At 5:59 PM 11/20/96, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >Philip Kraft discusses the new VW plant in Resende, Brazil. The special >section on technology in the Nov. 18 WSJ includes an article on Colgate >which suggests the the new intranet software connecting not only all >Colgate plants and employees around the world but also suppliers, >retailers, etc., challenges the notion of the enterprise and raises the >question what is inside and what is outside the firm. In Coaseian terms, don't the VW and Colgate developments bring subcontracting relationships within the firm, internalizing previously market-like arrangements? And doesn't this also make it possible for workers who were previously far apart to develop formal and informal solidarity with each other? >Also: different but related: re: the struggle between Norfolk Southern and >CSX to buy Conrail. Pennsylvania state law affirms that enterprises need >not sell to the highest bidder but can also consider the needs of state >residents, customers and suppliers (read workers) in such matters. This too >strikes a blow at the notion that the firm is well-bounded and its >interests well-defined as "profit-maximization." Doesn't this recall the Golden Age managerial literature, from Berle-Means through Galbraith, which saw modern giant corporations as social actors with broader social responsibilities than profit- and stock-price-maximization? >Also: the Texaco settlement with its African American employees includes >the formation of a committee which comprises membership chosen half by the >enterprise and half by the plaintiffs (and one person chosen by both) and >is to have "unprecedented" power over personnel relations and policy, etc. >A modernist notion of a firm is going to have more difficulty, I believe, >integrating these kinds of developments than pomoish theories will. What about German firm structure, with co-determination, dual boards, etc.? Or Japanese keiretsu, with their cross-holdings and interlocking board structures? Anglo-American governance structures are not the only way to run capitalist enterprises. I promise I won't quote Ecclesiastes. Doug -- Doug Henwood Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> web: <http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html>
