A Theory Of The Firm Based On Distributed Knowledge

This dissertation studies enterprise's theoretical issue in term of the distributed knowledge, and sets forth one's argument basically: The enterprise and market both are the economic organizational form that people used to utilize and coordinate the distributed knowledge, enterprise's efficiency advantage in utilizing and coordinating the distributed knowledge determines its existence is rational and its boundary, and the trade-off between utilizing and coordinating the distributed knowledge in the enterprise decide its interior organization structure and authority arrangement. The theoretical research of economic organization always regard the thought of labor division as one's theoretical foundation, think it is the division of labor that produced the demand to organize and coordinate the economic activity. But what is the essence of the division of labor? Why can the division of labor improve the labor productivity? This paper considers that the economic essence of the division of labor is the division of knowledge. The accumulation of human capital brought by the division of labor is exclusive source of long-term economic growth. The social knowledge's distributed and complemented character caused by the division of knowledge determines that the social economic core issue is utilizing and coordinating the distributed knowledge as Hayek has put forward, and it is the main function of economic organization too. Hayek has emphasized that the price mechanism can solve the problem of the division of knowledge automatically, but he has not touch upon how the enterprise to utilize and coordinate the distributed knowledge. Nowadays the mainstream firm theory represented by contract theory, totally ignores the knowledge issue in enterprise even more, and concentrates on the incentive problem. In view of this, this thesis makes a preliminary comparative institutional analysis to the utilizing and coordinating the distributed knowledge in the economic organization based on the analysis paradigm of transaction cost economics, and makes a new explain to some basic problem in firm theory according to the trade-off of the cost between utilizing and coordinating the distributed knowledge. Chapter one "Introduction"introduces the theme, approach and frame of this dissertation concisely, and brings forward one's principal proposition. Chapter two "The Theory Review"takes a review of related literatures using the distributed knowledge as the thread. First it criticizes the mainstream firm theory ignoring the knowledge problem, and introduces enterprise compability theory emerged in recent years which gives the enormous attention to the distributed knowledge, finally discusses some classical models involved utilizing and coordinating the distribute knowledge. Chapter three "The Main Function of Economic Organization –Utilizing and Coordinating the Distributed Knowledge", firstly demonstrates the relation of the division of labor and the division of knowledge, points out that the economic essence of the division of labor is the division of knowledge, the social knowledge's distributed and complemented character caused by the division of knowledge determines that the economic organization's main function is utilizing and coordinating the distributed knowledge. Then it makes a concrete analysis of the different mechanism of utilizing and coordinating the distributed knowledge in the market and enterprise, and points out that people does not transact the distributed knowledge directly, but through the trade of the products and services which contain the distributed knowledge to realize utilizing and coordinating these knowledge, it can utilize the distributed knowledge well through voluntary transaction in private alienated property right system guided by the price mechanism, but its efficiency of coordinating the distributed knowledge is relatively low; the enterprise can coordinate the distributed knowledge well through the authority's instruction, but its efficiency of utilizing the knowledge is relatively low because there isn't the strong incentive mechanism attaching with private property right system in the enterprise. Thus this paper proves the rationality of the enterprise's existence according with the efficient comparative of the market and enterprise in utilizing and coordinating the distributed knowledge. On this basis, this chapter establishes the general economics model of utilizing and coordinating the distributed knowledge in economic organization. Chapter four "The Change of the Firm's Boundary"points out that the enterprise's boundary determined by the comparison and trade-off between utilizing and coordinating the distributed knowledge is dynamic change. Thechange of the exogenous variables will cause relatively the cost change utilizing and coordinating the distributed knowledge in the economic organization; this will impel the people to reselect the firm's boundary. The rise of the importance of coordinating the distributed knowledge and coordination efficiency in the enterprise will urge the firm to choose the integrated strategy, but the rise of the importance of utilizing the distributed knowledge and coordination efficiency in the market will urge the firm to choose the disintegrated strategy. Chapter five "The Choice and Change of Economic Organization Structure"analyses economic organization'choice in specialization and discretion according to the trade-off between utilizing and coordinating the distributed knowledge in economic organization. In the market, which can utilize the distributed knowledge without cost, the decline of coordination cost caused by the efficiency improvement in communicating the distributed knowledge, the reduction of the knowledge communication cost and the importance of coordinating the knowledge, will increase the specialization degree. In the enterprise, the rise of utilization cost—improvement of the importance of the knowledge or distributing degree—will increase using discretion and reduce the specialization degree. According to the complementary between the specialization and communication, the impact of coordination efficiency's improvement—the improvement of communication efficiency, the decline of the importance of coordinating the knowledge and fixed communication cost—on the enterprise's organization structure is uncertain. Using this conclusion, this chapter provides the economic explanation based on the distributed knowledge to historical change of firm organization structure and some new change in enterprise's work organization form. Chapter six "The Entrepreneur's Choice"studies the enterprise's authority arrangement from the point of efficiency view of utilizing and coordinating the distributed knowledge, and points out that the individual with more important distributed knowledge should become the entrepreneur. From the point of view of utilizing the knowledge, this authority arrangement can utilizing the entrepreneur's important knowledge best, and can utilizing other one's knowledge in the firm base on entrepreneur's system knowledge, can reduce the agency cost which brought by utilizing other's knowledge in the enterprise. From the point of view of coordinating the knowledge, the one with more important distributed knowledge be granted the authority not only can increase the efficiency of ex ante coordination, but also can increase ex post coordination efficiency through...