SASE 2005: Papers

Papers for the SASE 2005 Conference

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Ma. del Ros�o Barajas E.: El aprendizaje organizacional y sus mecanismos individuales y colectivos: La experiencia en la industria maquiladora del norte de mexico.

barajas_rosio.pdf (PDF, 262 KB)

Yuri Biondi: Accounting System and the Representation of the Firm as an Entity

The box that neo-classical theory designs for the firm does appear neither black nor empty. The skeletal machinery built on marginal cost pricing ought to grasp the economic and monetary process inside the firm, at least in its fundamental elements and results. It aims at explaining therefore selling price, cost, quantity, and resultant (no) profit for each product separately. This machinery, moreover, allows the price system alone to dominate the firm, at least from the economic viewpoint, when creation and allocation of resources are concerned.
Following Coase, Shubik and Simon, instead, the inner working of organisation and of the accounting system is on the new agenda for understanding how the special economics of the firm supersedes the price system. This paper seeks to further develop this issue, exploring the accounting system, its nature and role in the special economics of the firm. Accounting system constitutes the "veil" that allows the special economic and monetary process of the whole firm to exist. By means of the accounting system dealing with the business incomes to the firm, this special process acquires autonomous but interdependent existence from external markets (both from factors or products markets), and the becoming economic activity of the firm as an entity is more clearly recognised.
In this accounting-based transactional and institutional perspective, the firm-entity functions and exists as a managed dynamic system characterised by different structures of production, institutional, organisational, or epistemic (related to the nature and role of institutions, internal organisation, and knowledge in the firm). Accounting system becomes a constituent part of these structures and of the whole firm. This new perspective opens to an interdisciplinary approach linking Economics, Accounting, and Law by the shared, synthetic notion of the firm as an entity, which provides the "clue" for understanding the nature of the firm as a whole.

biondi_yuri.pdf (PDF, 234 KB)
See also: http://ssrn.com/abstract=774764

Michael Dietrich: Firm Corruption, Accounting Failure and Anti-social Entrepreneurship: an institutional perspective

This paper views firm corruption as a failure of accounting systems because of antisocial entrepreneurship. It is argued that to understand this failure an institutional analysis is necessary. Corruption is defined as a skewing of organisational objectives to the advantage of particular actors, with �fundamental corruption� involving the possibility that removal of corrupt practices undermines organisational viability. A two-stage analytical framework is adopted because accounting systems have a dual function: they institutionalise organisational activity and they act to further instrumental gain of particular actors. The first stage of the analytical framework is based on a Kantian logic in which choices are made because they are universalisable. These first stage choices provide parameters to second stage instrumentally based decisions in which individual gain is the motivating principle. If all actors have the same first stage choices corruption will not emerge in the second stage of the analysis either because all agents decide not to be corrupt or all agents know that corruption is possible and so will adjust behaviour accordingly. Hence a necessary condition for corruption to emerge is that there is not a single view of reasonable and appropriate behaviour. This first stage complexity allows second stage anti-social entrepreneurship i.e. exploitation for personal gain. In the second half of the paper this general framework is applied to accounting systems and the failure of such systems. Four different views on accounting are identified that have different views on authority and information use. Although one particular perspective is identified as being closest to the suggested two stage analysis, this can be complemented by insights provided by other views of accounting failure.

dietrich_michael.pdf (PDF, 177 KB)

Eve Chiapello and Yuan Ding: Searching for the Accounting Features of Capitalism: An Illustration with the Economic Transition Process in China

In his famous work, Der Moderne Kapitalismus, Sombart (1916, p. 334) argues that capitalism and double-entry bookkeeping are indissociably interconnected. This assessment can easily be criticized and rejected nowadays, because Sombart was not able to anticipate what would happen afterwards: the double-entry bookkeeping accounting system was also adopted by anti-capitalist countries where a new economic system � the planned and centralized economy - was set up. This outcome shows how adaptable double-entry bookkeeping can be, and that it can be used in either a capitalist or communist context. So if there really is a specifically capitalist accounting system, its blueprint must be something more than the double-entry bookkeeping technique consisting only of debiting an account and crediting its counterpart. What kind of economic concepts are put into action and conveyed by accounting in the context of capitalist countries? A study of how accounting has changed with the economic transition in China helps us identify those �accounting features� required for a capitalist economy that clearly differ from those needed for the planned and centralized economy.

