Corporate strategies – the institutional approach

The present paper introduces a model of corporate strategies, based on institutional theories of the firm and formalized with the concepts of the theory of games. Corporate strategies are balanced outcomes of four social games: capital market, corporate governance, product market and social responsibility. Two empirical applications of the model are then introduced: a qualitative one, consisting in comparative study of strategies deployed by Royal Dutch Shell and Israel Corporation, then a quantitative one, presenting a study of capital accumulation and operational efficiency in 79 companies listed in the Warsaw Stock Exchange.institutional economics, strategy, corporation

Emergence of alternative capital markets in developing countries as a process of institutional change

The present paper attempts to assess whether at all and in what ways the development of alternative capital markets may help an additional mobilisation of the given economy's domestic financial resources, and, consequently, contribute significantly to economic development. Against the theoretical background of both the old and the new institutional schools, a model of institutional change, leading to the emergence of alternative capital markets, is introduced. Using the theory of games as the theoretical tool to formalize, the model leads to conclude that the institutional change in question is only partial and incremental. In the same time, it demonstrates that if developing countries already have or can create strong technological hubs in their territories, alternative capital markets can spur technological progress and economic growth, even if the main capital markets, being the benchmark for those, are in other countries.institutional economics, strategy, emerging markets

Patterns of technological progress and corporate innovation

The bulk of the global innovative effort takes place in 5 countries: USA, Japan and China as leaders, with France and United Kingdom as immediate followers, which all display, on the long run, a negative marginal value added on innovation. The present paper attempts to answer the following question: why does most of innovative activity takes place in markets apparently hostile to innovation, i.e. giving back negative marginal value added on innovation ? A model is introduced in which any market may be represented as a Selten’s extensive game, subgames of which are played as Harsanyi’s games with imperfect information, by a temporarily finite and changing set of players. The firms’ innovative activity is a Nash’s dynamic equilibrium in which innovating is rational though suboptimal, without premium on innovation being a real economic profit. The model is the theoretical framework for the study of six cases: Ford Motor, General Motors, Honda, Chevron, Akzo Nobel and IBM, which allow to conclude that firms do innovation either because they have to or because this is their comparative advantage and they can do it in an exceptionally efficient way. As economic growth is grounded in efficient business patterns and in some countries those business patterns shape themselves in the context of a strong exogenous pressure on innovation. This leads to the development of economies which, regardless its pace of economic growth and balance of payments, come to a point when marginal value added on innovation is negative. At this point, however, incentives to innovate do not disappear and firms continue to apply the same business patterns and thus do create scientific input which gives back negative marginal real output. This pattern of global technological progress seem to be quite durable, with financial markets that allow to compensate, by successful financial placements, the downturns of innovative projects.innovation; technology; technological progress; corporate strategies

Comparative, dynamic efficiency of national healthcare systems

The paper is an ex post, critical contribution to the research conducted by the World Health Organisation on healthcare financing. The issue of national healthcare systems’ efficiency is addressed, through building a model of change in healthcare quality, in response to changes in healthcare financing, with the core hypothesis stating that the greater is the change in healthcare expenditures, the lesser is their efficiency in terms of healthcare quality improvement. Then, empirical evidence is provided, with econometric research proving the robustness of the model; further, qualitative research provides strong presumptions to a more general thesis, namely that healthcare systems bear significant transaction costs, proportional to their demographically defined size. Thus, important, and negative effects of scale are to assume in healthcare financing

Decyzje inwestycyjne współczesnej korporacji: dylematy racjonalności

Praca recenzowana / peer-reviewed pape

Investor-state disputes and the TTIP – is it a new challenge for corporate responsibility?

In the broad context of responsible management, and corporate responsibility, the present paper studies the general issue of conflicts between private investors, and governments, with a particular focus on the investor-state dispute settlement through international arbitration. On the grounds of empirical research published by other scholars, particularly by Susan D. Franck, and Barbara Koremenos, the paper aims at explaining theoretically the underlying economic motives of the recent surge in the number of internationally arbitrated, investor-state disputes, and at predicting its future developments. Additionally, the theoretical findings are applied to evaluate some of the possible, institutional outcomes of the prospective Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The general conclusion is that not only isn’t the international arbitration of investor-state disputes a threat to democracy, but also said arbitration helps to redress past infringements to public sovereignty

Patterns of technological progress and corporate innovation

The bulk of the global innovative effort takes place in 5 countries: USA, Japan and China as leaders, with France and United Kingdom as immediate followers, which all display, on the long run, a negative marginal value added on innovation. The present paper attempts to answer the following question: why does most of innovative activity takes place in markets apparently hostile to innovation, i.e. giving back negative marginal value added on innovation ? A model is introduced in which any market may be represented as a Selten’s extensive game, subgames of which are played as Harsanyi’s games with imperfect information, by a temporarily finite and changing set of players. The firms’ innovative activity is a Nash’s dynamic equilibrium in which innovating is rational though suboptimal, without premium on innovation being a real economic profit. The model is the theoretical framework for the study of six cases: Ford Motor, General Motors, Honda, Chevron, Akzo Nobel and IBM, which allow to conclude that firms do innovation either because they have to or because this is their comparative advantage and they can do it in an exceptionally efficient way. As economic growth is grounded in efficient business patterns and in some countries those business patterns shape themselves in the context of a strong exogenous pressure on innovation. This leads to the development of economies which, regardless its pace of economic growth and balance of payments, come to a point when marginal value added on innovation is negative. At this point, however, incentives to innovate do not disappear and firms continue to apply the same business patterns and thus do create scientific input which gives back negative marginal real output. This pattern of global technological progress seem to be quite durable, with financial markets that allow to compensate, by successful financial placements, the downturns of innovative projects

Corporate strategies – the institutional approach

The present paper introduces a model of corporate strategies, based on institutional theories of the firm and formalized with the concepts of the theory of games. Corporate strategies are balanced outcomes of four social games: capital market, corporate governance, product market and social responsibility. Two empirical applications of the model are then introduced: a qualitative one, consisting in comparative study of strategies deployed by Royal Dutch Shell and Israel Corporation, then a quantitative one, presenting a study of capital accumulation and operational efficiency in 79 companies listed in the Warsaw Stock Exchange

Emergence of alternative capital markets in developing countries as a process of institutional change

The present paper attempts to assess whether at all and in what ways the development of alternative capital markets may help an additional mobilisation of the given economy's domestic financial resources, and, consequently, contribute significantly to economic development. Against the theoretical background of both the old and the new institutional schools, a model of institutional change, leading to the emergence of alternative capital markets, is introduced. Using the theory of games as the theoretical tool to formalize, the model leads to conclude that the institutional change in question is only partial and incremental. In the same time, it demonstrates that if developing countries already have or can create strong technological hubs in their territories, alternative capital markets can spur technological progress and economic growth, even if the main capital markets, being the benchmark for those, are in other countries

Local governments’ fiscal policy as a factor of urban development – evidence from Poland

The paper explores the issue of urban development in the context of fiscal crisis. A model of municipal governance is introduced, explaining how social agents’ individual strategies shape the accumulation of debt by local governments. Empirical investigation, in a sample of big Polish cities, is presented as an illustration of the model. The conclusion is twofold. Firstly, the extent of municipal debt should definitely be considered as an indicator of quality in municipal governance, and, that real accumulation of municipal debt is justifiable only on the short run, and when the given city grows significantly in demographic terms. Secondly, the old institutionalism is a good theoretical framework for studying municipal, fiscal policy, as it emphasises the importance of habits and subjective consistency in individual strategies