Clay Spinuzzi
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226236964
- eISBN:
- 9780226237015
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226237015.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies
The way we work is changing. New information and communication technologies (ICTs) have enabled new forms of work organization—necessitating new ways to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate on ...
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The way we work is changing. New information and communication technologies (ICTs) have enabled new forms of work organization—necessitating new ways to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate on work. So, increasingly, we find ourselves working in temporary, loosely organized, specialist-heavy, project-oriented teams—all-edge adhocracies. And these adhocracies work very differently from bureaucratic hierarchies, which organized us throughout the 20th century. They have different strengths, weaknesses, and possibilities. This book examines different aspects of all-edge adhocracies: why they are needed, how they emerged, how they are structured, how they develop, how they interact with other kinds of work organization, and what they need to thrive. Throughout, the book grounds its discussion in case studies of all-edge adhocracies at work, helping readers to understand and apply the principles to their own organizations.Less
The way we work is changing. New information and communication technologies (ICTs) have enabled new forms of work organization—necessitating new ways to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate on work. So, increasingly, we find ourselves working in temporary, loosely organized, specialist-heavy, project-oriented teams—all-edge adhocracies. And these adhocracies work very differently from bureaucratic hierarchies, which organized us throughout the 20th century. They have different strengths, weaknesses, and possibilities. This book examines different aspects of all-edge adhocracies: why they are needed, how they emerged, how they are structured, how they develop, how they interact with other kinds of work organization, and what they need to thrive. Throughout, the book grounds its discussion in case studies of all-edge adhocracies at work, helping readers to understand and apply the principles to their own organizations.
Diane-Laure Arjaliès, Philip Grant, Iain Hardie, Donald MacKenzie, and Ekaterina Svetlova
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- July 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198802945
- eISBN:
- 9780191841385
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198802945.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Finance, Accounting, and Banking
Investment is no longer a matter of individual savers directly choosing which shares or bonds to buy. Rather, most of their money flows through a ‘chain’: an often extended sequence of ...
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Investment is no longer a matter of individual savers directly choosing which shares or bonds to buy. Rather, most of their money flows through a ‘chain’: an often extended sequence of intermediaries. What goes on in that chain is of huge importance: the world’s investment managers, who are now almost as well paid as top bankers, control assets equivalent in value to around a year of total global economic output. In Chains of Finance, five social scientists (four of whom have worked in investment management) discuss the ways in which the intermediaries in the chain influence each other, channel the flows of savers’ money, enhance investment decisions, and form audiences for each other’s performances of financially competent selves. The central argument of the book is that investment management is fashioned profoundly by the opportunities and constraints this chain creates. Whether chains constrain or enable, however, they always entangle, tying intermediaries to each other—silently and profoundly shaping the investment management industry. Chains of Finance is a novel analysis that will make students, social scientists, financial professionals and regulators look at the workings of financial markets in a new light. A must-read for anyone looking for insights into the decision-making processes of investment managers and those influenced by and working for them.Less
Investment is no longer a matter of individual savers directly choosing which shares or bonds to buy. Rather, most of their money flows through a ‘chain’: an often extended sequence of intermediaries. What goes on in that chain is of huge importance: the world’s investment managers, who are now almost as well paid as top bankers, control assets equivalent in value to around a year of total global economic output. In Chains of Finance, five social scientists (four of whom have worked in investment management) discuss the ways in which the intermediaries in the chain influence each other, channel the flows of savers’ money, enhance investment decisions, and form audiences for each other’s performances of financially competent selves. The central argument of the book is that investment management is fashioned profoundly by the opportunities and constraints this chain creates. Whether chains constrain or enable, however, they always entangle, tying intermediaries to each other—silently and profoundly shaping the investment management industry. Chains of Finance is a novel analysis that will make students, social scientists, financial professionals and regulators look at the workings of financial markets in a new light. A must-read for anyone looking for insights into the decision-making processes of investment managers and those influenced by and working for them.
Gordon L Clark and Ashby H B Monk
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198793212
- eISBN:
- 9780191835131
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198793212.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Finance, Accounting, and Banking
This book is about what institutional investors do, how they do it, and when and where they do it: it is about the production of investment returns in the global economy. It also tackles some of the ...