ding-chiapello.pdf (PDF, 519 KB)

Jesus Ferreiro Aparicio and Elena Sirvent Garcia del Valle: Female Part-Time Employment in the Year 2002: Spain and the Netherlands Compared

In this paper we compare the situation of female part-time employment in Spain and the Netherlands. In Spain, the share of part-time employment is well below the average of the European Union and part-time workers are strongly discriminated. The Netherlands has the highest rate of part-time employment in the European Union. The choice for part-time work in this country is closely linked to the late and rapid arrival of married women in the labour force and the dearth of childcare provisions in what was not long time ago a strong breadwinner welfare state. The situation of part-time employment in these two countries is radically different. The aim of this paper is to analyse and compare the situation of part-time employment in The Netherlands and Spain. The nature of the existing relationship between the branches of activity and the reasons for choosing a part-time employment is explored for the year 2002, using data from the European Labour Force Survey. We find that there is a relationship between these two variables and we characterise it by means of Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis. Is the relationship between the branches of activity and the reasons for choosing a part-time employment different in Spain and the Netherlands? Does it present any point of coincidence?.

ferreiro-sirvent.pdf (PDF, 393 KB)

Martin Giraudeau, Jean-Pascal Gond and David Martin: Disciplining Students and Markets: How to Embed Newcomers into Economics Thanks to "Market Games"

The purpose of this paper is to inform empirically the dynamics of cognitive embeddedness in economics. This is done through an ethnographic analysis of "market games" organized by French professors as an introduction to microeconomics for their undergraduate students. We studied the whole pedagogical process: conception, preparation, and the game itself. Interviews were conducted with promoters of the game, animators and students. Game sessions were observed. Market data (result-sheets) were collected. Our analysis of these games reveals the existence of three distinct �disciplines�, each one progressively embedding actors in economic theory. The first discipline is that of economists, and consists in the socialisation to the professional community through the organisation of these ritual games. The second discipline is that of economics, and passes by the situational enforcement on students of rules and devices allowing them to count in the market. The third discipline is that of economy: games function only by activating references to the economic activities of everyday life. These three disciplines differ in their temporality and scope, and therefore show three levels in the dynamics of performing the ever over-flowed frame through which actors can be embedded, as economists, to economics, and to the economy.

giraudeau-gond-martin.pdf (PDF, 1.59 MB)

Arturo Hermann: Institutional Economics and Psychoanalysis: How Can they Collaborate for a Better Understanding of Individual-Society Dynamics?

The idea of carrying out this work stems from the observation that although economics deals with the study of human actions and motivations in their historical evolution, there has been in many cases a lack of scientific collaboration with other fields of social sciences; in this regard, psychoanalysis is a case in point.
In light of these problems, our analysis may be synthesized as follows: institutional economics, especially through Veblen's and Commons's contributions, has highlighted a number of aspects that provide a better understanding of the inner nature of social and economic relations. This has been realized through the elaboration of concepts which characterize, in their continual refining, the core of institutional economics: these include, among others, ceremonial/instrumental behaviour dichotomy, instincts, culture, evolution, habits, pathdependency, tacit knowledge, technology, collective action, going concerns, working rules and social valuing.
Considering the openness and the interdisciplinary scope of this approach, we look towards the possible ways of collaboration between institutional economics and psychoanalysis in order to address the multifarious aspects of social and economic issues.
Bringing together psychological and socio-economic analysis can help cast more light on the complexity of factors at play in determining the historical evolution in any given context.

hermann_arturo.pdf (PDF, 525 KB)

Mandy Kr�uter and Andrea Sieber: Change and Innovation in Cooperative Economic Relations

