Reform and Rescue: International Organizations and the Organization of Markets

Organizing and Reorganizing Markets is an edited volume that brings organization theory to the study of markets. The differences between markets and organizations are often exaggerated. Both are organized. Organizing exists in addition to other processes and phenomena that form markets: the mutual adaption among sellers and buyers as described in mainstream economics and the institutions described in institutional economics and economic sociology. Market organization can be analysed with the same type of theories used for analysing organization within formal organizations. Through the use of many empirical examples, the book demonstrates how this can be done. We argue that the way a certain market is organized can be understood as the (intermediate) result of previous organizing processes. We discuss such questions as ‘What drives market organizing and reorganizing processes? What makes various organizations intervene as market organizers? And how are the specific contents of market organization determined?’ The answers to these questions help us to analyse similarities and differences among organizing processes in formal organizations and those in markets. The arguments are illustrated by in-depth studies of many types of markets. The book is intended to open up markets as a field of study for scholars of organization. Although the chapters have different authors, they use and elaborate upon the same general theoretical framework. The book contributes to the issue of organization outside and among organizations where a fundamental concept is that of partial organization.