The Oxford Handbook of Business Groups

Business groups - large, diversified, often family-controlled organizations with pyramidal ownership structure, such as the Japanese zaibatsu, the Korean chaebol and the grupos economicos in Latin America - have played a significant role in national economic growth, especially in emerging economies. Earlier variants can also be found in the trading companies, often set up in Britain, which operated in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Business groups are often criticized as premodern forms of economic organization, and occasionally as symptomatic of corrupt 'crony capitalism', but many have shown remarkable resilience, navigating and adjusting to economic and political turbulence, international competition, and technological change. This Handbook provides a comprehensive analysis of business groups around the world. It examines the adaptive and competitive capabilities of business groups, and their evolutionary dynamics. 16 individual country chapters deal with business groups from Asia to Africa, the Middle East to Latin America, while overarching chapters consider the historical and theoretical context of business groups. With contributions from leading experts, The Oxford Handbook of business groups provides a comprehensive, empirically and theoretically rich guide for scholars and policy-makers.

1. Introduction, Asli M. Colpan, Takashi Hikino and James R. Lincoln
Part I: Overview
2. Foundations of business groups: Toward an integrated framework, Asli M. Colpan and Takashi Hikino
3. Business Groups in historical perspectives, Geoffrey Jones and Asli M. Colpan
4. Business groups in prewar Japan: Historical formation and legacy, Hideaki Miyajima and Shinya Kawamoto
Part II: National Experiences of Business Groups
Group 1: Asia
5. Business networks in post-war Japan: Whither the keiretsu?, James R. Lincoln and Masahiro Shimotani
6. Business groups in South Korea, Hicheon Kim
7. Business groups in Taiwan, Chi-Nien Chung and Ishtiaq P. Mahmood
8. Business groups in China, Keun Lee and Young Sam Kang
9. Business groups in Thailand, Akira Suehiro and Natenapha Wailerdsak
10. Business groups in Singapore, Lai Si Tsui-Auch and Toru Yoshikawa
11. Business groups in India, Jayati Sarkar
Group 2: Latin America
12. Business groups in Argentina, Eduardo Fracchia, Luiz Mesquita and Juan Quiroga
13. Business groups in Brazil, Dante M. Aldrighi and Fernando Postali
14. Business groups in Chile, Fernando Lefort
15. Business groups in Mexico, Taeko Hoshino
15. Business Groups in Chile, Fernando Lefort
Group 3: Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa
16. Business groups in Israel, Konstantin Kosenko and Yishay P. Yafeh
17. Business groups in Turkey, Asli M. Colpan
18. Business groups in Russia, Sergei Guriev
19. Business groups in South Africa, Andrea Goldstein
Part III: Economic, Socio-Political, and Managerial Underpinnings of Business Groups
20. Business groups in emerging markets: Paragons or parasites?, Tarun Khanna and Yisyah Yafeh
21. The Riddle of the great pyramids, Randall Morck
22. Economic institutions and the boundaries of business groups, Richard Langlois
23. Business groups and the state: The politics of expansion, restructuring and collapse, Ben Ross Schneider
24. Corporate governance of business groups, Brian Boyd and Robert E. Hoskisson
25. The kin and the professional top leadership in business groups, Behlul Usdiken
26. Diversification strategy and business groups, Andrew Delios and Xufei Ma
27. Capability building in business groups, Mauro Guillen
28. Technological innovation and business groups, Mike Hobday and Asli M. Colpan