Mark Casson

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Mark Casson demonstrates how the economic effects of culture--social values such as honesty, dedication, and loyalty--can be analysed in a rigorous fashion. He argues that gains from technology in modern society can be offset by high costs stemming from the missing moral dimension which has implications for economic competitiveness and for social and economic institutions. A strong culture reduced transaction costs and enhances performance--the success of an economy thus depends on the quality of its culture.

Trust is increasingly recognized as a crucial aspect of successful economic relationships, albeit a difficult one to define, and Mark Casson has been at the forefront of recent research in this area. In this sequel to his classic work The Entrepreneur, Professor Casson examines how the entrepreneurial firm succeeds by synthesizing information from different sources. The quality of this information is just as important as the quantity and the cheapest way to ensure quality is through a moral obligation to tell the truth. The author argues that a nation needs to invest in social institutions, such as schools, families and organized religion, in order to instil a sense of moral obligation and so sustain entrepreneurial success. Themes raised in this important volume include cultural perspectives on economic issues, entrepreneurship in a cultural context and the political economy of national culture. Entrepreneurship and Business Culture presents a state-of-the-art analysis of entrepreneurship and the social structures in which it is embedded. Together with its companion volume, The Organization of International Business, this topical and wide-ranging book offers a definitive analysis of the importance of trust in economic life as well as the related concepts of networking, consultation and empowerment.

Trust is increasingly recognized as a crucial aspect of successful economic relationships, albeit a difficult one to define, and Mark Casson has been at the forefront of recent research in this area. Mark Casson pioneered the use of transaction cost theory to explain the boundaries of the multinational firm. In The Organization of International Business, he extends the internalization theory of the firm to encompass, on the one hand, inter-firm networking and, on the other, the internal organization and managerial structure of the firm. The key innovation is the distinction between information cost - the cost of gathering information on the assumption that it is true - and transaction cost - the cost of ensuring that the information actually is true. This innovation facilitates a synthesis of transaction cost analysis and organizational behaviour. It also provides new insights into the dynamics of internationalization, and the role of learning in the growth of the firm. The Organization of International Business is a major extension of international business theory which synthesizes transaction cost analysis and organizational behaviour. Although it focuses on international business and multinational enterprises, the analysis can be applied to a wide variety of business units. Together with its companion volume, Entrepreneurship and Business Culture, this topical and wide-ranging book offers a definitive analysis of the importance of trust in economic life as well as the related concepts of networking, consultation and empowerment.

How far can efficiency be pursued without sacrificing equity? Do fiscal changes designed to improve incentives necessarily lead to greater inequality of incomes? Does the profitability of ‘big business’ really reflect economies of scale and scope or is it also a reflection of market power? In addressing these and other key questions, a group of internationally acclaimed economists demonstrates why issues of concentration and inequality in economic life are moving to the top of the political agenda in the 1990s. Drawing upon the pioneering work of Peter Hart, this volume reflects the range of his influence from theoretical examinations of measures of industrial concentration and income inequality, to detailed empirical explorations of changes in concentration over time. The volume includes essays on, among other issues, the Hart measure of income mobility, income distribution in Eastern Europe, the UK state pension scheme, trends in the concentration of UK manufacturing in the 1980s, the EC Merger Control Regulation, corporate research and development strategies and corporate technological specialization in international industries. Industrial Concentration and Economic Inequality will be particularly relevant for government policy makers, social analysts and economists concerned with income distribution and industrial policy.

In this book the author analyses the economic effects of culture. By culture he means social values such as honesty, dedication, and loyalty. He argues that the gains from technology in modern societies can be offset by high cost stemming from the missing moral dimension, and that this has implications both for economic competitiveness and for social and economic institutions such as families and trade unions.

These papers provide an integrated treatment of the theory with its applications for industrial sectors, regions and international business policy. The theory is applied to smaller firms, to co-operative agreements between firms and to exports in the strategy of large multinational firms.

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