Inside the Black Box

Corporate Laws and Theories

Bibliographic Data

ID12282916
AuthorsAlice Belcher (Dundee University, UK, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume12
Issue3
Pages359-376
Publication date2003-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Legal Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0964-6639 • E-ISSN: 1461-7390
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/09646639030123004
OpenAlexW2113047486
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited23

This article argues, first, that new theoretical ways of thinking about companies are coming to the fore and, second, that these new ways of thinking are finding their way into some aspects of company law and regulation. Snider's device of tracking the emergence of new ideas as `journey from academic journal to economic policy to law' is employed in support of the article's main argument. In particular, it is submitted that the idea of the firm as a `nexus of contracts' is being replaced by the idea of the firm as a `behavioural entity'. While management and economics theorists have gone `inside the black box' in order to ask different questions and produce better theories, the law has arrived there via a much more pragmatic route. However, recent developments in two areas of company law and regulation, corporate criminal responsibility in the UK and Australia and corporate governance in the UK, can be seen in terms of a move away from a focus on the individual decision maker and towards the concept of corporate culture

Argument (complex analysis · Black box · Corporate governance · Corporate law · Economics · Law and economics · Management · Nexus (standard · Order (exchange · Political science · Sociology · Corporate Law and Human Rights · Law · Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems · Regulation and Compliance Studies