Strategy, Economic Organization, and the Knowledge Economy: The Coordination of Firms and Resources / Edition 1

by Nicolai J. Foss

Overview

The rise of the knowledge economy has far-reaching implications for the nature of economic organization as well as firm strategy. Not surprisingly, thinking in management studies as well as in economies has been profoundly affected by these changes. Thus, management thinking in particular has been increasingly characterized by a schism between those who advocate 'knowledge' or 'capabilities-based' approaches in the strategy and organization fields and those who adopt more economies-influenced approaches, notably the economics of organization. This book is a sustained attempt to overcome this schism. Its basic argument is that knowledge-based and organizational economics approaches are not substitutes but complements. In particular, organizational economics has much to contribute with respect to furthering the understanding of efficient organization and strategy in the emerging knowledge economy. This theme is taken through several theroretical as well as empirical variations. Themes such as the incentive liabilities of flat, 'knowledge-based' organizations, the role of complementary HRM practices for fostering knowledge sharing and creation, and the role of organizational instruments in the knowledge management activities of the multinational corporate are extensively treated. The book thus contains important implications for knowledge management, organizational design and international management. The book encompasses nine chapters which critically examine current thinking on strategy, and organization. The reasoning is non-technical. While primarily aimed at a management studies audience, economists and other social scientists will also benefit from it, including Advanced Students, Academics and Researchers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199240647
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/07/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 6.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Nicolai J. Foss is Professor of Economic Organization at the Copenhagen Business School. He is author or editor of numerous books, including Governance, Competence, and Entrepreneurship: Advances in Economic Strategy Research (edited with Volker Mahnke, OUP, 2000) and Resources, Firms, and Strategy: A Reader in the Resource-Based Perspective (OUP, 1997).

Table of Contents

1. Strategy and Economic Organization in the Knowledge EconomyPart I: Strategy: Critical Perspectives2. The Strategic Theory of the Firm3. The Resource-Based View: Aligning Strategy and Competitive Equilibrium4. Knowledge-Based Views of the Firm5. Strategy, Resources, and Transaction CostsPart II: Organization: Critical Perspectives6. Economic Organization and the Knowledge-Economy7. Internal Organization in the Knowledge Economy: The Rise and Fall of the Oticon Spaghetti Organization8. Performance and Organization in the Knowledge Economy: Innovation and New Human Resource Management Practices9. Leadership and Coordination in the Knowledge Economy

Editorial Reviews

"...Foss examines some foundational issues of the theory of economic organization, especially as it relates to concept of the 'knowledge economy'"—Book News

From the Publisher