Relational Economics: A Political Economy (Relational Economics and Organization Governance)

This book introduces the research agenda of relational economics as a political economy for the governance of local and global economic transactions in modern societies. It analyses the mechanisms of global value creation and production networks by studying cooperation in intra- and inter-firm networks, intersectoral stakeholder management, and transcultural leadership. The author develops a categorical taxonomy for private and public value creation based on the effective and efficient interlinking of, and interaction between, a range of resources and abilities. In contrast to mainstream economics, which largely focuses on the laws of discrete and dyadic exchange transactions, this book assesses the polyvalent characteristics of relational transactions. The chief categories involved in an economic theory of the relations between events are the relational transactions and their various forms of governance; the polycontextual cooperation between economic, political and civil society agents; and the factor incomes and relational rents that relational transactions produce. Today, relational transactions are the rule, not the exception, in modern economies and their global value creation networks. Given its scope and focus, this book will appeal to scholars of economics, economic sociology, organisational studies and related fields. Preface 6 Contents 7 About the Author 10 1 Introduction: Relational Economy and Economic Theory 11 1.1 Space and Economic Process 11 1.2 Governance and Private Ordering 13 1.3 Forms of Governance and Economic Theory Building 14 1.4 Pluralism and Taxonomy 17 1.5 Polyvalent Transactions and Organisation 19 1.6 Epistemological and Methodological Assumptions 20 References 23 Part I Transaction and Contract 25 2 Discrete Exchanges and Relational Transactions 26 2.1 Goods and Commodity 26 2.2 Dyadic and Discrete Exchange 26 2.3 Exchange Transactions 28 2.4 Society and Relational Transactions 31 2.5 Exchange Transactions and Relational Transactions 33 References 35 3 Relational Contracts and Goods 36 3.1 Coordination and Cooperation 36 3.2 Discrete and Relational Transactions 38 3.3 Economics and Relational Goods 44 References 46 Part II Governance and Polycontextuality 49 4 Governance and Societal Normativity 50 4.1 Relational Economics and Functional Equivalence 50 4.2 Relations and Events 53 4.3 Structural Couplings and Social Theory 54 4.4 Codes, Differences and Behavioural Assumptions 56 4.5 Relational Governance and Parameters 57 References 60 5 Polylingualism and Coding 62 5.1 Binary Codes and Guiding Differences 62 5.2 Functional Difference and Programming 64 5.3 Characteristics of Exchange and Relational Transactions 68 References 72 Part III The Firm and Polycontextual Management 74 6 Stakeholder Resources and Stakeholder Interests 75 6.1 Theory of the Firm and Society 75 6.2 Stakeholder Resources and Interests 76 6.3 Governance and Global Value Chains 82 6.4 Identifying and Prioritising Stakeholders 86 References 87 7 Normativity and Polycontextual Governance 90 7.1 Polycontextual Cooperation and Normativity 90 7.2 Corporate Responsibility and Externalities 91 7.3 Shared Value Creation (SVC) and Polycontextual Governance 94 7.4 Trans-sectoral Governance and Civil Society 97 7.5 Efficiency and Effectiveness of Cooperation 99 7.6 Trans-sectorality and Stakeholder Management 102 References 105 8 Leadership and Transculturalism 109 8.1 Leadership and Value Creation 109 8.2 Relational Leadership and Social Exchange 110 8.3 Transactional, Transformational and Relational Leadership 112 8.4 Cross-Cultural and Transcultural Management 114 8.5 Diversity and Cultural Learning 116 8.6 Leadership in Exchange and Relational Transactions 119 References 121 Part IV Cooperation Rent and Societal Value Creation 123 9 Organisational Cooperation and Rent 124 9.1 Economic Rents and Property Rights 124 9.2 Rent and Cooperation 125 9.3 Rent from Cooperation and Appropriation 129 9.4 Relational Rents and Networks 131 9.5 Specificity and Relational Rents 132 References 134 10 Relational Rent and Societal Value Creation 136 10.1 Creating Shared Value (CSV) and Shared Value Creation (SVC) 136 10.2 Willingness and Ability to Cooperate 138 10.3 Relational Contracts and Behaviour 140 References 145 11 Relational Costs and the Logic of Relational Economics 147 11.1 Earnings and Costs in Relational Economics 147 11.2 Transactions, Adaptation and Cooperation Costs 148 11.3 Relational Costs and Cooperation Corridor 151 11.4 Relational Value Creation and Governance Forms 154 References 155 12 Conclusion: Epistemology and Method 156 12.1 Taxonomy and Mechanism 156 12.2 Epistemological and Methodological Categories 158 12.3 Economic Form and Organisational Process 159 12.4 Form and the Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness 161 12.5 Events and Form 162 12.6 Fundamental Transformation and Selective Interaction 163 12.7 Continuation and Going Concern 164 12.8 Societal Matrix and Political Economy 166 References 168 Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction: Relational Economy and Economic Theory (Josef Wieland)....Pages 1-14 Front Matter ....Pages 15-15 Discrete Exchanges and Relational Transactions (Josef Wieland)....Pages 17-26 Relational Contracts and Goods (Josef Wieland)....Pages 27-39 Front Matter ....Pages 41-41 Governance and Societal Normativity (Josef Wieland)....Pages 43-54 Polylingualism and Coding (Josef Wieland)....Pages 55-66 Front Matter ....Pages 67-67 Stakeholder Resources and Stakeholder Interests (Josef Wieland)....Pages 69-83 Normativity and Polycontextual Governance (Josef Wieland)....Pages 85-103 Leadership and Transculturalism (Josef Wieland)....Pages 105-118 Front Matter ....Pages 119-119 Organisational Cooperation and Rent (Josef Wieland)....Pages 121-132 Relational Rent and Societal Value Creation (Josef Wieland)....Pages 133-143 Relational Costs and the Logic of Relational Economics (Josef Wieland)....Pages 145-153 Conclusion: Epistemology and Method (Josef Wieland)....Pages 155-168