Business Groups and Trade in East Asia

Business Groups and Trade in East Asia PDF Author: Robert C. Feenstra
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business networks
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description
Abstract: We propose an economic model of business groups that allows for the cooperative behavior of groups of firms, where the number and size of each group is determined endogenously. In this framework, more than one configuration of groups can arise in equilibrium: several different types of business groups can occur, each of which is consistent with profit-maximization and is stable. This means that the economic logic does not fully determine the industrial structure, leaving scope for political and sociological factors to have a lasting influence. In a companion paper, we argue that the differing structures of business groups found in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan fit the stylized results from the model, and contrast the impact of these groups on the product variety of their country exports to the United States.

Business Groups and Trade in East Asia

Business Groups and Trade in East Asia PDF Author: Robert C. Feenstra
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business networks
Languages : en
Pages : 52

Get Book

Book Description
Abstract: We propose an economic model of business groups that allows for the cooperative behavior of groups of firms, where the number and size of each group is determined endogenously. In this framework, more than one configuration of groups can arise in equilibrium: several different types of business groups can occur, each of which is consistent with profit-maximization and is stable. This means that the economic logic does not fully determine the industrial structure, leaving scope for political and sociological factors to have a lasting influence. In a companion paper, we argue that the differing structures of business groups found in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan fit the stylized results from the model, and contrast the impact of these groups on the product variety of their country exports to the United States.

Japan's Network Economy

Japan's Network Economy PDF Author: James R. Lincoln
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521453042
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 438

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Book Description
Japan's economy has long been described as network-centric. A web of stable, reciprocated relations among banks, firms, and ministries, is thought to play an important role in Japan's ability to navigate smoothly around economic shocks. Now those networks are widely blamed for Japan's faltering competitiveness. This book applies structural sociology to a study of how the form and functioning of this network economy has evolved from the prewar era to the late 90s. It asks whether, in the face of deregulation, globalization, and financial disintermediation, Japan's corporate networks - the keiretsu groupings particularly - have 'withered away', losing their cohesion and their historical function of supporting member firms in hard times. Using detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis, this book's conclusion is a qualified 'yes'. Relationships remain central to the Japanese way of business, but are much more subordinated to the competitive strategy of the enterprise than the network economy of the past.

The New Institutionalism in Sociology

The New Institutionalism in Sociology PDF Author: Mary C. Brinton
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610440838
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
Institutions play a pivotal role in the economic functioning of any society. Understanding the foundation of social norms, networks, and beliefs within institutions is crucial to explaining much of what occurs in modern economies. Recently, economic sociologists have explored how ties among individuals and groups facilitate economic activity, while "institutional economists" have focused on the formal "rules of the game" that regulate economic processes via government and law. The New Institutionalism in Sociology argues that a full understanding of economic life will depend on blending these new lines of research on institutions with traditional sociological insights into the social structures that lie at their core. The contributors to this volume explore many questions about the way institutions emerge and operate. How do grassroots mores and practices evolve to an institutional level? How do institutional norms then regulate economic activity, and what are the advantages of formal versus informal constraints? What are the sources of trust and cooperation in trading markets? What role do cultural networks play in the economic survival of immigrant communities? And how does conflict and bargaining affect the evolution of community norms? The New Institutionalism in Sociology also discusses how economic fluctuations arise from interactions between local agencies and the institutional environment. Among the topics addressed here are the influence of labor activism on the distribution of income, the association between highly competitive "winner-take-all" job markets and increased wage inequality in the United States, and the effect of property right conventions on technical innovation and productivity in pre-industrial England. A final section explores how deeply embedded cultural traditions have colored the transition from state socialism to market economies in Eastern Europe. The New Institutionalism in Sociology establishes a valuable template for a sociological conception of economic organization. Its interdisciplinary paradigm signals an important advance in understanding how institutions shape social and economic life.

Economics, Evolution and the State

Economics, Evolution and the State PDF Author: Kurt Dopfer
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 9781845428020
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
This book focuses on the emerging field of evolutionary economic policy, highlighting the interface between the state, markets, and the evolutionary complexity of modern economies. The contributors explore the possibilities and limitations of governance, and provide a unique platform for the advancement of modern evolutionary economic theory.

