Analysis Of The Economics Of The Business Organization

The existing economic theories of the firm have so far regarded the firm not as a social organization in nature. This dissertation sets down a position on such a point of view that the firm should be regarded as a social organization in essence. Upon the basis of such a position, the dissertation adopts the social division of labor perspective to elaborate the origin issue of the firm and to analyze the behavioral characters as well as the organizational structure of the firm, from the division of labor both outside and inside the firm respectively. The analysis presents a significant explanatory power for the economic phenomena relating to the firm.The dissertation consists of six chapters, and may be structurally divided into three major parts. Part one includes chapter 1 and 2, where the organizational nature of the firm is expounded, and the origin issue of the firm analyzed, with a literature review as a theoretical background. Part two includes chapter 3 and 4, where theoretical analysis is undertaken in the perspective of division of labor outside the firm, while part three including chapters 5 and 6 in that inside the firm. The main points in each chapter are summarized as follows.Chapter 1 provides a critical review on the existing economic literature relating to the firm. Generally saying, the traditional economics, including classical and neoclassical, ignores the organizational problems of the firm. The contemporary theory of the firm in the West has, since Ronald Coase, drawn up attention to the problems, with some essential issues, such as the nature of the firm and the scale of the firm, having been raised and studied. Essentially, however, the problems have not been solved out by Coase and his followers yet. Throughout the existing economic theories the firm has never been viewed as a social organization or an organization as a social entity.Chapter 2 elaborates the organizational nature of the firm and analyzes the origin issue of the firm. In this chapter the firm is defined as an organization or as a social entity, by which the essential meaning of the firm as an organization is to provide a social bearer for the labor division and coordination of economic activitiesfor the purpose of economic efficiency. Such a viewpoint is linked up with Marx's materialistic concept of history, with the firm as an organization thus being regarded as a device to provide a platform for contradiction movement of social productivity and social productive relations. On the basis of viewing the firm as a social organization, to explain the origin issue of the firm, it is maintained that the firm originates from the disintegration of the family organization when the social productivity developed up to certain historical stage. The disintegration occurred only under certain historical conditions gradually matured, among which the development in the market and the technology stands out the most essential.Chapter 3 presents an analysis on the relations between the firm and the social division of labor outside the firm. The fundamental point here states that the organization pattern of economic activities and the social division of labor are mutually interacted with an interdependent character. From this point of view we derive the core issue for the firm, i.e., the adaptation issue. Related with the core issue, this chapter also analyzes the competition behavior as well as market filtering mechanism.Chapter 4 provides an analysis on three aspects concerning the firm's behavior in the social division of labor perspectives. The three aspects include the integration and disintegration of business organizations, the putting-out system issue, and the spatial agglomeration of firms. These aspects are in nature the phenomenon presentations of the mutually interactions between the organizational patterns of economic activities and the social system of labor division. Through such an analysis the behavior characters of the firm in the social division system of labor may be theoretically revealed.Chapter 5 ana...