IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/jintbs/v47y2016i7d10.1057_s41267-016-0001-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Varieties of Capitalism and institutional comparative advantage: A test and reinterpretation

Author

Listed:
  • Michael A. Witt

    (INSEAD)

  • Gregory Jackson

    (Free University of Berlin)

Abstract

How do national-level institutions relate to national comparative advantages? We seek to shed light on this question by exploring two different sets of hypotheses based on the Varieties of Capitalism and other branches of comparative capitalisms literature. Applying fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to data from 14 industries in 22 countries across 9 years, we find that comparative advantages in industries with radical innovation emerge in specific configurations mixing coordinated and liberal institutional features. Institutional comparative advantage in industries with radical innovation may thus be based on the “beneficial constraints” of opposing institutional logics rather than on the self-reinforcing institutional coherence envisioned in much of the Varieties of Capitalism literature. By contrast, we find that coordinated market economies may have comparative advantages in industries with incremental innovation, as envisioned in the Varieties of Capitalism literature. Our article contributes to our understanding of the “so what?” related to capitalist diversity and its implications for location decisions of multinational enterprises. We further present a coordination index going beyond Hall and Gingerich (Br J Polit Sci 39:449–482, 2009) with annual values for 22 OECD countries from 1995 through 2003.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael A. Witt & Gregory Jackson, 2016. "Varieties of Capitalism and institutional comparative advantage: A test and reinterpretation," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(7), pages 778-806, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jintbs:v:47:y:2016:i:7:d:10.1057_s41267-016-0001-8
    DOI: 10.1057/s41267-016-0001-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41267-016-0001-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41267-016-0001-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrea Bassanini & Ekkehard Ernst, 2002. "Labour market regulation, industrial relations and technological regimes: a tale of comparative advantage," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 11(3), pages 391-426, June.
    2. Juan C. Botero & Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2004. "The Regulation of Labor," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(4), pages 1339-1382.
    3. William Q Judge & Stav Fainshmidt & J Lee Brown III, 2014. "Which model of capitalism best delivers both wealth and equality?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(4), pages 363-386, May.
    4. William Q. Judge & Helen W. Hu & Jonas Gabrielsson & Till Talaulicar & Michael A. Witt & Alessandro Zattoni & Félix López-Iturriaga & Jean Jingham Chen & Dhirendra Shukla & Majdi Quttainah & Emmanuel , 2015. "Configurations of Capacity for Change in Entrepreneurial Threshold Firms: Imprinting and Strategic Choice Perspectives," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 506-530, June.
    5. Hall, B. & Jaffe, A. & Trajtenberg, M., 2001. "The NBER Patent Citations Data File: Lessons, Insights and Methodological Tools," Papers 2001-29, Tel Aviv.
    6. Donal Crilly, 2011. "Predicting stakeholder orientation in the multinational enterprise: A mid-range theory," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(5), pages 694-717, June.
    7. John Dunning & Sarianna Lundan, 2008. "Institutions and the OLI paradigm of the multinational enterprise," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 573-593, December.
    8. Aoki, Masahiko, 2010. "Corporations in Evolving Diversity: Cognition, Governance, and Institutions," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199218530.
    9. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    10. Kyle C. Longest & Stephen Vaisey, 2008. "fuzzy: A program for performing qualitative comparative analyses (QCA) in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(1), pages 79-104, February.
    11. Howard Gospel & Andrew Pendleton, 2003. "Finance, Corporate Governance and the Management of Labour: A Conceptual and Comparative Analysis," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 41(3), pages 557-582, September.
    12. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 1999. "Corporate Ownership Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 471-517, April.
    13. Amable, Bruno, 2003. "The Diversity of Modern Capitalism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199261147.
    14. Michael A Witt & Arie Y Lewin, 2007. "Outward foreign direct investment as escape response to home country institutional constraints," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(4), pages 579-594, July.
    15. Martin R Schneider & Conrad Schulze-Bentrop & Mihai Paunescu, 2010. "Mapping the institutional capital of high-tech firms: A fuzzy-set analysis of capitalist variety and export performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(2), pages 246-266, February.
    16. Michael Carney & Eric Gedajlovic & Xiaohua Yang, 2009. "Varieties of Asian capitalism: Toward an institutional theory of Asian enterprise," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 361-380, September.
    17. Akkermans, Dirk & Castaldi, Carolina & Los, Bart, 2009. "Do 'liberal market economies' really innovate more radically than 'coordinated market economies'?: Hall and Soskice reconsidered," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 181-191, February.
    18. Crouch, Colin, 2005. "Capitalist Diversity and Change: Recombinant Governance and Institutional Entrepreneurs," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199286652.
    19. Colin Crouch & Wolfgang Streeck & Robert Boyer & Bruno Amable & Peter A. Hall & Grégory Jackson, 2005. "Dialogue on ‘Institutional complementarity and political economy'," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00310485, HAL.
    20. Furman, Jeffrey L. & Porter, Michael E. & Stern, Scott, 2002. "The determinants of national innovative capacity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 899-933, August.
    21. Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, 1998. "The Governance of the New Enterprise," CRSP working papers 487, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
    22. Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1994. "Complementarities and systems: Understanding japanese economic organization," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 9(1), pages 3-42.
    23. Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1995. "Complementarities and fit strategy, structure, and organizational change in manufacturing," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 179-208, April.
