A Heterodox Theory of the Business Enterprise

Jo, Tae-Hee (2016): A Heterodox Theory of the Business Enterprise.

Abstract

The business enterprise directs and controls the social provisioning process. Enterprise decisions on price, investment, output and employment, in particular, directly affect the material basis of society as well as the material standard of living of working class households. The understanding the structure of and changes in the capitalist capitalists system thus requires a theory of the business enterprise that offers relevant and convincing explanations of business decisions and actions embedded in the wider social context. Such a theory must replace the mainstream-neoclassical theory of the firm, which is not only theoretically incoherent but also practically irrelevant since it confines itself to the hypothetical market structure and individual optimizing behavior. With this rationale this chapter attempts to build a heterodox theory of the business enterprises incorporating contributions made by various theoretical traditions in heterodox economics.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Heterodox Microeconomics; Social Provisioning Process; Business Enterprise; Going Concern; Monetary Theory of Production; Effective Demand; Surplus Approach; Strategic Enterprise Decisions
• Subjects: B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 > B21 - Microeconomics; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B51 - Socialist ; Marxian ; Sraffian; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B52 - Institutional ; Evolutionary; D - Microeconomics > D2 - Production and Organizations > D21 - Firm Behavior: Theory

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