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This book is about what institutional investors do, how they do it, and when and where they do it: it is about the production of investment returns in the global economy. It also tackles some of the key issues found in the academic literature on the theory of the firm. It looks at ways other treatments of the modern corporation share an abiding interest in the management and organization of the production process. In this case, the focus is on the global financial services industry, where the building blocks underpinning the study of industrial corporations are less relevant. One of the publication’s goals is to explain how and why the production of investment returns differs from that of manufactured goods. Another is to provide an analytical framework that situates financial institutions within the complex web of the intermediaries that dominate developed financial markets. As such, the book is more than an analysis of the organization and management of institutional investors; it is also an analysis of the global financial services industry.Less
This book is about what institutional investors do, how they do it, and when and where they do it: it is about the production of investment returns in the global economy. It also tackles some of the key issues found in the academic literature on the theory of the firm. It looks at ways other treatments of the modern corporation share an abiding interest in the management and organization of the production process. In this case, the focus is on the global financial services industry, where the building blocks underpinning the study of industrial corporations are less relevant. One of the publication’s goals is to explain how and why the production of investment returns differs from that of manufactured goods. Another is to provide an analytical framework that situates financial institutions within the complex web of the intermediaries that dominate developed financial markets. As such, the book is more than an analysis of the organization and management of institutional investors; it is also an analysis of the global financial services industry.
Nicholas A. Phelps
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- July 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199668229
- eISBN:
- 9780191748684
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199668229.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
Much of the world’s economic activity takes place in interplaces—places between cities and nations, the geographical containers that we have taken for granted for hundreds of years now. In this book ...
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Much of the world’s economic activity takes place in interplaces—places between cities and nations, the geographical containers that we have taken for granted for hundreds of years now. In this book Nicholas Phelps provides a guide to this uncharted territory within urban and economic geography. He highlights the importance of intermediary actors and processes in shaping the in-between economy of interplaces. From the airports, shopping malls, and office parks that have sprung up on the roads between cities to work done on the move in cars and trains, to the decisions made by internationally mobile networks of experts in conferences and negotiations, the economic geography of interplaces is revealed as one involving four recurring and coexisting economic geographical formations—the agglomeration, the enclave, the network, and the arena. The author sets out a multidisciplinary perspective and agenda on the question of the how, why, and where much contemporary economic activity takes place.Less
Much of the world’s economic activity takes place in interplaces—places between cities and nations, the geographical containers that we have taken for granted for hundreds of years now. In this book Nicholas Phelps provides a guide to this uncharted territory within urban and economic geography. He highlights the importance of intermediary actors and processes in shaping the in-between economy of interplaces. From the airports, shopping malls, and office parks that have sprung up on the roads between cities to work done on the move in cars and trains, to the decisions made by internationally mobile networks of experts in conferences and negotiations, the economic geography of interplaces is revealed as one involving four recurring and coexisting economic geographical formations—the agglomeration, the enclave, the network, and the arena. The author sets out a multidisciplinary perspective and agenda on the question of the how, why, and where much contemporary economic activity takes place.
Anthony Webster, Linda Shaw, Rachael Vorberg-Rugh, and Rachael Vorberg-Rugh (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780719099595
- eISBN:
- 9781526120731
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719099595.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business History
After decades of flying beneath the radar, co-operation as a principle of business and socio-economic organisation is moving from the margins of economic, social and political thought into the ...
