Changing Capitalisms? Internationalism, Institutional Change, and Systems of Economic Organization

by Morgan, Glenn; Whitley, Richard; Moen, Eli

• ISBN13: 9780199205288
• ISBN10: 0199205280
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-21
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

An increasing number of studies in the last decade or so have emphasized the viability and persistence of distinctive systems of economic coordination and control in developed market economies. Over more or less the same period, the revival of institutional economics and evolutionary approaches to understanding the firm has focused attention on how firms create distinctive capabilities through establishing routines that coordinate complementary activities and skills for particular strategic purposes. For much of the 1990s these two strands of research remained distinct. Those focusing on the institutional frameworks of market economies were primarily concerned with identifying complementaries between institutional arrangements that explained coherence and continuity. On the other hand, those focusing on the dynamics of firm behavior studied how firms develop new capacities and are able to learn new ways of doing things. This book aims to bring together these approaches. It consists of a set of theoretically motivated and empirically informed chapters from a range of internationally known contributors to these debates. In their chapters, the authors show how institutions and firms evolve. Ideas of path dependency and complementarity of institutions are subjected to critical scrutiny both by reference to their own internal logic and to empirical examples. Varieties of institutional integration, the surprising maintenance of 'deviant' or alternative traditions and processes, and the existence of unpredictable yet consequential policy options that can lead to breaks in path dependency are scrutinized with particular reference to how national and international firms may relate to institutions at various levels as a diverse arena of potential resources rather than as a singular and determinant constraining force. The book provides a set of theoretical and empirical challenges for researchers concerned with the relationship between national institutional contexts and firm dynamics. For those involved in teaching or studying at doctoral, Masters and higher level undergraduate courses, the book provides a structured entry into the debates about how institutions and firms are changing in the contemporary era.

Table of Contents

List of contributors	ix
1. Introduction: Changing Capitalisms? Internationalization, Institutional Change, and Systems of Economic Organization
Glenn Morgan	1	(20)
Part I. Institutional Complementarity, Contradiction, and Change in Business Systems
2. Path Dependency, Institutional Complementarity, and Change in National Business Systems
Richard Deeg	21	(32)
3. Degrees of Freedom: Rethinking the Institutional Analysis of Economic Change
Bob Hancké and Michel Goyer	53	(25)
4. Institutional Transformation and System Change: Changes in the Corporate Governance of German Corporations
Christel Lane	78	(32)
5. Systemic Perspectives on Business Practices and Institutions. A Plea Beyond Comparative Statics
Arndt Sorge	110	(27)
6. Rethinking Path Dependency: The Crooked Path of Institutional Change in Post-War Germany
Marie-Laure Djelic and Sigrid Quack	137	(30)
7. Complementarity and Fit in the Study of Comparative Capitalisms
Colin Crouch	167	(23)
8. How National are Business Systems? The Role of States and Complementary Institutions in Standardizing Systems of Economic Coordination and Control at the National Level
Richard Whitley	190	(45)
Part II. Changing Firm Capabilities Within and Across Institutional Frameworks
9. Developing Transnational Organizational Capabilities in Multinational Companies: Institutional Constraints on Authority Sharing and Careers in Six Types of MNC
Richard Whitley	235	(42)
10. Internationalization and Capability Development in Professional Services Firms
Glenn Morgan and Sigrid Quack	277	(35)
11. Varieties of Vertical Disintegration: The Global Trend Toward Heterogeneous Supply Relations and the Reproduction of Difference in US and German Manufacturing
Gary Herrigel and Volker Wittke	312	(40)
12. Change in Coordinated Market Economies: The Case of Nokia and Finland
Eli Moen and Kari Lilja	352	(31)
Afterwords
13. Modelling National Business Systems and the Civilizing Process
Peer Hull Kristensen	383	(32)
14. Institutional Complementarities, Path Dependency, and the Dynamics of Firms
Glenn Morgan	415	(32)
Index	447