Skip to main content

Opportunism, Learning, and Organizational Evolution

  • Chapter

Part of the book series: Recent Economic Thought Series ((RETH,volume 48))

Abstract

The main thrust of this chapter is to compare and link two separate literatures that claim to provide a coherent account of organizational evolution. On the one hand we have transaction cost theory, arguably dominant within economics, which uses a universal efficiency-seeking logic; on the other hand we have various approaches to the understanding of corporate restructuring that, while being different, all emphasize a shifting strategic logic. It will be argued in this chapter that these two bodies of literature provide differing approaches to organizational evolution that can benefit from the insights offered by each.

The author wishes to acknowledge, and thank, the participants of the workshop who took the time to read and comment on his work. Their efforts have improved the content and the presentation of the arguments in this contribution. Needless to say the obvious rider, about ambiguities, omissions and errors, still applies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Agglietta, M. 1979. A Theory of Capitalist Regulation. London: New Left Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akerlof, G.A. 1970. “The Market for ‘Lemons’: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism”. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 84, 488–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amin, A. and M. Dietrich. 1991. “From Hierarchy to ‘Hierarchy’: The Dynamics of Contemporary Corporate Restructuring in Europe.” In Towards a New Europe? Structural Change in the European Economy, A. Amin and M. Dietrich, eds. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aoki, M. 1988. Information, Incentives, and Bargaining in the Japanese Economy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Argyris, C. and D.A. Schon. 1978. Organized Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective. Reading MA: Addison Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod, R. 1984. The Evolution of Cooperation. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellandi, M. 1993. “Structure and Change in the Industrial District,” Discussion Paper 85, Dipartimento Di Scienze Economiche: Universita Degli Studi di Firenze.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyer, R. 1988. “Technical Change and the Theory of ‘Régulation’.” In Technical Change and Economic Theory, G. Dosi, C. Freeman, R. Nelson, G. Silverberg, L. Soete, eds. London: Pinter Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1991. “The Transformation of Modern Capitalism: By the Light of the ‘regulation’ Approach and Other Political Economy Theories”. CEPREMAP Occasional Paper No. 9134, November, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Casson, M.C. 1985. “Multinational Monopolies and International Cartels.” In The Economic Theory of the Multinational Enterprise: Selected Papers, P.J. Buckley and M.C. Casson, eds. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coriat, B. and P. Petit. 1991. “Deindustrialization and Tertiarization: Towards a New Economic Regime?” In Towards a New Europe? Structural Change in the European Economy, A. Amin and M. Dietrich, eds. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dietrich, M. 1994a. Transaction Cost Economics and Beyond: Towards a New Economics of the Firm. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • — 1994b. “The Economics of Quasi-Integration.” Review of Political Economy, Jan 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dow, G.K. 1987. “The Function of Authority in Transaction Cost Economics.” Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization, 8, 13–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elam, M. 1989. “Puzzling out the Post-Fordist Debate: Technology, Markets and Institutions.” Industrial and Economic Democracy, 11(1).

