National business systems research: Progress and prospects

The paper provides an overview of the development of the national business systems approach to the study of organizations. The first section outlines the approach taken to understanding national business systems and their relationship to organizations. It notes the creative tension which existed within the approach between ideal types of national systems and specific empirical studies which were more actor centred and concerned with change and process in institutions and organizations. The second section focuses on a series of concepts and debates which emerged from the growing interdisciplinary nature of the debate on comparative capitalisms. These debates have shifted the focus of discussion away from typologies and more towards issues of change and process and the interaction of national contexts and international processes. The third section illustrates this new focus through analysing the contribution of the national business systems approach to the study of multinationals and international institutions. It argues that the national business systems approach is central to understanding the interaction between organizations, national contexts and international flows of capital, labour, technology and knowledge and international rule systems for coordinating these flows.