The evergreen debate over government's involvement in business continues in earnest. Participants straddle all stakeholder groups, from the state itself to the private sector to the public at large. Add to that debate increasing globalisation, and now de-globalisation, and the advent of technological advances. Criticism is often levelled at a government that is slow to act or one that belatedly introduces damning regulations. Many governments are already saddled with demands spanning mega infrastructural development to bulging fiscal deficits to evening out growth across the population. The politics of the day are however synonymous with short-termism. The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the bailout burden even more. The author attempts to provide a fair assessment of the potentially complementary roles that the public and private sectors can play in a fast-changing global economy, amidst the shifting expectations of society.Related Link(s)

Examining the nexus of government and business in some of the world's most prominent industrial nations, the author explores the strategies adopted by business to influence governmental acdtions and analyzes the public policies that bind business to the state.

Business is one of the major power centres in modern society. The state seeks to check and channel that power so as to serve broader public policy objectives. However, if the way in which business is governed is ineffective or over burdensome, it may become more difficult to achieve desired goals such as economic growth or higher levels of employment. In a period of international economic crisis, the study of how business and government relate to each other in different countries isof more central importance than ever.These relationships have been studied from a number of different disciplinary perspectives - business studies, economics, economic history, law, and political science - and all of these are represented in this handbook. The first part of the book provides an introduction to the ways in which five different disciplines have approached the study of business and government. The second section, on the firm and the state, looks at how these entities interact in different settings, emphasising suchphenomena as the global firm and varieties of capitalism. The third section examines how business interacts with government in different parts of the world, including the United States, the EU, China, Japan and South America. The fourth section reviews changing patterns of market governance through aunifying theme of the role of regulation. Business-government relations can play out in divergent ways in different policy and the fifth section examines the contrasts between different key arenas such as competition policy, trade policy, training policy and environmental policy.The volume provides an authoritative overview with chapters by leading authorities on the current state of knowledge of business-government relations, but also points to ways in which this work might be developed in the future, e.g., through a political theory of the firm.

This book offers an outlook on relations in the 21st century between national governments and multinational companies.

Businesses have developed an increasingly sophisticated appreciation of the policy process, as well as an ability to develop complex strategies to influence it, over the last 30 years. This volume reviews current debates on the role of business in politics and it assesses emerging methodological approaches to its study.

A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.

Nobel-Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman argues that business leaders need to understand the differences between economic policy on the national and international scale and business strategy on the organizational scale. Economists deal with the closed system of a national economy, whereas executives live in the open-system world of business. Moreover, economists know that an economy must be run on the basis of general principles, but businesspeople are forever in search of the particular brilliant strategy. Krugman's article serves to elucidate the world of economics for businesspeople who are so close to it and yet are continually frustrated by what they see. Since 1922, Harvard Business Review has been a leading source of breakthrough management ideas-many of which still speak to and influence us today. The Harvard Business Review Classics series now offers readers the opportunity to make these seminal pieces a part of your permanent management library. Each highly readable volume contains a groundbreaking idea that continues to shape best practices and inspire countless managers around the world-and will have a direct impact on you today and for years to come.

This book endeavors to take the conceptualization of the relationship between business, government and development in African countries to a new level. In the twenty-first century, the interests and operations of government and business inevitably intersect all over the African continent. No government, federal or state, can afford to ignore the needs of business. But what are these needs, how does business express its needs to government and what institutions organize government-business relations in African countries? How should government regulate business, or should it choose to let the markets rule? Government and Business Relations in Africa brings together many of sub-Saharan African leading scholars to address these critical questions. Business and Government Relations in Africa examines the key players in the game—federal and state governments and business groups—and the processes that govern the relationships between them. It looks at the regulatory regimes that have an impact on business and provides a number of case studies of the relationships between government and economic development around the African continent, highlighting different processes and practices. It shows the latest state of knowledge on the topic and will be of interest both to students at an advanced level, academics and reflective practitioners. It addresses the topics with regard to business-government relations and will be of interest to researchers, academics, policymakers, and students in the fields of African politics, comparative politics, public policy, business and politics, sustainable development and sustainability, economic development, and managerial economics.

Read the Intro Chapter (PDF) View the Ayn Rand Appendix View an interview with author Robert L. Bradley, Jr. at Reason.com Capitalism took the blame for Enron although the company was anything but a free-market enterprise, and company architect was hardly a principled capitalist. On the contrary, Enron was a politically dependent company and, in the end, a grotesque outcome of America's mixed economy. That is the central finding of Robert L. Bradley's "Capitalism at Work": The blame for Enron rests squarely with "political capitalism"--a system in which business firms routinely obtain government intervention to further their own interests at the expense of consumers, taxpayers, and competitors. Although Ken Lay professed allegiance to free markets, he was in fact a consumate politician. Only by manipulating the levers of government was he able to transform Enron from a $3 billion natural gas company to a $100 billion chimera, one that went in a matter of months from seventh place on Fortune's 500 list to bankruptcy. But "Capitalism at Work" goes beyond unmasking Enron's sophisticated foray into political capitalism. Employing the timeless insights of Adam Smith, Samuel Smiles, and Ayn Rand, among others, Bradley shows how fashionable anti-capitalist doctrines set the stage for the ultimate business debacle. Those errant theories, like Enron itself, elevated form over substance, ignored legitimate criticism, and bypassed midcourse correction. Political capitali

The debate over how far governments should intervene in economies in order to promote economic growth, a debate which from the 1980s seemed settled in favour of the neo-liberal, non-interventionist consensus, has taken on new vigour since the financial crisis of 2008 and after. Some countries, most of them in industrialised Asia, have survived the crisis, and secured equitable economic growth, by adopting a developmental state model, whereby governments have intervened in their economies, often through explicit support for individual companies. This book explores debates about government intervention, assesses interventionist policies, including industrial and innovation policies, and examines in particular the key institutions which play a crucial role in implementing government policies and in building the bridge between the state and the private sector. The countries covered include China, India, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan, together with representative countries from Europe and Latin America.