Edward Elgar Publishing A Research Agenda for Corporations (Elgar Research Agendas)

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. This exciting Research Agenda offers a multi-disciplinary and historically informed programme for the further investigation of the global political economy of the corporate sector. It tackles the question, can and should the corporation be reformed? Christopher May develops a range of intersecting areas for research while also offering an account of the possibilities for the reform of the global corporation. Based on an understanding of the history of corporations, the author provides key insights into their management and political agency as well as the operation of the global corporate supply chain. Drawing links between a range of disciplines and perspectives on business enterprises, May calls for a more nuanced understanding of the global corporate sector in order to better comprehend the contours of the contemporary global capitalist system. This Research Agenda will be a valuable resource for students and academics of politics, economics, sociology and law, who are curious to explore the corporation in relation to their area of study. Review 'May persuasively makes the case for scholars to take a more holistic approach to research on corporations. He rightly argues that too many scholars take a narrow disciplinary view, while others downplay or ignore corporations in their analysis. One theme throughout is how corporate leaders govern-within the organization itself and throughout global supply chains with significant consequences for society. This short yet comprehensive book covers the key issues and questions that scholars need to address to explain our current era.' --Virginia Haufler, University of Maryland, College Park, US 'Firms and corporations have been out of fashion in recent decades. Christopher May's deeply researched and carefully constructed historical-social analysis of the corporation reminds us just why this is shortsighted. It is cross disciplinary in the best sense - reaching across an impressive mix of, often contradictory, source materials to make sense of how the corporation operates from the local to the global and ultimately challenging us: what should be done to reform one of the key actors in world politics?' --Stuart Shields, University of Manchester, UK About the Author Christopher May, Emeritus Professor of Political Economy, Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion, Lancaster University, UK