In recent years, applied studies have shown widespread, profound and increasing heterogeneity across firms in terms of their strategy, organization arrangement and performance. This book investigates the diversity of business firms, offering a picture of the different organizational settings they adopt in their endeavour to cope with increasing competitive pressure.

The book addresses critical theoretical issues surrounding corporate governance, organizational design and cooperative relations among firms. Moreover, it provides new evidence on the various forms of outsourcing that are playing an increasingly important role as a consequence of globalization. The contributions collected in this book stress the emergence of a trend towards a reorganization of production that can enhance the transmission, development and maintenance of knowledge in order to sustain long-run competitive advantage.

Providing original and pertinent empirical evidence, this book will attract interest from scholars and postgraduate students studying the economics and organization of the firm. It will also be of value to managers who wish to understand new developments in the organizational settings of business firms with particular reference to corporate governance, organizational design, cooperative relations, outsourcing and de-localization.

Critical Acclaim

‘In this reputable book Professor Morroni has constructed an insightful framework of three decisive factors for organizational coordination: capabilities, transaction, scale-scope. Based on these, he has knitted a splendid tapestry of theoretical and empirical information. This collection must be a standard for the theory of the firm.’
– Yuji Aruka, Chuo University, Japan

‘Organisations, networks and firms are three of the most dynamic areas of economic research. This timely book synthesises these areas in order to analyse emergent phenomena such as spatial clustering, outsourcing, relational complexity and radical technological innovation. A combination of authoritative literature reviews, novel theoretical developments and interesting case study applications makes this book essential reading for both new and established scholars in the field.’
– Mark Casson, University of Reading, UK

Contributors

Contributors: P. Cohendet, M. Damiani, S. Furnari, C. Gianelle, A. Grandori, J. Krafft, P. Llerena, M. Mazzanti, C. Ménard, S. Montresor, M. Morroni, R. Pardo, P. Pini, R. Rama, J.-L. Ravix, A. Reinstaller, G. Tattara, P. Windrum

Contents

Contents:

1. Introduction: Organizational Variety and Economic Performance
Mario Morroni

PART I: THEORETICAL ASPECTS
2. The Stakeholder Corporate Governance View Revisited
Mirella Damiani

3. The Governance of the Knowledge-Intensive Firm in an Industry Life Cycle Approach
Jackie Krafft and Jacques-Laurent Ravix

4. Types of Complementarity, Combinative Organization Forms and Structural Heterogeneity: Beyond Discrete Structural Alternatives
Anna Grandori and Santi Furnari

5. Oliver Williamson and the Logic of Hybrid Organizations
Claude Ménard

6. Organization of Firms, Knowing Communities and Limits of Networks in a Knowledge-Intensive Context
Patrick Cohendet and Patrick Llerena

PART II: APPLIED ANALYSES
7. Short-term Gain, Long-term Pain? Implications of Outsourcing for Organizational Innovation and Productivity
Andreas Reinstaller and Paul Windrum

8. The General Profile of the Outsourcing Firm: Evidence for a Local Production System of Emilia Romagna
Massimiliano Mazzanti, Sandro Montresor and Paolo Pini

9. Technical Capital and Social Capital in Outsourcing Networks: Complements or Substitutes?
Rafael Pardo and Ruth Rama

10. Manufacturing Abroad While Making Profits at Home: The Veneto
Footwear and Clothing Industry
Carlo Gianelle and Giuseppe Tattara

Index