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Managerial Discretion, Organization Form, and the Multi-division Hypothesis

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The Corporate Economy

Abstract

Implicit in my previous research on the sources and consequences of managerial discretion [43], [46] has been the assumption that the firm is organized along the lines of what I will refer to here as the ‘unitary form’. Although the possibility of divisionalization was recognized and some of the organizational effects of divisionalization were briefly discussed ([43], pp. 120, 124, 160–1), these were left mainly undeveloped.

Research on this paper was supported in part by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Brookings Institution. The views expressed are my own. This paper is based on research that is developed more extensively in [49]. Helpful comments from David Conrath, Dale Henderson, Louis Pondy, Richard Posner, Sidney Winter, Jr, and Adrian Wood are gratefully acknowledged. More generally, the discussion of these issues by the participants at the September 1969 Glen Cove Conference, where the paper was first presented, is appreciated.

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Authors
  1. Oliver E. Williamson
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Editor information

Robin Marris Adrian Wood

Copyright information

© 1971 The President and Fellow of Harvard College

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Williamson, O.E. (1971). Managerial Discretion, Organization Form, and the Multi-division Hypothesis. In: Marris, R., Wood, A. (eds) The Corporate Economy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-01110-0_11

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