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Book Details
Abstract
Now in its fifth edition, Economic Approaches to Organisations remains one of the few texts to emphasize the importance of economic issues and developments in the study of organisations and management. It explains in a non-technical way different economic approaches such as behavioural theory of the firm, game theory, agency theory, transaction cost economics, economics of strategy and evolutionary approaches. This latest edition is packed with practical examples from real-world companies, helping you to understand how the concepts relate to economic and organizational problems happening in the world today.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover | ||
| Half-Title page | i | ||
| Title page | iii | ||
| Copyright page | iv | ||
| Contents | v | ||
| Preface | xi | ||
| Acknowledgements | xv | ||
| Part I Foundations | 1 | ||
| 1 Markets and organizations | 3 | ||
| 1.1 The economic problem | 3 | ||
| 1.2 The division of labour | 5 | ||
| 1.3 Specialization | 7 | ||
| 1.4 Coordination | 9 | ||
| 1.5 Markets and organizations | 10 | ||
| 1.6 Information | 14 | ||
| 1.7 The environment and institutions | 16 | ||
| 1.8 Historical perspective | 22 | ||
| 1.9 Summary: the conceptual framework of this book | 24 | ||
| 1.10 Outline of the book | 25 | ||
| Questions | 26 | ||
| Note | 26 | ||
| 2 Markets | 27 | ||
| 2.1 Introduction | 27 | ||
| 2.2 Market interaction: analysis of demand and supply | 28 | ||
| 2.3 Decision-making by consumers | 29 | ||
| 2.4 Decision-making by producers | 31 | ||
| 2.5 Market coordination | 32 | ||
| 2.6 The paradox of profits | 33 | ||
| 2.7 Competitive markets | 33 | ||
| 2.8 The main assumptions underlying standard microeconomic theory | 34 | ||
| 2.9 Summary: how according to standard microeconomic theory economic decisions are coordinated by the market | 36 | ||
| Questions | 37 | ||
| 3 Organizations | 38 | ||
| 3.1 The world of organizations | 38 | ||
| 3.2 Organizational coordination | 39 | ||
| 3.3 Types of organizations | 44 | ||
| 3.4 Organizational markets | 49 | ||
| 3.5 Organized markets | 50 | ||
| 3.6 The rise of the Internet and the digitization of organizations | 53 | ||
| 3.7 Digital platforms: a new coordination mechanism | 56 | ||
| 3.8 The Platform Organization | 59 | ||
| 3.9 Summary: how organizations achieve coordination | 62 | ||
| Questions | 64 | ||
| Notes | 64 | ||
| 4 Information | 66 | ||
| 4.1 Coordination and information | 66 | ||
| 4.2 Hidden information | 71 | ||
| 4.3 Hidden action | 78 | ||
| 4.4 The value of information | 83 | ||
| 4.5 Information as an economic good | 86 | ||
| 4.6 Summary: information problems for markets and organizations | 88 | ||
| Questions | 90 | ||
| Notes | 91 | ||
| 5 Game theory | 92 | ||
| 5.1 Introduction | 92 | ||
| 5.2 The prisoner’s dilemma | 93 | ||
| 5.3 Coordination games | 97 | ||
| 5.4 The entry game | 99 | ||
| 5.5 The iterated prisoner’s dilemma | 103 | ||
| 5.6 Auctions | 105 | ||
| 5.7 Evolutionary game theory | 111 | ||
| 5.8 Summary: insights from game theory | 116 | ||
| Questions | 118 | ||
| 6 Econs and Humans | 119 | ||
| 6.1 Introduction | 119 | ||
| 6.2 The social domain versus the economic domain | 120 | ||
| 6.3 Economic, social and moral man: bounds on self-interest | 121 | ||
| 6.4 Bounds on rationality | 124 | ||
| 6.5 Prospect theory | 127 | ||
| 6.6 Summary: behavioural economics | 130 | ||