    Google Scholar 

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzroy, F.R. and K. Kraft. 1985. “Unionization, Wages and Efficiency.” Kyklos, 38, 537–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • — and K. Kraft. 1987. “Effiency and Internal Organisation: Works Councils in West German Firms.” Economica, 54: 493–504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, C. and C. Perez. 1988. “Structural Crises of Adjustment: Business Cycles and Investment Behaviour. “In Technical Change and Economic Theory, G. Dosi, C. Freeman, R. Nelson, G. Silverberg, L. Soete, eds. London: Pinter Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson, G.M. 1988. Economics and Institutions: A Manifesto for a Modern Institutional Economics. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kay, J. 1993. The Foundations of Corporate Success. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kay, N.M. 1992. “Markets, False Hierarchies and the Evolution of the Modern Corporation.” Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization, 17, 315–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kreps, D.M. 1990. “Corporate Culture and Economic Theory.” In Perspectives in Positive Political Economy, J. Alt and K. Shepsle, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • -, P. Milgrom, J. Roberts and R. Wilson. 1982. “Rational Cooperation in the Finitely Repeated Prisoners’ Dilemma.” Journal of Economic Theory, 27, 245–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langlois, R.N. 1986. “The New Institutional Economics: An Introductory Essay.” In Economics as a Process: Essays in the New Institutional Economics, R.N. Langlois, ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazonick, W. 1991. Business Organization and the Myth of the Market Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipietz, A. 1986. “Behind the Crisis: The Exhaustion of a Regime of Accumulation. A ‘Regulation School’ Perspective on Some French Empirical Work.” Review of Radical Political Economics, 18(1,2), 13–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • — 1992. Towards a New Economic Order: Postfordism, Ecology and Democracy. Cambridge: Polity Press. Originally published in French (1989), Choisir L’Audace.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marglin, S.A. 1974. “What Do Bosses Do? The Origins and Functions of Hierarchy in Capitalist Production.” Part I, Review of Radical Political Economics, 6, 60–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1982. “Knowledge and Power.” In Firms, Organization and Labour: Approaches to the Economics of Work Organization, F.H. Stephen. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKelvey, M. 1991. “How do National Systems of Innovation Differ?: A Critical Analysis of Porter, Freeman, Londvall and Nelson. “In Rethinking Economics: Markets, Technology and Economic Evolution, G.M. Hodgson and E. Screpanti, eds. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, G.J. 1992. Managerial Dilemmas: The Political Economy of Hierachy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1990. “Strategy Formation: Schools of Thought.” In Perspectives on Strategic Management, J.W. Fredrickson, ed. New York: Harper Business.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen, K. 1991. “Towards a Flexible Future: Theories and Politics.” In The Politics of Flexibility, B. Jessop, K. Nielsen, H. Kastendiek and O.K. Pedersen, eds. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nooteboom, B. 1992. “Firm Size Effects on Transaction Costs.” Small Business Economics, 5, 283–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perez, C. 1983. “Structural Change and the Assimilation of New Technologies in the Economic and Social System.” Futures, 15, 357–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters and Waterman. 1982. In Search of Excellence. New York: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piore, M. and C.F. Sabel. 1984. The Second Industrial Divide: Possibilities for Prosperity. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pitelis, C. 1991. Market and Non-Market Hierarchies: Theory of Institutional Failure. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Radosevic, S. 1991. “In Search of an Alternative Theory: A Critique of Dosi et al’s ‘Technical Change and Economic Theory’.” Review of Political Economy, 3, 93–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Semlinger, K. 1991. “New Developments in Subcontracting: Mixing Market and Hierarchy.” In Towards a New Europe? Structural Change in the European Economy, A. Amin and M. Dietrich, eds. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teece, D.J. 1988. “Technological Change and the Nature of the Firm.” In Technical Change and Economic Theory, G. Dosi, C. Freeman, R. Nelson, G. Silverberg, L. Soete, eds. London: Pinter Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teece, D.J. 1990. “Contributions and Impediments of Economic Analysis to the Study of Strategic Management.” In Perspectives on Strategic Management, J.W. Fredrickson, ed. New York: Harper Business.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, K., T. Cutler, J. Williams and C. Haslam. 1987. “The End of Mass Production?” Economy and Society, 16(3).

    Google Scholar 

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, O.E. 1975. Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Anti-Trust Implications: A Study in the Economics of Internal Organisation. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1985. The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1993. “Transaction Cost Economics and Organization Theory.” Industrial and Corporate Change, 2(2), 107–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willman, P. 1983. “The Organisational Failures Framework and Industrial Sociology.” In Power, Efficiency and Institutions, A. Francis, J. Turk and P. Willman, eds. London: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Dietrich, M. (1996). Opportunism, Learning, and Organizational Evolution. In: Groenewegen, J. (eds) Transaction Cost Economics and Beyond. Recent Economic Thought Series, vol 48. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1800-9_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1800-9_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7302-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-1800-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics