Two streams of theory are combined in this chapter: the ‘managerial’ and the ‘behavioural’. Unlik... more Two streams of theory are combined in this chapter: the ‘managerial’ and the ‘behavioural’. Unlike the holistic neoclassical theory discussed in Chapter 1, which views the firm in toto as an economic actor or as a ‘black box’ whose behaviour can adequately be described in terms of inputs and outputs, these two streams regard control of firms as resting with intra-firm groups, consisting of (or dominated by) management. As a result, while neoclassical theory asks ‘what do firms do?’, the managerial and behavioural traditions are more concerned with the question ‘what do managers do?’
... En studie av kopplingen mellan forskning och utbildning Lars Geschwind, Erik Arnold, Miriam T... more ... En studie av kopplingen mellan forskning och utbildning Lars Geschwind, Erik Arnold, Miriam Terrell, Sabeen Sadiqui, Rebecca Allinson, Frank Zuijdam ... Sådana beslut kan givetvis rycka bort dugliga lärare från undervisningen, av vilka några kanske nästintill är oumbärliga. ...
Conclusions about the relative merits of the three theoretical paradigms under consideration in d... more Conclusions about the relative merits of the three theoretical paradigms under consideration in describing the behaviour of the UK television industry were drawn in chapter 13. Eight major issues were dealt with, and in each case reasons were found for preferring the ‘Schumpeterian’ paradigm to the two others. However this formulation clearly overstates the relative superiority of the ‘Schumpeterian’ paradigm: on many issues, one or the other of the alternatives ran a very close second. On the issue of distribution, especially, all the paradigms performed so badly as to provide few criteria for choosing between them. Overall, the superiority of the ‘Schumpeterian’ paradigm owes much to its inclusiveness: its ability to incorporate ‘managerial-behavioural’ and neoclassical behaviour as special cases.
The neoclassical tradition provides the orthodox analysis of capitalist and mixed economies in th... more The neoclassical tradition provides the orthodox analysis of capitalist and mixed economies in the developed countries of the West. Its roots in the earlier, classical economics are commonly traced to Adam Smith, whose legacy includes three items of particular importance: the consideration of markets comprising many, small sellers; the impersonality of the price-determining mechanism (the operation of the 'invisible hand'); and the explanation of the behaviour of economic systems through the operation of individuals' rationality. According to Blaug, the 'marginal revolution' in economic theory, from which the neoclassical analysis stems, shifted the focus of economics from macroeconomic issues of capital accumulation and population growth to microeconomics. The concern with macroeconomic issues reappeared with Keynes (Blaug, 1968, pp. 4, 303-4). This chapter sets out characteristics of the firm described in the mainstream neoclassical textbooks-involving in effect successively refined versions of Marshallian theory. More detailed expositions are readily to hand in textbooks such as Samuelson (1970), Lipsey (1979) and Leftwich (1976)-which are among the brand leaders in the economics textbook market. The precise location of the boundary between neoclassical and other economic theory of the firm is not something about which all economists agree. Some also view neoclassical theory as, in Sraffa's words, 'essentially a pedagogic instrument, somewhat like the study of the classics' (1926, p. 535), rather than being something which is intended to model the real world or real firms. Some argue that lack of realism in individual assumptions does not affect the usefulness of theory as a whole, especially in analysing resource allocation (Machlup, 1967). Blaug, on the other hand, holds that: we simply cannot evaluate the traditional theory of the firm without evaluating the whole of neoclassical price theory: the theory of the 13 E. Arnold, Competition and Technological Change in the Television Industry
Two streams of theory are combined in this chapter: the ‘managerial’ and the ‘behavioural’. Unlik... more Two streams of theory are combined in this chapter: the ‘managerial’ and the ‘behavioural’. Unlike the holistic neoclassical theory discussed in Chapter 1, which views the firm in toto as an economic actor or as a ‘black box’ whose behaviour can adequately be described in terms of inputs and outputs, these two streams regard control of firms as resting with intra-firm groups, consisting of (or dominated by) management. As a result, while neoclassical theory asks ‘what do firms do?’, the managerial and behavioural traditions are more concerned with the question ‘what do managers do?’
... En studie av kopplingen mellan forskning och utbildning Lars Geschwind, Erik Arnold, Miriam T... more ... En studie av kopplingen mellan forskning och utbildning Lars Geschwind, Erik Arnold, Miriam Terrell, Sabeen Sadiqui, Rebecca Allinson, Frank Zuijdam ... Sådana beslut kan givetvis rycka bort dugliga lärare från undervisningen, av vilka några kanske nästintill är oumbärliga. ...
Conclusions about the relative merits of the three theoretical paradigms under consideration in d... more Conclusions about the relative merits of the three theoretical paradigms under consideration in describing the behaviour of the UK television industry were drawn in chapter 13. Eight major issues were dealt with, and in each case reasons were found for preferring the ‘Schumpeterian’ paradigm to the two others. However this formulation clearly overstates the relative superiority of the ‘Schumpeterian’ paradigm: on many issues, one or the other of the alternatives ran a very close second. On the issue of distribution, especially, all the paradigms performed so badly as to provide few criteria for choosing between them. Overall, the superiority of the ‘Schumpeterian’ paradigm owes much to its inclusiveness: its ability to incorporate ‘managerial-behavioural’ and neoclassical behaviour as special cases.
The neoclassical tradition provides the orthodox analysis of capitalist and mixed economies in th... more The neoclassical tradition provides the orthodox analysis of capitalist and mixed economies in the developed countries of the West. Its roots in the earlier, classical economics are commonly traced to Adam Smith, whose legacy includes three items of particular importance: the consideration of markets comprising many, small sellers; the impersonality of the price-determining mechanism (the operation of the 'invisible hand'); and the explanation of the behaviour of economic systems through the operation of individuals' rationality. According to Blaug, the 'marginal revolution' in economic theory, from which the neoclassical analysis stems, shifted the focus of economics from macroeconomic issues of capital accumulation and population growth to microeconomics. The concern with macroeconomic issues reappeared with Keynes (Blaug, 1968, pp. 4, 303-4). This chapter sets out characteristics of the firm described in the mainstream neoclassical textbooks-involving in effect successively refined versions of Marshallian theory. More detailed expositions are readily to hand in textbooks such as Samuelson (1970), Lipsey (1979) and Leftwich (1976)-which are among the brand leaders in the economics textbook market. The precise location of the boundary between neoclassical and other economic theory of the firm is not something about which all economists agree. Some also view neoclassical theory as, in Sraffa's words, 'essentially a pedagogic instrument, somewhat like the study of the classics' (1926, p. 535), rather than being something which is intended to model the real world or real firms. Some argue that lack of realism in individual assumptions does not affect the usefulness of theory as a whole, especially in analysing resource allocation (Machlup, 1967). Blaug, on the other hand, holds that: we simply cannot evaluate the traditional theory of the firm without evaluating the whole of neoclassical price theory: the theory of the 13 E. Arnold, Competition and Technological Change in the Television Industry
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