Building on Oliver Williamson’s original analysis, the contributors introduce new ideas, different perspectives and provide tools for better understanding changes in the approach to regulation, the reform of public utilities, and the complex problems of governance. They draw largely upon...

Why do so many joint ventures fail? Despite the fact that their success is the exception rather than the rule, the literature on why joint venture performance has been so poor remains fragmentary. We address this issue, adopting a transaction-cost economics perspective and modeling joint...

The decision to internalize corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, to buy (outsource) them in the form of corporate philanthropy, or to collaborate with other organizations is of great significance to the ability of the firm to reap benefits from such activity.Using insights provided...

This paper examines the situation of firms that have two objectives: profit maximization and social performance. By looking comparatively at the cases of altruism, coerced egoism, and strategy, this paper uses the tools of microeconomics to define the optimal level of social output that should...

The four articles in this special issue invite the reader to reflect on the impact of global business on values, ideas, and ethics around the world. In this comment, I advance four arguments that question assumptions regarding the impact of global business on culture. First, national cultures...