Cracks in the Crystal Ball
Economic forecasters tend to say the same thing at the same time, but they rarely get it right.
The Failures of Economic Forecasting
It is a conventional joke that economic forecasters always disagree, and that there are as many different opinions about the future of ...
ESRC lecture 1994 – Is There a Competitive Advantage of Nations?
Competitive advantage is based, not on doing what others already do well, but on doing what others cannot do as well. Not only is this true for individuals and for firms, but for countries as well.
Foundations of Corporate Success – 1993
How Business Strategies Add Value. What distinguishes the successful firm is the fundamental question in business strategy, and one the...
The Structure of Strategy (Business Strategy Review 1993)
"The Structure of Strategy" is a summary of parts of my book, "The Foundations of Corporate Success", and was reprinted in "The Business of Economics"
Adding Value: April 1993
There are four perspectives on corporate performance and four ways of measuring capital costs. But in the long run, all these ways of measuring financial performance are equivalent. The different vantage points differ only in their timing.
The Economics of Mutuality
Much business is organized by mutual firms. My purpose here is to present a general economic framework for understanding the objectives of such businesses, and to identify some of the distinctive contributions which mutual organizations make, and the distinctive problems which they face.
The British Tax System – (5th edition) 1990
How does PAYE work? What exactly is VAT? How does social security legislation or inflation affect the tax system? Why do so few compani...
Economics and Business: 1990
Economics has never been more relevant to business problems. The two key groups of question of interest to businessmen - the internal organization of the firm and its relationship between its suppliers and customers, and the nature of strategic interactions between small groups of firms - are clearly on the agenda of modern economics in a manner which has not been true for most of the last century.