Marketing theory and practice have focused persistently on exchange between buyers and sellers. Unfortunately, most of the research and too many of the marketing strategies treat buyer-seller excha...

Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships:

Evaluating organizations according to an efficiency criterion would make it possible to predict the form organizations will take under certain conditions. Organization theory has not developed such a criterion because it has lacked a conceptual scheme capable of describing organizational efficiency in sufficiently microsopic terms. The transactions cost approach provides such a framework because it allows us to identify the conditions which give rise to the costs of mediating exchanges between individuals: goal incongruence and performance ambiguity. Different combinations of these causes distinguish three basic mechanisms of mediation or control: markets, which are efficient when performance ambiguity is low and goal incongruence is high; bureaucracies, which are efficient when both goal incongruence and performance ambiguity are moderately high; and clans, which are efficient when goal incongruence is low and performance ambiguity is high.

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Markets, Bureaucracies, and Clans.

A theory of social inequity, with special consideration given to wage inequities is presented. A special case of Festinger's cognitive dissonance, the theory specifies the conditions under which inequity will arise and the means by which it may be reduced or eliminated. Observational field studies s

Toward an understanding of inequity.

Manufacturing is undergoing a revolution. The mass production model is being replaced by a vision of a flexible multiproduct firm that emphasizes quality and speedy response to market conditions while utilizing technologically advanced equipment and new forms of organization. The authors' optimizing model of the firm generates many of the observed patterns that mark modern manufacturing. Central to the authors' results is a method of handling optimization and comparative statics problems that requires neither differentiability nor convexity. Copyright 1990 by American Economic Association.

The Economics of Modern Manufacturing: Technology, Strategy, and Organization

This paper examines some of the forces that can lead to herd behavior in investment. Under certain circumstances, managers simply mimic the investment decisions of other managers, ignoring substantive private information. Although this behavior is inefficient from a social standpoint, it can be rational from the perspective of managers who are concerned about their reputations in the labor market. We discuss applications of the model to corporate investment, the stock market, and decision making within firms. (JEL 026, 522) A basic tenet of classical economic theory is that investment decisions reflect agents' rationally formed expectations; decisions are made using all available information in an efficient manner. A contrasting view is that investment is also driven by group psychology, which weakens the link between information and market outcomes. In The General Theory, John Maynard Keynes (1936, pp. 157-58) expresses skepticism about the ability and inclination of "long-term investors" to buck market trends and ensure efficient investment. In his view, investors may be reluctant to act according to their own information and beliefs, fearing that their contrarian behavior will damage their reputations as sensible decision makers:

Herd Behavior and Investment

Kaisha: The Japanese Corporation.

The Japanese factory : aspects of its social organization

* The Pace Setters: Japans Companies as Competitors * The Dynamic Economy * The Kaisha as Competitor * Pursuit of Competitive Advantage in Manufacturing Competition * Revolutionizing Manufacturing Competition * The Drive to Technological Leadership * Working with Banks and Shareholders for Competitive Advantage * Whose Company Is It? * The Foreign Company in Japan * Multinational Kaisha and Co-Prosperity * The Future of the Kaisha

James C. Abegglen

Papers

Kaisha: The Japanese Corporation.

The Japanese factory : aspects of its social organization

Kaisha, the Japanese Corporation.

The Japanese factory

The Japanese Factory