Business Groups in the West
Origins, Evolution, and Resilience
Asli M Colpan editor Takashi Hikino editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:22nd Feb '18
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This volume aims to explore the long-term evolution of different varieties of large enterprises in today's developed economies. It focuses on the economic institution of business groups and attempts to comprehend the factors behind their rise, growth, struggle, and resilience; their behavioral and organizational characteristics; and their roles in national economic development. The volume seeks to enhance the scholarly and policy-oriented understanding of business groups in developed economies by bringing together state-of-the-art research on the characteristics and contributions of large enterprises in an evolutionary perspective. While business groups are a dominant and critical organization model in contemporary emerging economies and have lately attracted much attention in academic circles and business presses, their counterparts in developed economies have not been systematically examined. This book aims to fill this gap in the literature and is the first scholarly attempt to explore the evolutional paths and contemporary roles of business groups in developed economies from an internationally comparative perspective. In doing so, it argues that business groups actually rose to function as a critical factor of industrial dynamics in the context of Second Industrial Revolution in the late nineteenth century. They have adapted their characteristic roles and transformed to fit to the changing market and institutional settings. As they flexibly co-evolve with the environment, the volume shows that business groups can remain as a viable organization model in the world's most advanced economies today.
This is exciting original research from 12 modern Western nations, documenting the co-evolution of business groups with their ambient institutional contexts. The work makes clear that we should not think of business groups as anachronisms of the process of economic development, rather they both react to and shape the surrounding context, and therefore are likely very persistent organizational forms. This volume is of great value to scholars and policymakers alike. * Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School and Director, Lakshmi Mittal South Asia Institute, Harvard University *
This is an innovative and important book with a solid message. It demonstrates that business groups can live and prosper even in the fiercely competitive environment of advanced economies. It is reassuring to observe that business groups in advanced economies still act as value adding entities thanks to their longer-term horizons in decision making processes. I believe that this book has critical implications for the business executives of large enterprises in emerging markets. * Rahmi M. Koç, Honorary Chairman, Koç Holding A.Ş. *
Contrary to the conventional wisdom, diversified business groups have continued to evolve and grow in many developed economies, from Continental Europe and Britain to Canada, the United States and Australia. This book provides the best analysis of the reasons why corporate diversification is so resilient even in the face of global competition and deregulation. * Mauro F. Guillén, Director of the Lauder Institute and Dr. Felix Zandman Professor of International Management, The Wharton School *
Colpan and Hikino have given us a remarkable survey of an essential element in modern capitalism. They provide breadth and depth to the comparative study of the flexible business groups which played and continue to play a central role in our industrial economies. * Louis Galambos, Research Professor and Co-Director, The Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise, Johns Hopkins University *
ISBN: 9780198717973
Dimensions: 252mm x 178mm x 38mm
Weight: 1186g
586 pages