Taking Coase Seriously.
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| Title: | Taking Coase Seriously. |
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| Authors: | Gibbons, Robert1,2 |
| Source: | Administrative Science Quarterly. Mar1999, Vol. 44 Issue 1, p145-157. 13p. 1 Graph. |
| Subject Terms: | *Organizational structure, Economics, Organizational behavior, Economic models, Empirical research, Organizational sociology |
| Abstract: | In this essay the author advances two related theses. First, economic theory predicts that organizations will be a mess but not a mystery. Second, classic case studies conducted by organizational sociologists support this prediction. Fully articulating and defending these theses will require a book, so the author's goal here is simply to render them plausible. The author begins by pointing toward the relevant economic theory and sociological evidence, but he devotes the bulk of the essay to a particular example: he develops a formal economic model inspired by a passage from Michel Crozier's The Bureaucratic Phenomenon. The author concludes by discussing the potential roles of formal economic modeling in organizational research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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| Abstract: | In this essay the author advances two related theses. First, economic theory predicts that organizations will be a mess but not a mystery. Second, classic case studies conducted by organizational sociologists support this prediction. Fully articulating and defending these theses will require a book, so the author's goal here is simply to render them plausible. The author begins by pointing toward the relevant economic theory and sociological evidence, but he devotes the bulk of the essay to a particular example: he develops a formal economic model inspired by a passage from Michel Crozier's The Bureaucratic Phenomenon. The author concludes by discussing the potential roles of formal economic modeling in organizational research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 00018392 |
| DOI: | 10.2307/2667034 |
