This book contributes to the development of a relational view of economics. Bringing together experts from various disciplines, it offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the study of relational transactions. In contrast to discrete market transactions as a traditional subject of economic discourse, the book analyses the role of relational transactions in the study of economic phenomena. The contributing authors address topics such as global intra- and inter-company networks, intersectoral stakeholder management, relational contracts, and transcultural management approaches. Accordingly, the book makes an important contribution to an emerging field of research.

This book explores the conceptual and practical implications of applying a relational view to cultural complexity. The authors take the findings of an international and interdisciplinary Delphi study on transcultural competence as a starting point and offer further analysis and interpretation from their specific perspectives. Written by experts from a variety of disciplines, the book discusses the potential contributions of a relational approach to understanding and strengthening individuals and organizations in their contexts. Through various conceptual chapters, case studies and field reports, it explores the role and nature of commonalities for cooperation in contexts of cultural complexity and discusses the relationship between differences and commonalities, as well as the implications for relational leadership and management. The book is divided into four parts, the first of which introduces readers to the relational view. In turn, the second part elaborates on transcultural competence, while the third presents various case studies and field reports on experience-based learning and relationality in culturally complex settings. Finally, the fourth part sheds new light on relational leadership and the role of commonalities in organizational practice. As such, this book will appeal to scholars and practitioners in the areas of cultural and relational economics, intercultural communication, business strategy and leadership, and organizational studies.

This book introduces the research agenda of relational economics as a political economy for the governance of local and global economic transactions in modern societies. It analyses the mechanisms of global value creation and production networks by studying cooperation in intra- and inter-firm networks, intersectoral stakeholder management, and transcultural leadership. The author develops a categorical taxonomy for private and public value creation based on the effective and efficient interlinking of, and interaction between, a range of resources and abilities. In contrast to mainstream economics, which largely focuses on the laws of discrete and dyadic exchange transactions, this book assesses the polyvalent characteristics of relational transactions. The chief categories involved in an economic theory of the relations between events are the relational transactions and their various forms of governance; the polycontextual cooperation between economic, political and civil society agents; and the factor incomes and relational rents that relational transactions produce. Today, relational transactions are the rule, not the exception, in modern economies and their global value creation networks. Given its scope and focus, this book will appeal to scholars of economics, economic sociology, organisational studies and related fields.

This book addresses the development and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in and by companies and the consequent need for private sector AI regulation. Highlighting the challenges to responsible business conduct and considering stakeholder interests, it identifies ethical concerns and discusses AI standards and AI norms. Based on this needs-based analysis, the author chooses relational economics as a suitable approach to develop a theoretical AI governance model. In doing so, AI is conceptualized within relational economics in the form of an autopoietic system. Building on this theoretical contribution, the book specifies the governance adaptivity of the relational AI governance approach for an unregulated AI market and for the case of the pending E.U. AI regulation, and complements it with inductively conducted categories that summarize the main research streams in AI ethics.

The social sciences, especially economics, management, and organizational science, are experiencing a tremendous renewed interest for their epistemological and methodological statutes, as witnessed by the many books and specialized journals established during the last two decades. Relational Methodologies and Epistemology in the Economics and Management Sciences identifies and presents the four main network-based methodologies including network analysis, Boolean network simulation modeling, artificial neural network simulation modeling, and agent-based simulation modeling in addition to their conceptual-epistemological implications and concrete applications within the social and natural sciences. Featuring a critical assessment of relational methodologies and their practical applications, this timely publication is ideal for use by corporate R&D departments, researchers, theorists, and graduate-level students.

This textbook introduces and develops new tools to understand the recent economic crisis and how desirable economic policies can be adopted. Gilles provides new institutional concepts for wealth creation, such as network economies, which are based on the social division of labour. This volume investigates the formation of networks and hierarchical authority organisations, with a focus on the role of trust. Gilles also looks at the theory of growth and development, using real world examples and problem sets to put into practice. This title is suitable reading for undergraduate, MSc and postgraduate students in microeconomic analysis, economic theory and political economy.

This book examines the inter-firm networks created by interlock coordination through shared directors (inter-board) and managers (inter-department) at various levels: whole aggregate, core vs. peripheral companies, and distribution by country and sector. Presenting an empirical case study on all the limited liability or stock companies of the aerospace industry in the European Union and its interlock partners worldwide, the authors shed new light on these forms of coordination. Moreover, they reveal the relevance of shared managers’ coordination and hybrid manager-director interlocks. The book applies advanced statistical and social network analysis alike by combining firms’ attributes (e.g. standard economic-financial parameters) and topological indices for firms (e.g. centrality and cluster measures). By conducting the analysis at both the aggregate network level and the cluster or corporate group level, the authors show how extensive and intensive the interlock forms of coordination are, especially when dealing with shared managers. By testing seven hypotheses concerning the research stream on board interlocks and (more broadly) inter-firm networks, the study offers new insights into the role of the financial sector, on the relations between interlock coordination and firms’ performance, on the role of geographical, technological and organizational proximity, and on the relations between interlock coordination and firms’ size. As such, this book will appeal to scholars of organization studies, business and management studies, industrial and evolutionary economics, and economic sociology, as well as officers and policymakers at anti-trust regulation institutions.