Networks and Markets

Networks and Markets PDF Author: James E. Rauch
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610444671
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
Networks and Markets argues that economists' knowledge of markets and sociologists' rich understanding of networks can and should be combined. Together they can help us achieve a more coherent view of economic life, where transactions follow both the logic of economic incentives and the established channels of personal relationships. Market exchange is impersonal, episodic, and carried out at arm's length. All that matters is how much the seller is asking, and how much the buyer is offering. An economic network, by contrast, is based upon more personalized and enduring relationships between people tied together by more than just price. Networks and Markets focuses on how the two concepts relate to each other: Are social networks an essential precondition for successful markets, or do networks arise naturally out of markets, as faceless traders build reputations and gain confidence in each other? The book includes contributions by both sociologists and economists, applying the concepts of markets and networks to concrete empirical phenomena. Among the topics analyzed, the book explains how, in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, firms combine into tightly-knit business blocs, how wholesalers in a Marseille fish market earn the loyalty of customers, and how ethnic retailers in the U.S. share valuable market information with other shopkeepers from their ethnic group. A response to each chapter discusses the issue from the standpoint of the other discipline. Sociologists are challenged to go beyond small-scale economic exchange and to integrate their concept of networks into a broader understanding of the economic system as a whole, while economists are challenged to consider the economic implications of network ties, which can be strong or weak, unconditional or highly contingent. This book proves that both economics and sociology provide stronger insights when they study markets and networks as parallel forms of exchange. But it also clarifies the healthy division of labor that remains between the two disciplines. Sociologists are adept at showing how markets are framed by social institutions; economists specialize in explaining how markets perform, taking the social context as a given. Networks and Markets showcases what each discipline does best and reveals where each discipline would do better by borrowing from the other.

Global Taiwan

Global Taiwan PDF Author: Suzanne Berger
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317469690
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
Global Taiwan examines the impact of globalization on the industry and economy of Taiwan since the spectacular growth of the 1990s. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with firms in Taiwan, China, the United States, Japan, Europe, and other areas, the book analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of Taiwanese firms at a time when they face new competition from powerful global leaders and new producers in China. The contributors cover topics of enormous importance for Taiwan as well as the rest of the world, including transformations in the international economy, technological advances that enabled modularization and fragmentation of the production system, contract manufacturers, regionalization, and links with Chinese industry. The book addresses such questions as: Can Taiwanese companies be maintained and expanded with the same corporate strategies and public policies as in the past? Can these strategies still work for other countries? If changes are required, what resources can be mobilized in the public and private sectors? As massive relocation of manufacturing and services moves plants and jobs to low-wage countries like China and India, what will remain at home in societies like Taiwan?

The Changing World of Oil: An Analysis of Corporate Change and Adaptation

The Changing World of Oil: An Analysis of Corporate Change and Adaptation PDF Author: Jerome Davis
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351893084
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
This book examines broad questions of industrial change in order to explain developments in the oil industry. In contrast to most other work on this industry, firms are considered to be the dependent variables rather than the future production and demand for oil and gas. An analysis of the industry is made by examining how corporations change their operating environments and are themselves changed by their environments. Particular attention is paid to 'mega-mergers' and to industrial downsizing and outsourcing. The significance of such restructuring for the societies the companies serve is also considered and comprehensive use is made of recent theories of the firm. It shows how such theories can be used to analyze a key world-wide industry. The distinctive approach of this book will help extend readers' understanding of the oil industry beyond the more conventional studies.

Systemic Changes in the German and Japanese Economies

Systemic Changes in the German and Japanese Economies PDF Author: Werner Pascha
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135789274
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Where will systemic change lead? This book offers fresh insights by collecting Japanese and German contributions to this scholarly discussion both from theoretical and empirical viewpoints.

Business Groups in South Korea and Taiwan

Business Groups in South Korea and Taiwan PDF Author: Robert C. Feenstra
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description


Networks of International Trade and Investment

Networks of International Trade and Investment PDF Author: Sara Gorgoni
Publisher: Vernon Press
ISBN: 1622730658
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
In recent decades, the international economy has witnessed fundamental changes in the way manufacturing is organised: products are no longer manufactured in their entirety in a single location. Instead, the production process is often split across a number of stages located in countries that are frequently far apart from each other. By spreading out their manufacturing and supply chain activities globally through international investment and intra-firm trade, Multinational enterprises (MNEs) play a focal role in this reorganisation of production. Our ability to understand the global economy, therefore, requires an understanding of the interdependencies between the entities involved in such fragmented production. Traditional methods and statistical approaches are insufficient to address this challenge. Instead, an approach is required that allows us to account for these interdependencies. The most promising approach so far is network analysis. ‘Networks of International Trade and Investment’ makes a case for the use of network analysis alongside existing techniques in order to investigate pressing issues in international business and economics. The authors put forward a range of well-informed studies that examine compelling topics such as the role of emerging economies in global trade and the evolution of world trade patterns. They look at how network analysis, as both an approach and a methodology, can explain international business and economics phenomena, in particular, in relation to international trade and investment. Providing a comprehensive but accessible explanation of the applications of network analysis and some of the most recent methodological advances in its field, this edited volume is an important contribution to research in international trade and investment.