The Myth of the M-Form? Governance, Consent, and Organizational Change

Freeland, Robert F.

doi:10.1086/230953

Cited by 90 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…In other words, even at a single point in time, MNEs may adopt both participative decentralization and administrative centralization simultaneously. These two approaches have traditionally been viewed as inefficient corruptions of the M-form (Freeland, 1996;Williamson, 1975), but may in reality constitute a precondition for the effective governance of MNEs with regional strategies. Here participative decentralization reflects the involvement of regional divisions in corporate strategic planning, and this may be critical for successfully conducting downstream activities in host regions, given both the relative lack of appropriate information at the corporate headquarters' level on host regions, and the need to preserve subsidiary commitment and initiative in those host regions.…”

Section: Fsas Available To Achieve a Broad Geographic Distribution Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

A perspective on regional and global strategies of multinational enterprises

2004

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Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are the key drivers of globalization, as they foster increased economic interdependence among national markets. The ultimate test to assess whether these MNEs are global themselves is their actual penetration level of markets across the globe, especially in the broad 'triad' markets of NAFTA, the European Union and Asia. Yet, data on the activities of the 500 largest MNEs reveal that very few are successful globally. For 320 of the 380 firms for which geographic sales data are available, an average of 80.3% of total sales are in their home region of the triad. This means that many of the world's largest firms are not global but regionally based, in terms of breadth and depth of market coverage. Globalization, in terms of a balanced geographic distribution of sales across the triad, thus reflects a special, and rather unusual, outcome of doing international business (IB). The regional concentration of sales has important implications for various strands of mainstream IB research, as well as for the broader managerial debate on the design of optimal strategies and governance structures for MNEs.

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Section: Fsas Available To Achieve a Broad Geographic Distribution Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

A perspective on regional and global strategies of multinational enterprises

2004

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“…In addition, the parties don't know what the future will bring. Under uncertainty it is impossible to 12 Notably by Freeland (1996a). 13 Which clarifies his "ex post small numbers exchange relation" (Williamson 1975, 29).…”

Section: Basic Ideas Of New Institutional Economicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Economic Sociology and New Institutional Economics

Richter

2001

SSRN Journal

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This paper deals with similarities and differences between new economic sociology (NES) and new institutional economics (NIE). We start with brief reports on the basic ideas of NES and NIE.Regarding the latter, we concentrate on NIE in the sense of Oliver Williamson who introduced the term and whose work became the main target of sociologists' critique. We show that the contrast between the two fields is less sharp than some social scientists might assume. We then present a review and assessment of the attack of seven sociologists on Oliver Williamson's ideas. The sociologists are Perrow, Fligstein, Freeland, Granovetter, Bradach & Eccles, and Powell. Their battering ram "social network theory" is briefly described and an attempt made to combine network analysis with new institutional economics as understood by Williamson, i.e., his transaction cost economics. The paper is concluded with some thoughts on the convergence of NES and NIE. Introductory RemarksThis paper deals with similarities and differences between the New Economic Sociology (NES) and the New Institutional Economics (NIE). As we shall see, both deal with social actions. What are then the differences between the two fields -the fundamental 1 I benefited from detailed comments by Mark Granovetter, Richard Swedberg, and Oliver E. Williamson.The usual disclaimer applies.ISNIE2001/Revise~2.doc 7/17/01 3 differences that is -or are there essentially none?According to Smelser and Swedberg (1994b, 4) there are considerable differences at least between classical sociology and classical economics:• in sociology actors are influenced by other actors,• in economics actors are uninfluenced by other actors.But at a closer look, the contrast between the two fields is less sharp. Economists since Cournot (1838) know and recognize analytically that "actors are influenced by other actors." But classical economists, being obsessed with the goal of efficiency (Pareto efficiency that is), disliked oligopolies. They do not take them for granted. They wanted to annihilate them politically and to establish in the real world conditions "as if" we would have perfect competition. It is this ideal-typical view of classical economics that has been challenged, among others, by NIE in the sense of Oliver Williamson.A deeper difference between classical sociology and classical economics exists with regard to their respective models of man:• sociologists allow for various types of human action, including rational action;• economists assume only perfect rationality. (Smelser and Swedberg 1994b, 4) More precisely, perfect individual rationality is the fundamental assumption of neoclassical microeconomics. It was challenged by Simon (1957), whose concept of bounded rationality was introduced by Williamson as an important element into his NIE (Williamson 1975). North, in his later work, seems to go even further. He states that "a modification of these [rational choice] assumptions is essential to further progress in the social sciences. The motivation of the actors i...

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“…Mollick and Rothbard's (2014) study of employers' use of production games provides crucial experimental evidence in this regard, as they demonstrate significantly higher levels of worker "consent" (cf. Burawoy 1979;Freeland 1996Freeland , 2001) when there is a choice over which game to play as opposed to when it is forced. The alienation produced by hierarchical control may sometimes extend to wishing for the failure of a project rather than its success.…”

Section: Effectiveness Transaction Difficultymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Problems and Promise of Hierarchy: Voice Rights and the Firm

Freeland¹,

Sivan²

2018

SocScience

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The firm's continued importance for coordinating economic activity is puzzling given that (1) economists have not demonstrated that the greater alignment of effort they expect from hierarchical coordination overcomes the reduction in employee effort created by "low-powered" incentives, (2) employee effort is further threatened by the alienating effects of hierarchical control, and (3) firms, as we show, are necessarily hierarchical. Why, then, do firms dominate the capitalist economy? Our theory is rooted in a more subtle set of rights that is also intrinsic to the firm hierarchy: "voice rights" (who can speak within and on behalf of the firm). Control of voice is crucial for endowing the firm with a capacity that cannot be acquired by a mere "nexus" of contractors: it can become a reliable and accountable actor. This, in turn, gives the firm three necessary (if insufficient) ingredients for creating strong identification with the collective enterprise. Our theory thus suggests why firms remain important despite their inherent limitations and why some firms are marked by alienation and perfunctory performance while others are marked by strong identification and consummate performance.

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The Myth of the M-Form? Governance, Consent, and Organizational Change

Cited by 90 publications

References 39 publications

A perspective on regional and global strategies of multinational enterprises

A perspective on regional and global strategies of multinational enterprises

New Economic Sociology and New Institutional Economics

The Problems and Promise of Hierarchy: Voice Rights and the Firm

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