    24. Gregory Jackson & Richard Deeg, 2008. "Comparing capitalisms: understanding institutional diversity and its implications for international business," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(4), pages 540-561, June.
    25. Ragin, Charles C., 2000. "Fuzzy-Set Social Science," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226702773, September.
    26. Gregory Jackson & Tim Muellenborn, 2012. "Understanding the Role of Institutions in Industrial Relations: Perspectives from Classical Sociological Theory," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51, pages 472-500, April.
    27. Taylor, Mark Zachary, 2004. "Empirical Evidence Against Varieties of Capitalism's Theory of Technological Innovation," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(3), pages 601-631, July.
    28. Thelen,Kathleen, 2014. "Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107679566.
    29. Hall, Peter A. & Gingerich, Daniel W., 2009. "Varieties of Capitalism and Institutional Complementarities in the Political Economy: An Empirical Analysis," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(3), pages 449-482, July.
    30. Masahiko Aoki & Gregory Jackson, 2008. "Understanding an emergent diversity of corporate governance and organizational architecture: an essentiality-based analysis -super-1," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 17(1), pages 1-27, February.
    31. Thelen,Kathleen, 2014. "Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107053168.
    32. Susan Chun Zhu & Daniel Trefler, 2000. "Beyond the Algebra of Explanation: HOV for the Technology Age," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 145-149, May.
    33. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226702766 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. Jasjit Singh, 2007. "Asymmetry of knowledge spillovers between MNCs and host country firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(5), pages 764-786, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marc van Essen & J. (Hans) van Oosterhout & Pursey P. M. A. R. Heugens, 2013. "Competition and Cooperation in Corporate Governance: The Effects of Labor Institutions on Blockholder Effectiveness in 23 European Countries," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 530-551, April.
    2. Fan, Di & Li, Yi & Chen, Liang, 2017. "Configuring innovative societies: The crossvergent role of cultural and institutional varieties," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 66, pages 43-56.
    3. Uschi Backes-Gellner & Marlies Kluike & Kerstin Pull & Martin R. Schneider & Silvia Teuber, 2016. "Human resource management and radical innovation: a fuzzy-set QCA of US multinationals in Germany, Switzerland, and the UK," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 86(7), pages 751-772, October.
    4. Daniel Herrero & Julián López-Gallego, 2022. "Revisiting varieties of capitalism: an empirical analysis of the institutional determinants of innovation in Germany," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(8), pages 1-31, August.
    5. Kamini Gupta & Donal Crilly & Thomas Greckhamer, 2020. "Stakeholder engagement strategies, national institutions, and firm performance: A configurational perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(10), pages 1869-1900, October.
    6. Federica Nieri & Luciano Ciravegna & Ruth V. Aguilera & Elisa Giuliani, 2019. "Larger, more internationalized, better behaved? A configurational study of em erging market multinational enterprises' involvement in corporate wrongdoing," Discussion Papers 2019/255, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    7. Christina L. Ahmadjian, 2016. "Comparative Institutional Analysis and Institutional Complexity," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 12-27, January.
    8. Walker, James & Wood, Geoff & Brewster, Chris & Beleska-Spasova, Elena, 2018. "Context, market economies and MNEs: The example of financial incentivization," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 21-33.
    9. Fainshmidt, Stav & Judge, William Q. & Aguilera, Ruth V. & Smith, Adam, 2018. "Varieties of institutional systems: A contextual taxonomy of understudied countries," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 307-322.
    10. Weng, David H. & Peng, Mike W., 2018. "Home bitter home: How labor protection influences firm offshoring," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(5), pages 632-640.
    11. Boschma, Ron & Capone, Gianluca, 2015. "Institutions and diversification: Related versus unrelated diversification in a varieties of capitalism framework," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1902-1914.
    12. Ahlquist, John S. & Breunig, Christian, 2009. "Country clustering in comparative political economy," MPIfG Discussion Paper 09/5, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    13. Buchen, Clemens, 2010. "Emerging economic systems in Central and Eastern Europe – a qualitative and quantitative assessment," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 37141, October.
    14. Sarianna M. Lundan & Jiatao Li, 2019. "Adjusting to and learning from institutional diversity: Toward a capability-building perspective," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(1), pages 36-47, February.
    15. Reale, Filippo, 2019. "Governing innovation systems: A Parsonian social systems perspective," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    16. Jiang Wei & Yang Yang & Sali Li, 2021. "Mirror or no mirror? Architectural design of cross-border integration of Chinese multinational enterprises," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 1399-1430, December.
    17. Simon Deakin, 2013. "The Legal Framework Governing Business Firms & its Implications for Manufacturing Scale & Performance: The UK Experience in International Perspective," Working Papers wp449, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    18. Johann Fortwengel, 2017. "Understanding When MNCs can Overcome Institutional Distance: A Research Agenda," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(6), pages 793-814, December.
    19. Meelen, Toon & Herrmann, Andrea M. & Faber, Jan, 2017. "Disentangling patterns of economic, technological and innovative specialization of Western economies: An assessment of the Varieties-of-Capitalism theory on comparative institutional advantages," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 667-677.
    20. Marco Simoni, 2019. "Institutional Roots of Economic Decline: Lessons from Italy," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 143, European Institute, LSE.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:jintbs:v:47:y:2016:i:7:d:10.1057_s41267-016-0001-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.