Globalization, Organization and the Ownership of Firms (2012)

Firms are continually striving to improve efficiency in response to the forces of globalization. Recent research has shown that firms' organization, vertical specialization, management practices and ownership play an important role in determining performance. While recent work has made great strides towards understanding these phenomena, many questions still remain. In particular, we have a rather limited understanding of the exact features of cross-border organization and ownership that are conducive to high productivity. In an effort to advance research in this area, the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN) organized an international two-day conference on Globalization, Organization and the Ownership of Firms on June 14‒15, 2012. The conference brought together top researchers working on both theoretical and empirical aspects of these issues.