Change in economy and society shows the need for innovation. Researchers suggest cooperation as a chance to meet this challenge. Since economic actions are based on social relations trust is the key preliminary to cooperation. It is (re-)produced in successful cooperative actions. In small companies cooperation practices in entrepreneurial networks are determined by the CEOs� activities. They gain different experiences and draw different conclusions, and they use social ties of different density. We reconstructed four cooperation patterns from theme oriented interviews with CEOs: Non-Active, Controltype, Participator, and Initiator. They result in a specific way to cooperate and in a specific set of economic relations being relatively stable. Theoretical concepts relating action and structure support the assumption that these patterns exist as structuring structures. They change more or less through learning processes initialized by conflicts. Such change might be interpreted by others as innovation. This assumption can be validated in the project based on the empirical data concerning cooperation within the company. Change and innovation can be identified there in the same way.

kraeuter-sieber.pdf (PDF, 205 KB)

Cristina Matos: Post-socialist Transformation and Institutions: Competing Approaches and Challenges

Institutionalist analyses of post-socialist transformation have multiplied the meanings of institutions. We present neo-institutionalist and Hayekian approaches and underline their respective difficulties in analysing post-socialist transformation. We examine how an original institutionalist approach might overcome these weaknesses. The paper then evaluates the challenges for an approach inspired by original-instutionalism to postsocialist transformation. Specifically, these relate to (1) defining path dependence under rapid institutional change; (2) analysing routine change under hyper uncertainty; and (3) overcoming the duality spontaneous / constructed institutional evolution.

matos_cristina.pdf (PDF, 307 KB)

Kevin Mellet: Internet and the Labor Market: Toward a Procedural Model of Job Search

Since Internet opens an easy and cheap gate to job opportunities, it is supposed to improve the dynamics of information flows on labor markets. This paper aims to explore this hypothesis. In particular, it deals with the following questions: How do job seekers access to labor market information through the Internet? Furthermore, what are the effects of the enlargement of the market induced by the emergence of this new medium? This study relies on an analysis of a database of 30 000 queries made by job searchers on a French Internet search engine (Keljob.com) specialized in employment opportunities. Based on the evidence stemming from these empirical sources I develop a procedural model of job search, which contrasts with the substantive model of the traditional search approach. At a first � say individual � level, these terms explicitely refer to G. Dosi's and M. Egidi's distinction between substantive and procedural uncertainty (1991), which itself refers to H. Simon's distinction between substantive and procedural rationality (1976). Indeed, this distinction expresses the profound changes associated with the Internet: the new technology shifts uncertainty from the lack of available information (substantive one) to the inability to process all the available information (procedural one). Moreover, it gives a realistic framework to describe job search as a problemsolving activity based on cognitive rules or procedures. At a second � say collective � level, the procedural uncertainty refers to the consequences of quality uncertainty on the coordination of supplyers and demanders of work. In an environment replete with quality uncertainty, qualifying work and dynamically positioning oneself inside the market become major concerns for all the agents taking part in the matching process.

mellet_kevin.pdf (PDF, 263 KB)

Laura Merla: Identity Implications of Being a Housefather in Belgium

Even though much progress has been made in terms of equality between men and women in the last decades we can still observe that when it comes to the theme of sexual division of labour within families, women are still the ones who put their careers into brackets to take care of children. It is thus interesting to see that some men engage into practices that reverse that norm, by becoming househusbands. The paper will present a part of the results of a qualitative study of househusbands living in Belgium, focusing on the one hand on the factors that played a role in decision-making and on the other hand on the identity implications of being a househusband. We will try to show how these men give sense to their practices and how they deal with the lack of legitimacy and social valorisation they are confronted to.

merla_laura.pdf (PDF, 157 KB)

Etienne Nouguez: Measuring the differences between two "identical" products: The case of generic drugs in France

