The Pirate Organization

by Durand, Rodolphe; Vergne, Jean-philippe

• ISBN13: 9781422183182
• ISBN10: 1422183181
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-11-27
• Publisher: Harvard Business School Pr

Summary

What can you learn from pirates? Plenty. Pirates have appeared at pivotal periods in history--when capitalism spread along the trade routes toward the Indies, when radio opened an era of mass communication, when the Internet became part of the global economy. Most people view them as solitary anarchists out to destroy capitalism. But as it turns out, the opposite is true. In The Pirate Organization, Rodolphe Durand and Jean-Philippe Vergne argue that piracy both drives capitalism's evolution and foreshadows the direction of the economy. Drawing on a rigorous yet engaging analysis of the history of piracy, the authors reveal that pirates are far from the lone discontents in popular myths. In fact, pirates have always formed complex and sophisticated organizations that both challenge and change the course of capitalism. Pirates, surprisingly, also behave in predictable ways: challenging widespread norms; controlling resources, communication, and transportation; maintaining trade relationships with other communities; and formulating strategies favoring speed and surprise. And we can learn from them. Durand and Vergne recommend that rather than trying to stamp out piracy, savvy companies should keep a sharp eye on the pirate space. Only then can they detect how capitalism's rules of engagement are changing--and then revise their business practices to remain successful in the new game.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
What Is Piracy?	p. 9
The Pirate Organization and Territorial-Expansion, or Why Capitalists Shouldn't Hate the State	p. 17
Pirate or Corsair?	p. 29
What Is the Pirate Organization?	p. 41
Where It All Began: The Pirate Organization on the High Seas	p. 59
Why Piracy Is Not Just About Economics	p. 71
The Pirate Organization on the Airwaves	p. 81
The Pirate Organization and the Monopolist	p. 87
The Pirate Organization in Cyberspace	p. 101
Hacking Property Rights	p. 111
Is the Pirate Organization a Fair Competitor?	p. 123
The Pirate Organization and the Building Blocks of Life	p. 133
The Future of the Capitalist State	p. 145
Conclusion: To the Fringes and Back	p. 153
Notes	p. 165
Bibliography	p. 173
Index	p. 179
About the Authors	p. 193
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