Capitalist Discipline - Arthur Wassenberg

. .

Résumé :
This book is not just about corporate strategies and stratagems: it is about the 'Faustian' pact between real and financial powers, governed by the rules of 'minimizing the costs to oneself of imposing losses upon others'. It is more than about limited rationality and irrationality: it is about unlimited rationalisations and limited accountability.

Biographie:
Arthur Wassenberg is currently Emeritus visiting Professor in International Negotiations at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. His previous positions include working for the strategic network-management chair as Associate Professor at the Erasmus University/Rotterdam School of Management.

Sommaire:
PART I: THE QUEST FOR DISCIPLINE 1. When Prophesies of Coordination Fail 2. Strategy Traps 3. When Rationalities Clash 4. A Multi-level Theatre: the Inquiry 5. Organizing Questions 6. Recapitulation and Preview PART II: REVISITED:?A NEW INDUSTRIAL STATE 7.?Introduction: On Errant Spirits 8.?Old versus New Discipline 9.?The Escapist Itenary 10.?The Rhetorics of 'Common' Markets 11.?Some Conclusions PART III: THE MASKS OF RATIONALITY 12.?Corporate Rationality: the Looking Glass-self 13.?Theories of Choice and Coordination: a Broken Mirror 14.?Rational Choice: Economizing on Transactions 15.?Strategic Choice: Economizing on Interactions 16.?Towards a New Prism 17.?Summarizing, by Looking Ahead PART IV: COHABITATION 18.?Introduction 19.?The Protocols 20.?The Front Stage 21.?The Back-stage 22.?Cohabitation 23.?Conclusion PART V: THE FRAMING OF DISCIPLINE 24.?Introduction 25.?The Old Discipline 26.?The Old Paradigm 27.?On the Descent of Concerted Action 28.?Reconsidering the Requisites of Concerted Action 29.?The Lures of Simplification 30.?Versus the Fragility of Robustness 31.?The New Discipline 32.?The New Paradigm 33.?Conclusion PART VI: CONDITIONS: THE ANATOMY OF NEGOTIATION POWER 34.?Introduction 35.?Negotiating 36.?The spectrum of Negotiation 37.?Refining the Model? 38. Discussion 39.?Recapitulation: the Science and Art of Negotiation PART VII: INTELLIGENE: HOUDINI VERSUS ULYSSES 40. Introduction 41.?Reconsidering Industrial Politics 42.?Strategic Choice: Houdini versus Ulysses 43.?Discipline 44.?Regimes and Games: from Accommodation to Guerilla 45.?Recapitulation PART VIII: COMMITMENTS: THE ESSENCE OF DISCIPLINE 46.?Introduction 47.?When Structure Follows Volatility 48.?Volatility Follows Versatility 49.?Versatility: a Primer on Strategic Responsiveness 50.?Diplomacy: Back to Basics 51.?Recapitulation PART IX: CONSEQUENCES: ON THE DRIFT OF DISCIPLINE 52.?Enters Faust 53.?The Plot: the Recycling of Discipline 54.?The Twist: on the Calculus of Complicity 55.?Risk, Regret and 'Loyalty' 56.?Conclusion: the Conquest of Discipline