Exporting the American Model
The Postwar Transformation of European Business
Published on 5. July 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
322 pages
978-0-19-924664-9 (ISBN)
Description
Exporting the American Model places in historical perspective the apparently universal appeal of the model of corporate capitalism. Marie-Laure Djelic explores the patterns of evolution that have characterized Western European business systems in the postwar period. She identifies two seemingly conflicting trends -- one leading to convergence, the other perpetuating national differentiation. To account for this apparent contradiction, she first documents the large-scale transfer to Western Eruope of a model of corporate capitalism with clear American origins, showing the key role in the process of the Marshall Plan administration. Focusing on France, West Germany, and Italy, she then looks at the specific conditions in which the transfer took place in each case. One key finding is that this transfer had varying degrees of success in each of the three countries and that the American model was partially adapted to national conditions when it was not strongly resisted.
The book underscores the socially constructed and historically contingent nature of structural arrangements shaping conditions of industiral production in capitalist countries today. National systems of industrial production are not given or necessary; they are constructed through time by economic but also political actors with particular goals and resources, often in direct confrontation with other intersts. This shaping is embedded within specific national institutional contexts but it also takes place in unique geopolitical conditions. Thus foreign actors, it is argued, can have in certain circumstances a significant impact on the process of definition of a given national system of industial production.
The book underscores the socially constructed and historically contingent nature of structural arrangements shaping conditions of industiral production in capitalist countries today. National systems of industrial production are not given or necessary; they are constructed through time by economic but also political actors with particular goals and resources, often in direct confrontation with other intersts. This shaping is embedded within specific national institutional contexts but it also takes place in unique geopolitical conditions. Thus foreign actors, it is argued, can have in certain circumstances a significant impact on the process of definition of a given national system of industial production.
Reviews / Votes
This is the best book on the evolution of the European corporate landscape during the Marshall Plan era...The author's theoretical sophistication and skilful use of documentary sources assure this book a place nect to the recent historical analyses of European industry by Alfred D. Chandler and Frank Dobbin. Truly a blockbuster book, Exporting the American Model reveals why and how the American model of corporate capitalism spread across parts of Europe after WWII, and why and how it was resisted. Djelic's powerful and wideranging analysis will be essential reading for comparative sociologists, institutional political scientists, and students of busienss. * Theda Skocpol, Professor of Government and Sociology, Havard University * Professor Djelic's book fills a huge gap in our understaning of comparative business systems by demonstrating how post-Second World War politics shaped the rules governing business in Europe. * Professor Neil Fligstein, Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley * An insightul, unbiases, and well-documented behind-the-scenes look at the diffusion of capitalism, coined and "American innovation", in Italy, France, and Germany...carefully researched, documetned, and footnoted. * Administrative Science Quarterly * investigates a very interesting research topic ... Another strength of the book ... is her recognition that there are national peculiarities. In addition, the book has a good structure and is well written. * Ragnhild Kvalshaugen, Organization Studies, 0.5. 21/4. 2000. * A thoughtful, well-crafted and detailed comparative analysis . . . a timely study of European 'modernisation'. * David Morgan, Management Learning, 31/3 * Review from previous edition A thoughtful, well-crafter and detailed comparative analysis . . . a timely study of European 'modernisation'. * David Morgan, Management Learning, 31/3 * Review from previous edition in many ways this book poses more questions than it answers, and whets the reader's appetite for the story of transfer in later decades. Surely this is a mark of a good book. * David Morgan, Management Learning, 31.3. *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
numerous figures and tables
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
492 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-924664-9 (9780199246649)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
07/1998
Oxford University Press
€115.10
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Marie-Laure Djelic is Associate Professor in the Department of Human Resources Management at ESSEC (Ecole Superieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales), France. Her main research areas are business history, cross-cultural management, and organization design and change.
Content
Introduction ; PART I. CROSS-NATIONAL TRANSFER: STRUCTURAL TYPES ; 1. The American Structural Revolution ; 2. Stability of European Industries ; PART II. CROSS-NATIONAL TRANSFER: CONDITIONS, CHANNELS, AND ACTORS ; 3. Crisis Inside, Dependence Outside ; 4. Actors and Institutional Channels ; PART III. CROSS-NATIONAL TRANSFER: MECHANISMS ; 5. Voluntary Imitation ; 6. From Coercion to Imitation ; 7. From Control to Conversion ; PART IV. CROSS-NATIONAL TRANSFER: NATIONAL LIMITS ; 8. The Resistance of European Business ; 9. European Labor and Productivity ; Concluding Remarks