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After decades of flying beneath the radar, co-operation as a principle of business and socio-economic organisation is moving from the margins of economic, social and political thought into the mainstream. In both the developed and developing worlds, co-operative models are increasingly viewed as central to tackling a diverse array of issues, including global food security, climate change, sustainable economic development, public service provision, and gender inequality. This collection, drawing together research from an interdisciplinary group of scholars and co-operative practitioners, considers the different spheres in which co-operatives are becoming more prominent. Drawing examples from different national and international contexts, the book offers major insights into how co-operation will come to occupy a more central role in social and economic life in the twenty-first century.Less
After decades of flying beneath the radar, co-operation as a principle of business and socio-economic organisation is moving from the margins of economic, social and political thought into the mainstream. In both the developed and developing worlds, co-operative models are increasingly viewed as central to tackling a diverse array of issues, including global food security, climate change, sustainable economic development, public service provision, and gender inequality. This collection, drawing together research from an interdisciplinary group of scholars and co-operative practitioners, considers the different spheres in which co-operatives are becoming more prominent. Drawing examples from different national and international contexts, the book offers major insights into how co-operation will come to occupy a more central role in social and economic life in the twenty-first century.
Eric W. Orts and N. Craig Smith (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198738534
- eISBN:
- 9780191801808
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198738534.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Corporate Governance and Accountability
A perennial question in business ethics concerns the extent to which business firms and organizations have moral responsibilities—or not. In philosophical terms, the question is whether organizations ...
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A perennial question in business ethics concerns the extent to which business firms and organizations have moral responsibilities—or not. In philosophical terms, the question is whether organizations themselves have “moral agency.” The view that firms possess moral qualities of this kind is strongly advocated by a number of leading scholars. An opposing view maintains that only individual human beings can be said correctly to have moral and ethical responsibilities. This book brings together the strongest voices on both sides of this important debate. The contributions here illustrate the leading arguments on each side. They also advance nuanced approaches to the issue that point the way toward new directions for future research. Although the debate is primarily a theoretical one, its outcome has great significance for practice. If a business firm is deemed to be morally compromised, for example, then its products and services may deserve to be “shunned” or boycotted. There are also significant legal consequences, and different societies currently hold different positions. In the United States, firms can be found legally culpable for immoral acts. Other countries such as Germany have refused to accept the idea that a firm itself can have moral and therefore legal culpability, focusing instead on the culpability of the individuals in firms who act wrongfully. High profile cases of ethical and legal malfeasance discussed in the book include BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill and Volkswagen’s alleged environmental fraud involving diesel-powered cars designed to avoid pollution regulations.Less
A perennial question in business ethics concerns the extent to which business firms and organizations have moral responsibilities—or not. In philosophical terms, the question is whether organizations themselves have “moral agency.” The view that firms possess moral qualities of this kind is strongly advocated by a number of leading scholars. An opposing view maintains that only individual human beings can be said correctly to have moral and ethical responsibilities. This book brings together the strongest voices on both sides of this important debate. The contributions here illustrate the leading arguments on each side. They also advance nuanced approaches to the issue that point the way toward new directions for future research. Although the debate is primarily a theoretical one, its outcome has great significance for practice. If a business firm is deemed to be morally compromised, for example, then its products and services may deserve to be “shunned” or boycotted. There are also significant legal consequences, and different societies currently hold different positions. In the United States, firms can be found legally culpable for immoral acts. Other countries such as Germany have refused to accept the idea that a firm itself can have moral and therefore legal culpability, focusing instead on the culpability of the individuals in firms who act wrongfully. High profile cases of ethical and legal malfeasance discussed in the book include BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill and Volkswagen’s alleged environmental fraud involving diesel-powered cars designed to avoid pollution regulations.
Michael Kinch
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469630625
- eISBN:
- 9781469630649
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469630625.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation
The introduction of new medicines has dramatically improved the quantity and quality of individual and public health while contributing trillions of dollars to the global economy. In spite of these ...
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The introduction of new medicines has dramatically improved the quantity and quality of individual and public health while contributing trillions of dollars to the global economy. In spite of these past successes--and indeed because of them--our ability to deliver new medicines may be quickly coming to an end. Moving from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, A Prescription for Change reveals how changing business strategies combined with scientific hubris have altered the way new medicines are discovered, with dire implications for both health and the economy.
