Toward a heterodox theory of the business enterprise: the Going Concern Model and the US computer industry
Abstract
This dissertation applies heterodox concepts of the social construction and allocation of
resources in the provisioning process; the organization of going concerns in societies that are
themselves going concerns; and the governance of markets, and production more generally,
toward a heterodox theory of the firm. It is argued that, in contrast to extant theories of the firm,
the boundaries of modern firms are not the result of processes of individual contracting in the
face of transactions costs, or coterminous with knowledge-based resources. Rather, they are
principally the product of the coevolution of business and technological practices, chiefly in the
interest of the former over the latter. It is furthermore argued that this process, in a
socioeconomic system defined by the firm as a hierarchy of going concerns, is more akin to the
gerrymandering of congressional districts than to an efficient allocation of material transactions
between the firm and market spheres. The history of the US software industry from the 1950s through the 1990s is provided as
a case both illustrating and informing the theory. In particular, it is shown that this industry
owes its structure, and indeed its existence, to the evolution of business strategies concerning the
technological relationships surrounding the provision and use of computer systems. The
industry's history corroborates the general hypotheses that (1) markets and firms themselves tend
to be governed by the concerns operating therein; and (2) the resulting governance structures
necessarily involve state sanctioning, including the administration of appropriate property rights
over the relevant technological relationships.
Table of Contents
Introduction -- Meta-theoretical foundation of the Going Concern Model -- The Going Concern Model of the business enterprise, I -- The Going Concern Model of the business enterprise, II -- The going enterprise in the computer industry -- Open systems and intellectual property: the evolution of market governance mechanisms -- Conclusion
Degree
Ph.D.