The mainstream economic theory generally assumes that the characteristics of the products are obvious for the consumer who can choose between any given product on the basis of prices and preferences. This simplistic presentation of product qualities is discussed by many researchers in socio-economics through the theme of measurement: How are qualities evaluated? What role do physical characteristics and price play in such an evaluation? These questions are particularly striking when the compared products are presented like identical in composition, as it is the case for the generic drugs in France. The French authorities legally defined the generic drug as identical in essence to the original drug but a myriad of small differences remain in its presentation. The consumers are assured that it is the same thing while it doesn�t look like the same thing. Who must they trust to measure the differences between generic and original drugs: the composition written on the box ? the doctor or the pharmacist ? their own body ? This question is all the more important as in the field of health self-realizing prophecies are numerous. In this paper, we would like to analyze the way in which the actors on the health field (especially pharmacists and patients) discuss the best way of measuring economic and physical differences between generic drugs and original drugs.

nouguez_etienne.pdf (PDF, 176 KB)

G�bor P�li and Jeroen Bruggeman: The Cricket and the Ant: Organizational Trade-Offs in Changing Environments

Organizations face trade-offs when they adopt strategies in changing resource environments. The type of trade-off depends on the type of resource change. This paper offers an organizational trade-off theory for quantitative resource changes. We call it the "Cricket and Ant" (CA) theory, because the pertaining strategies resemble the cricket and ant�s behavior in La Fontaine�s famous fable. We derive theorems in this CA theory in First Order Logic, which we also use to demonstrate that two theory fragments of organizational ecology, i.e., niche width theory and propagation strategy theory, obtain as variant cases of CA; their predictions on environmental selection preferences derive as theorems once their respective boundary conditions are represented in the formal machinery.

peli-bruggeman.pdf (PDF, 263 KB)

Orsola Razzolini: Companies and New Organizational Work Methods: towards a Multidisciplinary Perspective

Labour Law has arisen around the Classical Employment Contract which, on one hand, worked successfully in the past because it satisfied the need of flexibility of the Vertical Firm; on the other hand, being different from all the other contracts because of the inequality of bargaining power between the employer and the employee, it could not longer be regulated by Contract Law and its main principle, the Freedom of Contract. In the last forty years changes in nature of the dominant mode of competition have led Companies to restructure their Economic Organizations and look for different contractual models in order to satisfy different needs of flexibility. It might be observed an increasing demand both for Self-Employed workers or other Atypical workers and for inter-firm cooperative agreements. The above mentioned contractual relations may often comprise a kind of Economic Organization (Network Form of Organization) which might be described as something among Market and Hierarchy. This paper, through the analysis of the concept of �Economic Dependence�, which might be suffered by contracting parties (independent contractors or small firms) embedded in Network Forms of Organizations, aims to stress that both Labour Law and Commercial Law should take into consideration different organizational paradigms.

razzolini_orsola.pdf (PDF, 257 KB)

Antoine Reb�rioux: Does shareholder primacy lead to a decline in managerial responsibility?

This paper argues that shareholder primacy, rather than gatekeeper failure, is directly responsible for the crisis of financial markets of the Enron-era. To defend this thesis, we turn back to Berle and Means (1932) who stressed the instable nature of shareholder primacy. Indeed, this mode of governance requires an "exteriorisation" of control, giving all responsibilities to actors that are, by their very nature, outside the firm. At the same time, ex ante financial requirements are imposed on listed companies. These requirements lead corporate executives to pursue highly risky strategies. Hence the paradox: the growing implementation of shareholder primacy results in a decline in managerial responsibility. This critic leads us to prospect the basic premises of an alternative corporate governance mode, considering the corporation as an institution rather than as an object of ownership.

reberioux_antoine.pdf (PDF, 309 KB)

Ettore Ricciardi" Balanced Scorecard and its Information System: The Performance Data Warehouse

The Balanced Scorecard is a strategic management tool that was formed in 1992 by Robert Kaplan and David Norton. Its success has been proven by the wide diffusion that has characterized it in the last decade. Basically, Balanced Scorecard represents a performance appraisal system that demonstrates an overall vision of how a firm is performing. In the evaluation, four relevant perspectives of a company are taken into account: economic-financial; customer satisfaction; internal business processes; innovation and organisational learning.

ricciardi_ettore.pdf (PDF, 156 KB)

Camila de Sousa Braga and H�l�ne Bertrand: Crucial Challenges Facing Contemporary Global Corporate Strategies

