The History of Team Production Theory

In this short Essay, the author consider the team production theory developed by Margaret Blair and Lynn Stout1 from a historical perspective, in three senses. First, does the theory fit the historical use of the corporate form? Second, can it explain the development of corporation law doctrines? And third, can we place the development of the theory as such into the intellectual history of corporation theories at large? The author will state my bottom line up front: while the Article finds the team production theory insightful and useful for my historical research, for teaching corporation law, and for thinking about contemporary corporate problems, the author is unable to position the theory in the three above-mentioned senses: the history of the corporation, the history of corporation law, and the history of the theory itself. This Essay first considers the changing function of the corporation. It argues that the corporate form has solved different problems in different periods and different contexts. It next discusses the history of legal doctrines and argue that the history of various corporate law doctrines does not support a coherent switch to doctrines that uphold the team production theory. At the time when some doctrines became more supportive of the theory, others undermined it. Third, and finally, this Essay considers the intellectual history of corporation theories. It argues that the theoretical discourse regarding the purpose of the corporation is not uniform. One cannot identify clear timing for the decline of other theories and for the rise of the team production theory. The team production theory and the agency theory coexist. As we shall see, they are designed to solve different problems, and, therefore, can coexist in different types of corporations

‘Sleep-Walking Towards Segregation’? The Changing Ethnic Composition of English Schools, 1997-2003 – an Entry Cohort Analysis

There has been considerable public debate recently in England regarding levels of segregation (and changes in those levels) not only by neighbourhood but also in schools. Little data are available to evaluate claims that such segregation has been increasing in the country’s schools. This paper uses a data set released by the Department for Education and Skills which indicates the ethnic identity for every student in the entry cohorts for all English primary and secondary schools between 1997-8 (for primary and secondary schools respectively) and 2003. Analysis indicates that there has been some increase in segregation levels in some cities, but only to the expected extent given the changing relative size of the ethnic minority populations there. Segregation is relatively high there, but has only increased if the minority groups’ share of the entry cohorts has been increasing.ethnic segregation, schools

Ownership and Control in the Entrepreneurial Firm: An International History of Private Limited Companies

We use the history of private limited liability companies (PLLCs) to challenge two pervasive assumptions in the literature: (1) Anglo-American legal institutions were better for economic development than continental Europe’s civil-law institutions; and (2) the corporation was the superior form of business organization. Data on the number and types of firms organized in France, Germany, the UK, and the US show that that the PLLC became the form of choice for small- and medium-size enterprises wherever and whenever it was introduced. The PLLC’s key advantage was its flexible internal governance rules that allowed its users to limit the threat of untimely dissolution inherent in partnerships without taking on the full danger of minority oppression that the corporation entailed. The PLLC was first successfully introduced in Germany, a code country, in 1892. Great Britain, a common-law country followed in 1907, and France, a code country, in 1925. The laggard was the US, a common-law country whose courts had effectively killed earlier attempts to enact the form.limited company, partnership, corporation, legal regime, common law, civil law

Treatments for somnambulism in adults: assessing the evidence

Somnambulism, or sleepwalking, is a parasomnia of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep where movement behaviours usually confined to wakefulness are displayed during sleep. Generally, if sleepwalking is causing distress or danger in spite of safety measures, medical or psychological treatment is indicated. Clinicians will need to assess the evidence for treatment options. MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and the Ovid Evidence–Based Medicine Reviews (EBM) multifile databases were searched. No properly powered rigorous controlled trials were found for treatment of sleepwalking in adults. Seven reports described small trials with some kind of control arm, or retrospective case series which included 30 or more patients. With no high quality evidence to underpin recommendations for treatments of somnambulism, full discussion with patients is advised. Adequately powered, well-designed clinical trials are now needed, and multi-centre collaborations may be required to obtain the sample sizes required

Putting the Corporation in its Place

This article challenges the idea that the corporation is a globally superior form of business organization and that the Anglo-American common-law is more conducive to economic development than the code-based legal systems characteristic of continental Europe. Although the corporation had important advantages over the main alternative form of organization (partnerships), it also had disadvantages that limited its appeal to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As a result, when businesses were provided with an intermediate choice, the private limited liability company (PLLC) that combined the advantages of legal personhood and joint stock with a flexible internal organizational structure, most chose not to organize as corporations. This article tracks the changes that occurred in the menu of business organizational forms in two common-law countries (the UK and the US) and two countries governed by legal codes (France and Germany) and presents data showing the rapidity with which firms in each country responded to enabling legislation for PLLCs. We show that the PLLC was introduced first and most easily in a code country (Germany) and last and with the most difficulty in a common-law country (the US). Late introduction was associated with prolonged use of the partnership form, suggesting that the disadvantages of corporations did indeed weigh heavily on SMEs.

Work in progress: a novel method of creating an academic content repository

This paper outlines a project aimed at addressing the issue of the scalability of online academic support. This project is being run during the Autumn semester at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) Toowoomba Australia, in conjunction with the Australian Digital Futures Institute. The study attached to the project will use Design-Based Research to evaluate the effectiveness of a simple, but innovative academic content and metadata creation tool referred to as Academic Assist. Academic Assist has been recently developed at USQ as a plug-in block for the moodle-based Learning Management System employed at USQ for its several hundred online subjects. The pilot project and associated study now extends over nine subjects, including three consecutive subjects in computer engineering; and covers faculties of Engineering, Education, Business, Science and Arts. Some preliminary results are presented here. Complete results of the study including acceptance surveys, expert reviews and usage statistics will be presented at FIE 2009

A Case Study in the Banning of Political Parties: The Pan-Arab Movement El Ard and the Israeli Supreme Court

Attempts to outlaw political groups that are alleged to approve the use of violence, to limit the expression of views that challenge the core values of democratic nation-states, and to ban radical, separatist, or religious political parties are more widespread in recent years than at any other time since 1945. They gave rise in the last few years to litigation in Constitutional Courts and Supreme Courts in Spain, Germany, Turkey, France, Israel, and Latvia, as well as in the European courts. The present article tells the story of the encounter in the years 1959-1965 between the Pan-Arab national movement El Ard (“The Land”) and the Israeli executive and judicial branches. The movement’s affairs were litigated in the Israeli Supreme Court six times in less then five years. Taken together, the six decisions raise important questions of civil rights, judicial review, jurisprudence, and legal theory. The article uses the case of El Ard in a manner that can be of interest to scholars of comparative constitutional law: it elaborates on the question of how to interpret the objectives of a party; it grapples with the question of what constitutes support for terror and for the use of violence; it raises issues related to the nature of separatism, irredenta, and pan-nationalism; it problematizes the test for adherence to democratic principles; and it deals with the effects of emergency and post-war situations. The case study places in thick context, with ample nuances, the dilemmas and doubts involved in the ban of political parties, which have recently came to preoccupy many of Europe’s governments and courts