Firms, Markets and Economic Change: A dynamic Theory of Business Institutions

by Langlois; Richard N.

• ISBN13: 9780415121194
• ISBN10: 0415121191
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-07-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The authors argue that innovation is a complex process that defies neat categorization and government policy should be to facilitate change rather than to direct it.

Table of Contents

List of figures and tables	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	1	(6)
On business institutions	1	(1)
Overview of the theory	2	(3)
Plan of the book	5	(2)
Capabilities, Strategy and The Firm	7	(13)
Classical and neoclassical theories	8	(1)
The ``why'' of firms	9	(4)
Routines, capabilities, and organization	13	(4)
Strategy and the boundaries of the firm	17	(3)
A Dynamic Theory of the Boundaries of The Firm	20	(26)
The division of labor	20	(7)
Transaction costs in the short run	27	(2)
Transaction costs in the long run	29	(1)
Capabilities and governance costs	30	(2)
Transaction costs and the passage of time	32	(3)
The sources of dynamic transaction costs	35	(1)
Coordination and appropriability	36	(4)
Capabilities in the long run	40	(1)
The short- and long-run boundaries of the firm	41	(2)
The dynamics of firm and industry evolution	43	(3)
Vertical Integration In The Early American Automobile Industry	46	(22)
Invention and product development	47	(3)
Product standardization and mass production	50	(8)
Replacement demand and model changes	58	(10)
External Capabilities and Modular Systems	68	(33)
The theory of modular systems	69	(7)
Product differentiation and the product life cycle	76	(1)
The development of high-fidelity and stereo systems	77	(10)
The microcomputer industry	87	(12)
Other examples of modular systems	99	(2)
INTERTIA AND INDUSTRIAL CHANGE	101	(19)
Introduction	101	(1)
Institutions and inertia	102	(2)
The role of routines and capabilities	104	(2)
Learning and inertia	106	(2)
The population dynamics of market dominance	108	(4)
Four hypotheses	112	(6)
Conclusions	118	(2)
Innovation, Networks and Vertical Integration	120	(23)
Introduction	120	(4)
Networks and networks	124	(8)
Specialization and appropriability	132	(3)
Networks and economic change	135	(1)
Industry structure and the scope of innovation	136	(2)
Innovation and the product life cycle	138	(3)
Conclusion	141	(2)
Conclusion	143	(8)
The role of large firms in economic growth	144	(3)
Convergence and divergence in economic development	147	(4)
Notes	151	(13)
Bibliography	164	(14)
Index	178