Markets, corporate behaviour and the state

This book originated at a meeting of American and European specialists in in­ dustrial organization, at the Instituut voor Bedrijfskunde, Nijenrode (The Netherlands) in August, 1974. The conference endeavored to bring together re­ searchers in a field where, paradoxically, the underlying phenomena studied are increasingly coordinated and internationalized, yet the observers remain pre­ dominantly isolated. Only rarely do they resort to comparisons between coun­ tries, and still less frequently to an analysis from a transnational outlook. As the contributions to this collection demonstrate, it has become clearer and clearer that -whether or not as a result of a random process, or of technological conditions, or of deliberate enterprise strategy - the determinants of market structures and their changes as time passes, have created fundamentally similar effects in different countries, resulting in industrial structures of the same kind. Thus, the largest firms and plants are found in the same sectors, and the most concentrated industries are more or less the same from one country to the other. The studies of Prais, Reid, Jacquemin & Phlips and Linda likewise show that a broad trend toward concentration has been manifest.

Contenu

One Conceptual and Methodological Problems.- I. The determinants of market structure: designs for research.- 1. An analytical framework.- 2. Previous research on determinants of structure.- 3. Transnational and comparative approaches.- 4. Summary and conclusions.- II. International comparisons in the study of industrial organization.- 1. Sources of variance in studies.- 2. Options and impacts of public policies.- 3. Institutions and the formation of industrial structure.- 4. Determinants and criteria of performance.- 5. Conclusion.- III. Power and competition.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Economic power within competition.- 3. Economic power versus competition.- 4. Conclusions.- Two Concentration, Mergers and Performance in the E.E.C..- I. Concentration, size and performance of European firms.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Firm sizes and concentration.- 3. Plant size distribution.- 4. Effects of industrial concentration.- 5. Size of firms and market performance.- 6. Conclusions.- II. Large and small manufacturing enterprises in Europe and America.- 1. Aggregate industrial concentration in Britain and the United States, 1909-1970.- 2. Large enterprises in Europe.- 3. The number of small firms.- 4. The need for improved statistics on enterprises.- III. Theory and evidence concerning mergers: an international comparison.- 1. Introduction: evidence on merger activity.- 2. Merger characteristics.- 3. Motives for mergers.- 4. Merger theories.- IV. The causes and effects of mergers.- Mergers and changes in industrial concentration.- Causes of the merger wave.- Implications for industrial concentration.- The effects of mergers and some policy considerations.- V. Static and dynamic methods for analysing industrial concentration: the Italian case.- Section 1. A static analysis of the structural inequality.- Section 2. A dynamic analysis of the structural inequality.- Section 3. General commentaries and conclusions.- Three Big Corporations and Market Structures in the U.S..- I. The elements and evolution of market structure.- 1. The context of enterprises.- 2. Concepts of market structure.- 3. Evolution of market structure over time.- 4. Actual context and market structure.- 5. Risk and return.- 6. The rate of decline of market power.- 7. Implications.- II. Private planning and social efficiency.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Horizontally diversified giantism: automobiles.- 3. Vertical giantism: petroleum.- 4. Conglomerate giantism: the firms of the future.- 5. Conclusion.- Four The Impact of the Multinational Corporation.- I. Systemic instability and the global corporation at home: The role of power in economic analysis.- Methodological introduction.- Structural change and the nature of transformation.- The present transformation.- Global corporations and the nature of global corporate competition: policy implications.- The dilemma of national policy-making: the need for planning.- II. Industrial policy and the structural impact of multinational firms: an analytical view.- 1.- A. The Nation State's criteria.- B. The multinational firm's criteria.- 2.- 3.- Conclusion.- Case 1: The French biscuit industry.- Case 2: The French computer industry.- III. Theoretical elements for an introduction to petroleum economics.- 1. The genesis of the oil surplus.- 2. The appropriation of the oil surplus.- Five Some Policy Aspects.- I. Concerted action as an aspect of oligopolistic behaviour and its treatment in competition policy.- Competition policy and the solution to the problem of oligopolistic behavior.- Concluding remarks.- II. Perfect and free competition as guiding principles in competition policy towards large enterprises.- The Bundeskartellamt's policy.- Arguments in favour.- Arguments against ....- Competition: considerations for a well-designed policy.- Conclusion.- III. Industrial structure and price/wage controls: the U.S. experience.- Economic prelude to U.S. controls.- Administrative structure of program.- Basic strategy of regulations.- General price standards.- General pay standards.- Reconciling pay board and price commission standards.- Liaison with other regulatory agencies.- Dash back to the market: phases III-IV.- Results of econometric studies of controls.- Concentration and inflation.- Conclusion.