To explain how we have arrived at this pivotal moment, Michael Kinch recounts the history of pharmaceutical and biotechnological advances in the twentieth century. Kinch relates stories of the individuals and organizations that built the modern infrastructure that supports the development of innovative new medicines. He shows that an accelerating cycle of acquisition and downsizing is cannibalizing that infrastructure Kinch demonstrates the dismantling of the pharmaceutical and biotechnological research and development enterprises could also provide opportunities to innovate new models that sustain and expand the introduction of newer and better breakthrough medicines in the years to come.Less
The introduction of new medicines has dramatically improved the quantity and quality of individual and public health while contributing trillions of dollars to the global economy. In spite of these past successes--and indeed because of them--our ability to deliver new medicines may be quickly coming to an end. Moving from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, A Prescription for Change reveals how changing business strategies combined with scientific hubris have altered the way new medicines are discovered, with dire implications for both health and the economy.
To explain how we have arrived at this pivotal moment, Michael Kinch recounts the history of pharmaceutical and biotechnological advances in the twentieth century. Kinch relates stories of the individuals and organizations that built the modern infrastructure that supports the development of innovative new medicines. He shows that an accelerating cycle of acquisition and downsizing is cannibalizing that infrastructure Kinch demonstrates the dismantling of the pharmaceutical and biotechnological research and development enterprises could also provide opportunities to innovate new models that sustain and expand the introduction of newer and better breakthrough medicines in the years to come.
Geoffrey Jones
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198706977
- eISBN:
- 9780191840340
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198706977.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business History, International Business
The book tells the unknown story of entrepreneurs who believed business could help create a more sustainable world. It challenges the received point of view that such green entrepreneurs are a recent ...
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The book tells the unknown story of entrepreneurs who believed business could help create a more sustainable world. It challenges the received point of view that such green entrepreneurs are a recent phenomenon, and instead traces their origins much further back in the convictions of people committed to unusual lifestyles, in the zeal of radicals, and in the often unsuccessful efforts of visionaries to bring a new world into being long before the world was ready for it. This book looks at many such individuals in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, and in industries as diverse as architecture, natural beauty, organic food, recycling, solar and wind energy, and sustainable finance. In each industry, the book explores the drivers of green entrepreneurship over time, how businesses were built, and the lessons to be learned. It is shown that it was only from the 1980s that green businesses were able to break out of marginal positions, yet the scaling of such businesses and the rise of corporate environmentalism raised new issues of legitimacy. The historical achievement of green entrepreneurs remains that through their willingness to be unconventional, they opened up new ways of thinking about sustainability, and have laid the foundations for the sustainable world of the future.Less
The book tells the unknown story of entrepreneurs who believed business could help create a more sustainable world. It challenges the received point of view that such green entrepreneurs are a recent phenomenon, and instead traces their origins much further back in the convictions of people committed to unusual lifestyles, in the zeal of radicals, and in the often unsuccessful efforts of visionaries to bring a new world into being long before the world was ready for it. This book looks at many such individuals in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, and in industries as diverse as architecture, natural beauty, organic food, recycling, solar and wind energy, and sustainable finance. In each industry, the book explores the drivers of green entrepreneurship over time, how businesses were built, and the lessons to be learned. It is shown that it was only from the 1980s that green businesses were able to break out of marginal positions, yet the scaling of such businesses and the rise of corporate environmentalism raised new issues of legitimacy. The historical achievement of green entrepreneurs remains that through their willingness to be unconventional, they opened up new ways of thinking about sustainability, and have laid the foundations for the sustainable world of the future.
Tim Unwin
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198795292
- eISBN:
- 9780191836589
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198795292.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Information Technology
The development of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) has transformed the world over the last two decades. These technologies are often seen as being inherently ‘good’, with the ...
