The Dynamics of Big Business: Structure, Strategy, and Impact in Italy and Spain(Routledge International Studies in Business History)

About the Book

Severe poverty is one of the greatest moral challenges of our times. But what place, if any, do ethical thinking and questions of global justice have in the policies and practice of international organizations? This books examines this question in depth, based on an analysis of the two major multilateral development organizations - the World Bank and the UNDP - and two specific initiatives where poverty and ethics or human rights have been explicitly in focus: in the Inter-American Development Bank and UNESCO. The current development aid framework may be seen as seeking to make globalization work for the poor; and multilateral organizations such as these are powerful global actors, whether by virtue of their financial resources, or in their role as global norm-setting bodies and as sources of hegemonic knowledge about poverty. Drawing on their backgrounds in political economy, ethics and sociology of knowledge, as well as their inside knowledge of some of the case studies, the authors show how, despite the rhetoric, issues of ethics and human rights have -- for very varying reasons and in differing ways -- been effectively prevented from impinging on actual practice. Global Poverty, Ethics and Human Rights will be of interest to researchers and advanced students, as well as practitioners and activists, in the fields of international relations, development studies, and international political economy. It will also be of relevance for political philosophy, human rights, development ethics and applied ethics more generally.

Table of Contents:

Introduction Part 1: Historical Features of the Italian and Spanish Capitalism 1. The Wars and the Reconstruction Years (1939-1950) 2. The Italian and Spanish Economic Miracles (1950-1973) 3. The Crisis and the Economic Restructuring (1973-1993) 4. Recent Developments (1993-2009) Part 2: Big Business in Italy and Spain 5. Big Business’ Economic Importance 6. Social Role of Large Corporations in Two Modernizing Countries 7. Politics and Big Business in Italy and Spain in a Historical Perspective 8. From Industry to Services 9. Big Business’ Owners and Managers Part 3: Strategy and Structure 10. A ‘One Best Way?’ 11. The Adoption of the Product Diversification Strategy between Single Activity Companies and Business Groups 12. The Internationalization Strategy: The Rise of Italian and Spanish Multinational Companies 13. The Organizational Form: H-Form vs. M-Form Part 4: Interpreting Big Business’ Choices and their Performance 14. Ownership, Technology, and Business Choices 15. Entrepreneurial Choices between Ties and Contingent Opportunities 16. Big Business’ Achievements and Failures 17. The Present Situation and the Future Challenges

About the Author :
Veronica Binda conducts business history research at Bocconi University, Milan, and is a visiting professor at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona. She has published articles in Business History, Business History Review, European Journal of International Management, Revista de Historia Industrial, Información Comercial Española, and Imprese e Storia.

Review :
This is an important book, one of the first comparative studies of the ethics in use within the most significant development organizations. Essential reading for students of global ethics as well as students of development. Craig Murphy, M. Margaret Ball Professor of International Relations at Wellesley College and author of The UN Development Programme: A Better Way? (2006). In their official communications, our international agencies speak often and grandly of global justice, human rights, and the eradication of poverty. Yet, as many have noted, these commitments are hardly apparent in their practical work. In this controversial and groundbreaking book, McNeill and St. Clair seek to explain why this is so, based on a close look inside four international agencies. Thomas Pogge, Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs, Yale University, USA