IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ems/eureri/1127.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Networks In Cultural, Economic and Evolutionary Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Krug, B.

Abstract

Depending on the kind of literature networks in general, and Chinese networks in particular seem to be different phenomena, or are explained by different factors leaving the interested public puzzled. Whether Chinese networks resemble Clans, Clubs, or Mafia-kind of organizations is as much disputed as the effects of networking on the economy. While some argue that networks contribute to overall factor productivity in a situation in which neither the old planning system nor the nascent markets function, others insist on their counterproductive potential for the transformation of the Chinese economy. A third group dismisses networks as a transitory phenomena that will disappear with ongoing market reforms, in particular the wider use of the price mechanism for allocating resources and co-ordinating economic activities. The following attempts to shed some light into the confusing argumentation by grouping the different approaches according to what is explained, and the explaining items. The paper will systematically compare theories that are usually classified as taking a cultural, economic, and evolutionary perspective and which can be found in China-specific or social science literature. All these approaches claim to provide explanations for (Chinese) networks. Yet they differ with respect to the phenomena that they want to explain, namely networks and/or the explanatory factors they regard as crucial. Thus, for example cultural and economic, better: Transaction cost economics (TCE) approaches focus on networks as a given organizational form, while evolutionary economics or the capability approach in management science include a further dimension, namely time, subsequently regarding network as an activity that might lead to different network forms. The approaches differ also widely according to the factors singled out – or isolated -which are claimed to be the crucial items in any explanation for networks. As will be shown the two competing models in which networks are either based on co-ethnic groups or on expected functional value are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Suggested Citation

  • Krug, B., 2003. "Networks In Cultural, Economic and Evolutionary Perspective," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2003-050-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
  • Handle: RePEc:ems:eureri:1127
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://repub.eur.nl/pub/1127/ERS-2003-050-ORG.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shleifer, Andrei, 1998. "State versus Private Ownership," Scholarly Articles 33077889, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    2. Hodgson, Geoffrey M., 1998. "Competence and contract in the theory of the firm," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 179-201, April.
    3. Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1993. "Corruption," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 108(3), pages 599-617.
    4. Robert C. Feenstra & Deng-Shing Huang & Gary G. Hamilton, 1997. "Business Groups and Trade in East Asia: Part 1, Networked Equilibria," NBER Working Papers 5886, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Williamson, Oliver E., 1988. "Technology and transaction cost economics : A reply," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 355-363, October.
    6. Steven N. S. Cheung, 1996. "A Simplistic General Equilibrium Theory Of Corruption," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 14(3), pages 1-5, July.
    7. Williamson, Oliver E., 1983. "Technology and the organization of work : A reply to Jones," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 57-62, March.
    8. Langlois, Richard N & Foss, Nicolai J, 1999. "Capabilities and Governance: The Rebirth of Production in the Theory of Economic Organization," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 201-218.
    9. Jones, S. R. H., 1983. "Technology and the organization of work : A reply," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 63-66, March.
    10. James E. Rauch, 2001. "Business and Social Networks in International Trade," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1177-1203, December.
    11. Rozelle, Scott & Li, Guo, 1998. "Village Leaders and Land-Rights Formation in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 433-438, May.
    12. North, Douglass C, 1994. "Economic Performance through Time," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 359-368, June.
    13. Richard N. Langlois & Nicolai J. Foss, 1999. "Capabilities and Governance: The Rebirth of Production in the Theory of Economic Organization," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 201-218, May.
    14. Andrei Shleifer, 1998. "State versus Private Ownership," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 133-150, Fall.
    15. Rozelle, Scott & Park, Albert & Huang, Jikun & Jin, Hehui, 2000. "Bureaucrat to Entrepreneur: The Changing Role of the State in China's Grain Economy," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(2), pages 227-252, January.
    16. Englander, Ernest J., 1988. "Technology and Oliver Williamson's transaction cost economics," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 339-353, October.
    17. Williamson, Oliver E., 1983. "Technology and the organization of work : A rejoinder," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 67-68, March.
    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. Jeffrey Sachs & Wing Thye Woo & Xiaokai Yang, 2000. "Economic Reforms and Constitutional Transition," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 1(2), pages 423-479, November.
    2. John Bishop & Ludger Wossmann, 2004. "Institutional Effects in a Simple Model of Educational Production," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 17-38.
    3. Djankov, Simeon & Glaeser, Edward & La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei, 2003. "The new comparative economics," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 595-619, December.
    4. Margit Osterloh & Bruno S. Frey, 2000. "Motivation, Knowledge Transfer, and Organizational Forms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(5), pages 538-550, October.
    5. Yan, Jia & Oum, Tae Hoon, 2014. "The effect of government corruption on the efficiency of US commercial airports," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 119-132.
    6. Foss, Nicolai J., 2003. "Bounded rationality in the economics of organization: "Much cited and little used"," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 245-264, April.
    7. Nicolai J. Foss & Peter G. Klein, 2005. "The Theory of the Firm and Its Critics A Stocktaking and Assessment," DRUID Working Papers 05-03, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    8. Ludger Wößmann, 2003. "Schooling Resources, Educational Institutions and Student Performance: the International Evidence," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 65(2), pages 117-170, May.
    9. Abdelsalam, Omneya & Chantziaras, Antonios & Ibrahim, Masud & Omoteso, Kamil, 2021. "The impact of religiosity on earnings quality: International evidence from the banking sector," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(6).
    10. Vladislav Valentinov, 2007. "The Property Rights Approach to Nonprofit Organization: The Role of Intrinsic Motivation," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 41-55, March.
    11. Krug, B. & Hendrischke, H., 2001. "China Incorporated," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2001-81-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    12. Engelbrecht, Hans-Jurgen, 1997. "A comparison and critical assessment of Porat and Rubin's information economy and Wallis and North's transaction sector1," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 271-290, December.
    13. Peter Wirtz, 2002. "Opportunism, Stewardship, and the Dynamics of Conflict in a Theory of Corporate Governance," Working Papers CREGO 1020101, Université de Bourgogne - CREGO EA7317 Centre de recherches en gestion des organisations.
    14. Gérard Charreaux, 2001. "Quelle théorie pour la gouvernance?De la gouvernance actionnariale à la gouvernance cognitive..," Working Papers CREGO 010401, Université de Bourgogne - CREGO EA7317 Centre de recherches en gestion des organisations, revised Feb 2002.
    15. Margit Osterloh & Jetta Frost & Bruno Frey, 2002. "The Dynamics of Motivation in New Organizational Forms," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 61-77.
    16. Fritz Rahmeyer, 2006. "From a Routine-Based to a Knowledge-Based View: Towards an Evolutionary Theory of the Firm," Discussion Paper Series 283, Universitaet Augsburg, Institute for Economics.
    17. Juan Pablo Atala & José Ignacio Cuesta & Felipe González & Cristóbal Otero, 2021. "The Economics of the Public Option: Evidence from Local Pharmaceutical Markets," Documentos de Trabajo 561, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    18. Haikun Zhu, 2018. "Social Stability and Resource Allocation within Business Groups," Working Papers Series 79, Institute for New Economic Thinking.
    19. Soufiane Mezzourh & Walid A Nakara, 2009. "Governance and innovation : A Knowledge-based approach [La gouvernance de l'innovation : une approche par la connaissance]," Post-Print halshs-01955966, HAL.
    20. David Martimort & Flavio Menezes & Myrna Wooders & ELISABETTA IOSSA & DAVID MARTIMORT, 2015. "The Simple Microeconomics of Public-Private Partnerships," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 17(1), pages 4-48, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Chinese business behavior; cross cultural studies; networks; social capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • M - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics
    • M10 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - General
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ems:eureri:1127. 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: RePub (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/erimanl.html .

    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.