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The development of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) has transformed the world over the last two decades. These technologies are often seen as being inherently ‘good’, with the ability to make the world better, and in particular to reduce poverty. However, their darker side is frequently ignored in such accounts. ICTs undoubtedly have the potential to reduce poverty, for example by enhancing education, health delivery, rural development, and entrepreneurship across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. However, all too often, projects designed to do so fail to go to scale, and are unsustainable when donor funding ceases. Indeed, ICTs have actually dramatically increased inequality across the world. Those with access to the latest technologies and the ability to use them effectively can indeed transform their lives, but those who are left without access have become increasingly disadvantaged and marginalized. The central purpose of this book is to account for why this is so, and it does so primarily by laying bare the interests that have underlain the dramatic expansion of ICTs in recent years. Unless these are fully understood, it will not be possible to reclaim the use of these technologies to empower the world’s poorest and most marginalized. The book is grounded in the Critical Theory of Jürgen Habermas, drawing especially on his notions of knowledge constitutive interests, and a particular conceptualization of the relationship between theory and practice. The book espouses the view that development is not just about economic growth, but must also address questions of inequality.Less
The development of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) has transformed the world over the last two decades. These technologies are often seen as being inherently ‘good’, with the ability to make the world better, and in particular to reduce poverty. However, their darker side is frequently ignored in such accounts. ICTs undoubtedly have the potential to reduce poverty, for example by enhancing education, health delivery, rural development, and entrepreneurship across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. However, all too often, projects designed to do so fail to go to scale, and are unsustainable when donor funding ceases. Indeed, ICTs have actually dramatically increased inequality across the world. Those with access to the latest technologies and the ability to use them effectively can indeed transform their lives, but those who are left without access have become increasingly disadvantaged and marginalized. The central purpose of this book is to account for why this is so, and it does so primarily by laying bare the interests that have underlain the dramatic expansion of ICTs in recent years. Unless these are fully understood, it will not be possible to reclaim the use of these technologies to empower the world’s poorest and most marginalized. The book is grounded in the Critical Theory of Jürgen Habermas, drawing especially on his notions of knowledge constitutive interests, and a particular conceptualization of the relationship between theory and practice. The book espouses the view that development is not just about economic growth, but must also address questions of inequality.
Mats Alvesson, Yiannis Gabriel, and Roland Paulsen
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198787099
- eISBN:
- 9780191829161
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198787099.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies
This book argues that we are currently witnessing not merely a decline in the quality of social science research, but a proliferation of meaningless research of no value to society and modest value ...
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This book argues that we are currently witnessing not merely a decline in the quality of social science research, but a proliferation of meaningless research of no value to society and modest value to its authors—apart from securing employment and promotion. The explosion of published outputs, at least in social science, creates a noisy, cluttered environment which makes meaningful research difficult, as different voices compete to capture the limelight even briefly. Older, but more impressive contributions are easily neglected as the premium is to write and publish, not read and learn. The result is a widespread cynicism among academics on the value of academic research, sometimes including their own. Publishing comes to be seen as a game of hits and misses, devoid of intrinsic meaning and value and of no wider social uses whatsoever. This is what the book views as the rise of nonsense in academic research, which represents a serious social problem. It undermines the very point of social science. This problem is far from ‘academic’. It affects many areas of social and political life entailing extensive waste of resources and inflated student fees as well as costs to taxpayers. The book’s second part offers a range of proposals aimed at restoring meaning at the heart of social science research, and drawing social science back, address the major problems and issues that face our societies.Less
This book argues that we are currently witnessing not merely a decline in the quality of social science research, but a proliferation of meaningless research of no value to society and modest value to its authors—apart from securing employment and promotion. The explosion of published outputs, at least in social science, creates a noisy, cluttered environment which makes meaningful research difficult, as different voices compete to capture the limelight even briefly. Older, but more impressive contributions are easily neglected as the premium is to write and publish, not read and learn. The result is a widespread cynicism among academics on the value of academic research, sometimes including their own. Publishing comes to be seen as a game of hits and misses, devoid of intrinsic meaning and value and of no wider social uses whatsoever. This is what the book views as the rise of nonsense in academic research, which represents a serious social problem. It undermines the very point of social science. This problem is far from ‘academic’. It affects many areas of social and political life entailing extensive waste of resources and inflated student fees as well as costs to taxpayers. The book’s second part offers a range of proposals aimed at restoring meaning at the heart of social science research, and drawing social science back, address the major problems and issues that face our societies.
Corporate Governance, Competition, and Political Parties
Beyond Varieties of Capitalism
The Labyrinths of Information
Global Strategy
Corporate E-Learning
Psychological Capital
Corporate Governance
Swarm Creativity
Capitalist Diversity and Change
