Varieties of firm: complementarity and bounded diversity
Wood, Geoffrey Croucher, Richard Brewster, Chris Collings, David G. Brookes, Michael
Wood, Geoffrey
Croucher, Richard
Brewster, Chris
Collings, David G.
Brookes, Michael
Publication Date
2009-03-01
Type
Article
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Citation
Wood, Geoffrey; Croucher, Richard; Brewster, Chris; Collings, David G. Brookes, Michael (2009). Varieties of firm: complementarity and bounded diversity. Journal of Economic Issues 43 (1), 239-258
Abstract
This is a study of the nature of internal diversity within liberal and collaborative market economies. Based on large scale comparative survey data, we assess the extent to which specific clusters of practices are associated with specific varieties of capitalism. Given that recent literature has pointed to internal diversity within specific national contexts, we explore the nature of internal diversity within both liberal and collaborative market economies, and what makes each variety of capitalism distinct. We find that more than one cluster of practices is indeed likely to be encountered in a particular national context, but that this diversity was bounded: only a limited number of alternative paradigms are likely to emerge and persist. The survey findings not only shed light on the nature of this internal diversity, but also reveal the fact that liberal and collaborative markets remain distinct, with the rights accruing to employees being more deeply embedded in a wide cross section of firms within the latter.
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Publisher
Informa UK Limited
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland