Corporate Management in a Knowledge-Based Economy

274 Pages·2012·1.47 MB·English

by  Gianfranco Zanda (eds.)

Corporate Management in a Knowledge-Based Economy
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Corporate Management in a
Knowledge-Based Economy
Edited by
Gianfranco Zanda
Editorial matter, selection, introduction and conclusion © Gianfranco
Zanda 2012
All remaining chapter © respective authors 2012
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-29425-7
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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First published 2012 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-33328-8 ISBN 978-0-230-35545-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230355453
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21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12
Contents
Tables and Figures ix
Notes on Contributors xi
1 Company Management: Its Historical
Evolution 1
Gianfranco Zanda
1.1 Foreword 1
1.2 Aims and outline of the present work 3
2 The Period in which Power Is Associated
with Land Ownership 8
Daniela Coluccia
2.1 T he organization of production and consumption
before feudalism: from the Greek city-state to the
late Roman period 8
2.2 T he socio-economic system of European peoples
in the first phase of feudalism
(8th century to the 10th/11th century) 17
2.3 T he socio-economic system of European peoples in
the second phase of feudalism (11th century to the
second half of the 15th century) 21
2.4 M ercantile capitalism: the European socio-economic
system from the second half of the 15th century to
the second half of the 18th century 26
3 The First Industrial Revolution (c1760–c1870) 41
Daniela Coluccia
3.1 T he application of the scientific method to economic,
social and political problems 41
3.2 T he long, complex and systematic process called
‘the Industrial Revolution’ 43
3.3 The main catalysts of the process 46
4 The Second Industrial Revolution
(late 1800s and early 1900s) 52
Daniela Coluccia
4.1 Introduction 52
4.2 The use of electricity and increase in productivity 53
v
vi Contents
4.3 T echnological progress, economic discontinuity,
oligopoly and high profitability 54
4.4 T he institutionalization of research and development
within companies 55
4.5 T he growing use of capital. The beginning of mass
production and mass consumption and the
appearance of large corporations 57
4.6 T he development of studies and practices in the
field of management 58
5 The ‘Managerial Revolution’: The Origin and
Growth of Managerial Capitalism (from the 1930s to
the End of the 1970s) 65
Gianfranco Zanda
5.1 The first two decades of the 20th century
and the Great War 65
5.2 From the Great War to the Great Economic Crisis 67
5.3 The ‘managerial revolution’ 71
5.4 The power of non-owner managers in the
large corporations 77
5.5 The growing interest of scholars and managers
in the decision-making process and human resources
management 81
5.6 Managerial motivation and the goals of the
corporation: theoretical outlines 89
5.7 The relationship between profitability and
increase in company size 95
5.8 The relationship between objectives of social
responsibility and rate of profitability and
company size development 97
5.9 The ‘utility function’ of professional managers
of dominant large corporations from the 1930s
to the appearance of ‘financial shareholding
managerial capitalism’ 98
6 The Appearance and Establishment of
‘Financial Shareholding Managerial Capitalism’ 111
Gianfranco Zanda
6.1 Preliminary remarks 111
6.2 Internal and external crises of economic systems
and the fall in profits 113
Contents vii
6.3 The reaffirmation of the principle of the
maximization of profit and of the value of the
company. The return to ‘investor capitalism’ 119
6.4 Shareholding managerial capitalism based on the
‘financialization’ of business: some remarks 124
6.5 The problem of irresponsible corporations 126
6.6 The main provisions to adopt 129
6.7 The predominance of the financial economy
over the real economy. Irresponsible behaviour
of global finance and its impact on the recent
economic and financial crisis 135
7 The Efficient-market Hypothesis (EMH) and
Financial Crisis 155
Gianluca Oricchio
7.1 Originate-to-distribute and originate-and-hold:
the challenge to the efficient-market
hypothesis begins 155
7.2 Two recent crises and the efficient-market
hypothesis: lessons learnt 158
7.3 The efficient-market hypothesis and accounting
behaviour 160
8 Control of Intangible Resources and Corporate
Management 169
Gianfranco Zanda
8.1 Preliminary remarks 169
8.2 The new scientific and technological knowledge 170
8.3 The use of the multimedia network and market
changes 171
8.4 The relationship between the market, the
industrial system and innovative services.
The arrival of the ‘light’ company based on access
to Internet services and outsourcing 173
8.5 New services in the field of culture and the
development of the ‘experience’ industry 175
8.6 Changes in marketing in the emerging sectors
of the modern economy 178
8.7 Intangible resources and knowledge as the
strategic factor of corporate management 181
viii Contents
9 Ethical Foundations of Corporate Social
Responsibility. The Contribution of Christian Social
Thought 189
Helen Alford
9.1 T he problematic link between ethics and CSR,
and what the Christian social tradition can
offer to help 189
9.2 T he idea of the human being as both individual
and person 194
9.3 T he idea of society as a common good with both
foundational and excellent dimensions 202
9.4 C SR and the personalist approach: can the latter
give the former a more solid ethical footing? 207
10 Patterns of Management and Their Influence on Business
Behaviour 212
Silvia Solimene
10.1 Preliminary remarks 212
10.2 Organizational entropy and leadership models 215
10.3 The traditional approach to leadership 219
10.4 Towards new management models 224
10.5 Effective models of management: basic assumptions 225
10.6 Research, recruiting, training, personnel development
and their influence on the company system 229
10.7 Final considerations 232
11 Summary and Closing Remarks 237
Gianfranco Zanda
Bibliography 245
Index 258
Tables and Figures
Tables
7.1 Cumulative losses and cumulative capital increases of main
international quoted credit institutions in billions of euros
(2009) 159
7.2 Four different ‘situations’ 167
9.1 The individual–person duality 198
Figures
5.1 Rate of growth and rate of profitability 97
5.2 Rate of growth and rate of profitability (modified) 100
7.1 Credit spreads before the financial crisis 156
7.2 Credit spreads during the financial crisis 157
7.3 Credit Treasury high level business model 158
7.4 Hard-to-value assets (2009) 160
7.5 The smaller the earnings volatility, other conditions being
equal, the higher the price of shares 163
7.6 The higher the earnings volatility, other conditions being
equal, the lower the price of shares 164
7.7 Linear relation between share price variation and future
earning variation, other conditions being equal, in a
simplified framework 165
7.8 Future earnings increments that are considered to be
permanent have a linear impact on share price; future
earnings increments that are not considered permanent
have less impact on share price 166
7.9 Future earnings negative variations that are considered
to be permanent have a linear impact on share price;
future earnings negative variation that are not considered
permanent have less impact on share price 166
ix