| Questions | 131 | ||
| Part II Economic Approaches\r | 133 | ||
| 7 Behavioural theory of the firm | 135 | ||
| 7.1 Introduction | 135 | ||
| 7.2 The firm as a coalition of participants | 135 | ||
| 7.3 Organizational goals | 139 | ||
| 7.4 Organizational expectations | 142 | ||
| 7.5 Organizational choice | 142 | ||
| 7.6 From bounded rationality to behavioural economics | 145 | ||
| 7.7 Summary: goals and decision-making within the firm in behavioural theory | 150 | ||
| Questions | 152 | ||
| Note | 154 | ||
| 8 Agency theory | 155 | ||
| 8.1 Introduction | 155 | ||
| 8.2 Separation of ownership and control | 156 | ||
| 8.3 Managerial behaviour and ownership structure | 159 | ||
| 8.4 Entrepreneurial firms and team production | 165 | ||
| 8.5 The firm as a nexus of contracts | 167 | ||
| 8.6 Theory of principal and agent | 169 | ||
| 8.7 Applying agency theory | 178 | ||
| 8.8 Summary: agency relations between owners, managers and employees | 182 | ||
| Questions | 184 | ||
| Note | 186 | ||
| 9 Transaction cost economics | 187 | ||
| 9.1 Introduction | 187 | ||
| 9.2 Behavioural assumptions: bounded rationality and opportunism | 189 | ||
| 9.3 Dimensions of transactions | 195 | ||
| 9.4 Peer groups | 200 | ||
| 9.5 Simple hierarchies | 202 | ||
| 9.6 Multistage hierarchies: U-form and M-form enterprises | 204 | ||
| 9.7 Organizational markets | 205 | ||
| 9.8 Digitization and transaction costs | 208 | ||
| 9.9 Markets and organizations: are these all there is? | 211 | ||
| 9.10 Governance in a three-level schema | 223 | ||
| 9.11 Summary: effect of transaction costs on choosing between markets and organizations and organizational forms | 225 | ||
| Questions | 227 | ||
| Notes | 228 | ||
| 10 Economic contributions to business/competitivestrategy | 229 | ||
| 10.1 Introduction | 229 | ||
| 10.2 Industry analysis | 232 | ||
| 10.3 Competitor analysis | 236 | ||
| 10.4 Competitive strategy | 239 | ||
| 10.5 Resource-based view of the firm | 240 | ||
| 10.6 Dynamic capabilities | 244 | ||
| 10.7 Move and counter move | 248 | ||
| 10.8 Summary: how economic analysis can contribute to the formulation of competitive strategies | 258 | ||
| Questions | 259 | ||
| Note | 259 | ||
| 11 Economic contributions to corporate strategy | 260 | ||
| 11.1 Introduction | 260 | ||
| 11.2 Unrelated diversification | 263 | ||
| 11.3 Related diversification | 271 | ||
| 11.4 Horizontal multi-nationalization | 276 | ||
| 11.5 Vertical integration | 279 | ||
| 11.6 Summary | 284 | ||
| Questions | 286 | ||
| Notes | 287 | ||
| 12 Evolutionary approaches to organizations | 288 | ||
| 12.1 Introduction | 288 | ||
| 12.2 Giraffes | 288 | ||
| 12.3 Organizations and giraffes | 290 | ||
| 12.4 Organizational ecology | 293 | ||
| 12.5 An evolutionary theory of economic change | 302 | ||
| 12.6 Comparison | 307 | ||
| 12.7 The evolution of dynamic capabilities | 310 | ||
| 12.8 Further developments | 317 | ||
| 12.9 Summary: the evolutionary perspective | 323 | ||
| Questions | 325 | ||
| Notes | 327 | ||
| 13 All in the family | 328 | ||
| 13.1 Introduction | 328 | ||
| 13.2 The basic conceptual framework | 328 | ||
| 13.3 Family resemblances | 330 | ||
| 13.4 Family differences | 333 | ||
| 13.5 Summary: all in the family? | 341 | ||
| 13.6 Organizations as complex, adaptive systems | 342 | ||
| Questions | 357 | ||
| Notes | 358 | ||
| Bibliography | 359 | ||
| Index | 373 |