The globally spreading privatisation wave that occurred in the 1990s deeply changed the structure of economic institutions worldwide. This turmoil overturned not only economic institutions, but shared cultural and societal institutions as well. This book is the result of an investigation into the history of the privatisation of the steel industry in Italy, completed between 1994 and 1995. It explores the history of the Italian steel industry by looking at the interplay of local intertwined interests, political relations, and ideological formations that characterised an idiosyncratic hegemonic historical bloc. Rather than stigmatising this pattern as the legacy of a dysfunctional provincialism, the authors mobilise Gramsci's theory of hegemony to explain how the Italian privatisation process unfolded to accommodate economic pressures, political interests, and ideological constraints of a hegemonic social group, or aggregation of social groups. Thus, in reconstructing the privatisation of Italian steel, this book proposes a hegemony theory of privatisation and, more generally, describes a model that explains how political and cultural dynamics give rise to idiosyncratic local variations in globally spreading policies. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of business history, economics, sociology, and political science.

This book addresses possible applications of computer simulation to theory building in management and organizational theory. The key hypothesis is that modelling and computer simulation provide an environment to develop, test and articulate theoretical propositions. In general, computer simulation provides an experimental environment where researchers are able to play with symbolic representations of phenomena by modifying the model's structure and activating or deactivating model's parameters. This environment allows to both generating hypotheses to ex post explain observed phenomena or to ex ante generate distributions of unrealized events thereby envisioning areas for further empirical investigations. Under a methodological perspective, the volume investigates logics and techniques to design a research strategy grounded on computer simulation. In particular, the articles in the book concentrate on two different techniques, and philosophies, to set up a simulation study: System Dynamics, which is grounded on differential equations and feedback theory, and agent-based modeling. The book describes how computer simulation helps to look into research issues typical to strategic management and organizational theory. In this respect, such themes as firms' diversification strategies, competitive strategy, rivalry and the impact of role dynamics on organizational performances are explored through the lenses of computer simulation models.

This book explores the relationship between philosophy and business ethics. Academics and practitioners often muse about the ethical and moral aspect of management and business actions, but these studies can lack a deeper philosophical grounding. Contributors to this volume challenge this gap by applying different philosophical paradigms and theories to business management issues. The territory covered by the contributions collected in this book spans from the foundations of business management literature itself, to the role of philosophy in new business models and technology; from the way philosophical theory can explain - and encourage - ethical firm behaviour, to the political stance that an organization takes. Contributors take a holistic approach to business and management, bringing together real-world examples and rich academic theory, creating an interdisciplinary volume, with international authors. Covering important topics such as corporate social responsibility, sustainability, leadership, and stakeholder relations, this book will be of interest to academics working in the field of business ethics, philosophy and management studies.

This book addresses possible applications of computer simulation to theory building in management and organizational theory. The key hypothesis is that modelling and computer simulation provide an environment to develop, test and articulate theoretical propositions. In general, computer simulation provides an experimental environment where researchers are able to play with symbolic representations of phenomena by modifying the model's structure and activating or deactivating model's parameters. This environment allows to both generating hypotheses to ex post explain observed phenomena or to ex ante generate distributions of unrealized events thereby envisioning areas for further empirical investigations.

Under a methodological perspective, the volume investigates logics and techniques to design a research strategy grounded on computer simulation. In particular, the articles in the book concentrate on two different techniques, and philosophies, to set up a simulation study: System Dynamics, which is grounded on differential equations and feedback theory, and agent-based modeling. The book describes how computer simulation helps to look into research issues typical to strategic management and organizational theory. In this respect, such themes as firms' diversification strategies, competitive strategy, rivalry and the impact of role dynamics on organizational performances are explored through the lenses of computer simulation models.

This book explores the relationship between philosophy and business ethics. Academics and practitioners often muse about the ethical and moral aspect of management and business actions, but these studies can lack a deeper philosophical grounding. Contributors to this volume challenge this gap by applying different philosophical paradigms and theories to business management issues. The territory covered by the contributions collected in this book spans from the foundations of business management literature itself, to the role of philosophy in new business models and technology; from the way philosophical theory can explain – and encourage – ethical firm behaviour, to the political stance that an organization takes. Contributors take a holistic approach to business and management, bringing together real-world examples and rich academic theory, creating an interdisciplinary volume, with international authors.   Covering important topics such as corporate social responsibility, sustainability, leadership, and stakeholder relations, this book will be of interest to academics working in the field of business ethics, philosophy and management studies.