Management in the USA or Innovation and Incentives

Management in the USA

Author: Peter Lawrenc

Drawing from interviews and observations in a variety of organizations located throughout the United States, Management in the USA analyzes key aspects of management style, practice, and its inherent values in the USA. Author Peter Lawrence begins by considering some broad contextual characteristics of economy and society and their general relationship to American business. Then he considers a number of specific themes that he argues are central to understanding management in the United States. These include values of differentiated individualism, free speech, self-interest, and proactivity. Lawrence explores ways in which such values are reflected in individual motivation and practices, including in strong strategic and systems orientations. He also looks at USA-style industrial relations and personnel management. The volume concludes with a discussion of the factors that may account for the USA's relative economic decline in recent decades in the increasingly competitive world of globalizing business. Management in the USA is a succinct, elegant, and insightful introduction for both students and professionals in international business and international and comparative management.

Booknews

Compares the social policy of assimilation of aboriginal peoples in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, examining past and present policies and their origins and rationale, especially child welfare policy, and concluding that such policy is an expression of racism and colonialism. Includes b&w maps and numerous tables. Paper edition (unseen), $24.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Table of Contents:

	Acknowledgements
	Preface
1	Stars and Strands	1
2	An Economic Phenomenon	20
3	Individualism	37
4	Strategy	49
5	Proactivity	61
6	Systems	71
7	Free Speech and Self-interest	81
8	Industrial Relations	93
9	Personnel and People	102
10	Audit	115
11	An American Paradox	126
	Bibliography	132
	Index	135

Read also The Service Consultant or Population Dynamics

Innovation and Incentives

Author: Suzanne Scotchmer

Interest in intellectual property and other institutions that promote innovation exploded during the 1990s. Innovation and Incentives provides a clear and wide-ranging introduction to the economics of innovation, suitable for teaching at both the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels. It will also be useful to legal and economics professionals. Written by an expert on intellectual property and industrial organization, the book achieves a balanced mix of institutional details, examples, and theory. Analytical, empirical, or institutional factors can be given different emphases at different levels of study.

Innovation and Incentives presents the historical, legal, and institutional contexts in which innovation takes place. After a historical overview of the institutions that support innovation, ranging from ancient history through today's government funding and hybrid institutions, the book discusses knowledge as a public good, the economic design of intellectual property, different models of cumulative innovation, the relation of competition to licensing and joint ventures, patent and copyright enforcement and litigation, private/public funding relationships, patent values and the return on R&D investment, intellectual property issues arising from direct and indirect network externalities, and globalization. The text presents technical and abstract analysis and at the same time sheds light on current controversies and policy-relevant topics, including the difficulty of enforcing copyright in the digital age and international protection of intellectual property.