The Corporate Economy

First published in 1976, this much acclaimed book looks at the story of how today's large corporations have superseded the small competing firms of the nineteenth century. The long-run analysis confirms that the crucial periods in the formulation of the modern corporate system were the 1920's and 1960's. The merger wave of these decades was associated with a desire to improve the efficiency of Britain’s industrial organization, and the author shows that it was in a large measure responsible for the trend improvement (by historical if not international standards) in Britain's growth performance. Students of business, economic history and industrial economics will all welcome the return to print of a notable contribution to the continuing debate on the evolution and control of the corporate manufacturing sector.

The readings collected in these four volumes examine the evolution, operation, and performance of the American corporate enterprise, and the American corporate economy more generally. Divided into seven sections, many of the readings provide broad overviews of the evolution of the US corporate enterprise, while others contribute to debates on its role in the evolution of American economy and society. The material is arranged thematically to help the reader navigate the field. There is also a new introduction and a thorough index, making this set an invaluable resource for both academics and practitioners in the field.

The Corporate Economy, a collective work by some of the world's most distinguished theoretical economists, offers analyses of the workings of an economy dominated by large corporations. The book is concerned with the theory of the growth of the firm, with competition between divisions of corporations in particular product markets, and with relationships between the company and the stock market. It presents discussions of the internal organization of diversified corporations and the effects of this organization on the corporations' economic behavior as well as on the relations between the corporate sector and the small-scale or "competitive" sector of the economy. Three empirical appendices, which include some previously unpublished material, survey the literature on the size, growth, and profitability of firms and on diversification, merger, and research expenditures.

Reimagining our global economy so it becomes more sustainable and prosperous for all Our global economic system is broken. But we can replace the current picture of global upheaval, unsustainability, and uncertainty with one of an economy that works for all people, and the planet. First, we must eliminate rising income inequality within societies where productivity and wage growth has slowed. Second, we must reduce the dampening effect of monopoly market power wielded by large corporations on innovation and productivity gains. And finally, the short-sighted exploitation of natural resources that is corroding the environment and affecting the lives of many for the worse must end. The debate over the causes of the broken economy—laissez-faire government, poorly managed globalization, the rise of technology in favor of the few, or yet another reason—is wide open. Stakeholder Capitalism: A Global Economy that Works for Progress, People and Planet argues convincingly that if we don't start with recognizing the true shape of our problems, our current system will continue to fail us. To help us see our challenges more clearly, Schwab—the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum—looks for the real causes of our system's shortcomings, and for solutions in best practices from around the world in places as diverse as China, Denmark, Ethiopia, Germany, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Singapore. And in doing so, Schwab finds emerging examples of new ways of doing things that provide grounds for hope, including: Individual agency: how countries and policies can make a difference against large external forces A clearly defined social contract: agreement on shared values and goals allows government, business, and individuals to produce the most optimal outcomes Planning for future generations: short-sighted presentism harms our shared future, and that of those yet to be born Better measures of economic success: move beyond a myopic focus on GDP to more complete, human-scaled measures of societal flourishing By accurately describing our real situation, Stakeholder Capitalism is able to pinpoint achievable ways to deal with our problems. Chapter by chapter, Professor Schwab shows us that there are ways for everyone at all levels of society to reshape the broken pieces of the global economy and—country by country, company by company, and citizen by citizen—glue them back together in a way that benefits us all.

Over the past few decades, corporations have been neglected in studies of international political economy (IPE). Seeking to demystify them, what they are, how they behave and their goals and constraints, this Handbook introduces the corporation as a unit of analysis for students of IPE. Providing critical discussion of their global and domestic power, and highlighting the ways in which corporations interact with each other and with their socio-political environment, this Handbook presents a thorough and up-to-date overview of the main debates around the role of corporations in the global political economy.