This in-depth book explains how institutional changes such as the privatization and liberalization of network industries, for example transport, energy or telecommunications, can frequently be disappointing. The expected benefits such as lower prices, innovation and better services fail to materialize, often because the number of competitors is low. The authors demonstrate how strategic actor behaviour of one or more of the firms involved can help explain these disappointing results.
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Strategic Behaviour in Network Industries
A Multidisciplinary Approach
Ernst ten Heuvelhof, Martin de Jong, Mirjam Kars and Helen Stout
Edited by Per-Olof Bjuggren and Dennis C. Mueller
This book explores the revolutionary development of the theory of the firm over the past 35 years. Despite rapid progress in the field, new developments in the microeconomic and industrial organization literature have been relatively scant. This book attempts to redress the balance by providing a comprehensive overview of the theory of the firm before moving on to examine firms and the organization of their economic activities. The contributors also investigate the impact of ownership structure and board composition on firm performance and study how the institutional framework of an economy affects investment decisions.
Social Innovations, Institutional Change and Economic Performance
Making Sense of Structural Adjustment Processes in Industrial Sectors, Regions and Societies
Edited by Timo J. Hämäläinen and Risto Heiskala
This book examines the nature of social innovation processes which determine the economic and social performance of nations, regions, industrial sectors and organizations.