The Co-operative Game Theory of the Firm

This highly original book challenges the orthodox economic theory of the firm as a mysterious "black box" whose internal design is unknown and irrelevant and which operates solely to maximize shareholder profit. Instead, the author proposes a new "cooperative game theory," in which the firm is a coalition of shareholders and employees, with its market behavior and internal distribution the result of a cooperative game (bargaining). Aoki tests his model against existing industrial structures, including the Anglo-American unionized firm, the German/Swedish co-determination firm, and the American non-union or Japanese firm.