Globalization opens up countless opportunities for companies, such as access to multiple markets, new revenue, knowledge and technologies, thus enabling them to enhance their competitiveness. At the same time, however, their activities are under serious threat in an environment of increasing world instability caused by geopolitical and social conflicts, together with economic and financial risks. Furthermore, the solidification of an unbalanced global economic system, is itself one of the main sources of conflicts and risks. These positive and negative aspects of globalization cause sharp fluctuations in markets and pose challenges for global corporate strategic management.
The theoretical approaches to the corporate globalization process found in the literature, discuss the nature of these threats and opportunities in an unordered way. This article proposes a qualitative analysis of the main approaches to these questions, in order to identify the challenges, in terms of threats and opportunities, facing the management of organizations which are transforming themselves into global ones, and suggests a Model of Global Strategic Thought. It shows, furthermore, that the quest for alternatives to assure their survival and domestic independence, requires a review of the way they organize their management functions, and formulate and implement strategy, in order to define the structure needed to expand their business. The study also shows that discovering new markets requires various dynamic skills and a systematic approach to managing external and internal challenges.

sousa-bertrand.pdf (PDF, 289 KB)

Tomo Suzuki: Accounting for the Euro: Operationalisation of the Political Economy

The Euro is commonly understood as an achievement of the political economy: management of the macroeconomy based on theoretical economics and political efforts. Yet, our knowledge is still limited as to how politics practically operationalised the theory of the Optimal Currency Areas (OCAs), once purely a theoretical achievement in the 1960s. This article examines unexplored functions of �accounting� that implicitly operationalised the political economy by (1) setting up an autonomous governmental framework, (2) controlling political progress by creating prima facie uncontroversial data, and (3) discharging the public accountability via the media that utilised accounting data as evidence. This study hopefully serves as a reference for the future as well as the past, for once the accounting framework proved to be pragmatic, it may well be taken for consideration for the forthcoming OCAs in other blocks of the world.

suzuki_tomo_1.pdf (PDF, 2.2 MB)

Tomo Suzuki: Figuration of the Japanese Economy: How Accounting Contributed to the Miracle Growth

This is a case study of the dissemination of internationally standardized accounting to a nation where standardized accounting was hitherto only loosely practised under domestic conditions. Soon after World War II, a growing interest in socio-macroeconomic management, rather than microeconomic or corporate governance, accelerated the implementation of standardized accounting in Japan. In order to make ambiguous delineations of the economy and its constituent firms intelligible, official and governable, both national and corporate financial accounting came to occupy an important position as a formal mode of statistics and management. The actors were the officials of the Allied Powers, economic statisticians and academic accountants; whose motives, political manoeuvres and consequences are here reconstructed based on the primary archives of and interviews with those who were directly involved in this accounting revolution which changed the courses of the economy by developing �statistical habits of thought� among the Japanese. In order to clarify the relevance of this history to present day international accounting issues, a few comparative references are also made to the recent development and implementation process of International Accounting Standards and International Financial Reporting Standards (IAS / IFRS).

suzuki_tomo_2.pdf (PDF, 487 KB)

Christine Trampusch: Industrial Relations and Welfare States. The Different Dynamics of Retrenchment in Germany and the Netherlands

Proceeding from an historical-analytical reconstruction of the development of collectively negotiated benefits in the Netherlands and Germany, the article investigates the role and function of industrial relations as a provider and financial supporter of welfare. It is argued that social policy based on collective agreements strongly influences contemporary retrenchment policies. Discussing the literature on retrenchment policies, the paper suggests regarding unions and employers as collective actors, which both support retrenchment by offering financial and organisational resources to governments in their attempts at welfare delegation. The conclusion for the study of comparative welfare retrenchment is to move beyond its focus on analysing the political behaviour of the actors involved and to systematically include industrial relations in its frame of reference. Research should take into account patterns of the institutionalisation of labour relations at company level, traditions of government support for collectively negotiated benefits, and differences in the relative development of public and collectively negotiated benefits.

trampusch_christine.pdf (PDF, 134 KB)