing; pay inequality and minimum wages; and pay and subsidies in the private and public sector.
Linda Yueh
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199205837
- eISBN:
- 9780191806674
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199205837.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
China has undergone a remarkable transition over the past thirty years from a centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented one. The transformation of business in China has been correspondingly ...
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China has undergone a remarkable transition over the past thirty years from a centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented one. The transformation of business in China has been correspondingly evident. This book gives an interdisciplinary analysis of the evolution of business development in China and the ‘marketization’ of industry during this period within a complex framework of legal, political, and economic reform aims. The book includes case studies to provide industry-specific analysis of the overarching macroeconomic and legal developments. It examines both domestic enterprise reform in China and the evolving treatment of foreign firms in the context of both corporate laws and economic policies, and how business is likely to evolve as economic and legal reforms rapidly increase during the twenty-first century, notably with regard to China's increasing global integration.Less
China has undergone a remarkable transition over the past thirty years from a centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented one. The transformation of business in China has been correspondingly evident. This book gives an interdisciplinary analysis of the evolution of business development in China and the ‘marketization’ of industry during this period within a complex framework of legal, political, and economic reform aims. The book includes case studies to provide industry-specific analysis of the overarching macroeconomic and legal developments. It examines both domestic enterprise reform in China and the evolving treatment of foreign firms in the context of both corporate laws and economic policies, and how business is likely to evolve as economic and legal reforms rapidly increase during the twenty-first century, notably with regard to China's increasing global integration.