Varieties of Firm: Complementarity and Bounded Diversity

This is a study of the nature of internal diversity within liberal and collaborative market economies. Based on large scale comparative survey data, we assess the extent to which specific clusters of practices are associated with specific varieties of capitalism. Given that recent literature has poi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of economic issues 2009-03, Vol.43 (1), p.239-258
Main Authors: Wood, Geoffrey, Croucher, Richard, Brewster, Chris, Collings, David G., Brookes, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Capitalism
Collaboration
Corporate Governance
Discriminant analysis
Diversification
Economic analysis
Economic conditions
Economic systems
Employee relations
Employees
Employers
Employment
Factor analysis
Financial management
HRM
Human resources
Internal Diversity
Job training
Market economies
Market economy
Stockholders
Studies
System theory
Varieties of Capitalism
Workplaces
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Summary:This is a study of the nature of internal diversity within liberal and collaborative market economies. Based on large scale comparative survey data, we assess the extent to which specific clusters of practices are associated with specific varieties of capitalism. Given that recent literature has pointed to internal diversity within specific national contexts, we explore the nature of internal diversity within both liberal and collaborative market economies, and what makes each variety of capitalism distinct. We find that more than one cluster of practices is indeed likely to be encountered in a particular national context, but that this diversity was bounded: only a limited number of alternative paradigms are likely to emerge and persist. The survey findings not only shed light on the nature of this internal diversity, but also reveal the fact that liberal and collaborative markets remain distinct, with the rights accruing to employees being more deeply embedded in a wide cross section of firms within the latter.
ISSN:0021-3624
1946-326X
DOI:10.2753/JEI0021-3624430111