This paper seeks to establish a view of the world within which globalisation and corporate power interact and shape the nature of the modern market economy. Drawing upon a range of theory and evidence, we consider the implications of the growth of transnational firms and concentrated market...

Drawing upon survey data from 436 firms, this paper explores the impact of co-operative ties upon levels of innovation (both product and process) in five UK manufacturing industries. Unlike a number of previous studies in this area, the data itself captures both the scale and multi-dimensional...

For a long period in the twentieth century, the development of the Japanese corporation appeared congruent with the development of the Japanese economy. The growth maximising behaviour of the Japanese corporation and the preference for internal growth over acquisitions (see Odagiri, 1992)...

This paper considers the problems of "hollowing out" using a Case Study of Japan's machinery sector. In doing so, it explores the roots of the present crisis by focusing upon the role played by Japan's large transnational corporations. This is important because these corporations are the...

This paper explores comparative cost structures when large firms split operations between separate production facilities in a way that puts pressure on wage rates and worker effort levels: one example of a 'divide and rule' strategy. It differentiates horizontal structures of this kind based on...