Policy Issues for Business

Vivek Suneja is a Lecturer at the Open University Business School

`This is an extremely helpful and imaginative set of readings which MBA and other business students will find very useful. The Editor makes a compelling case for business students to be aware of the economic and social policy environment in which modern business has to operate. It distinguishes itself from other Readers by considering policy environment questions from different theoretical perspectives. Policy Issues for Business will therefore be an important addition to course teaching in this area'- Ajit Singh, University of Cambridge

Policy Issues for Business is an invaluable tool for students taking courses in strategy, business policy and management. The Reader covers a wide domain, including relevant issues in economics and technology. The readings are neatly divided into eight sections, with a student's introduction to each. The various sections look at the role of policy and the relationship between theory and policy, issues around competition, science technology and innovation policy, international trade and investment policy, regional policy and environmental policy.

Policy Issues for Business will be required reading for undergraduate as well as MBA courses on business policy, technology and innovation management, change management and strategy.

This text is a course Reader, in a series of three (alongside Decision Making for Business, and Strategy for Business), which make up the main teaching texts of The Open University undergraduate course Business Behaviour in a Changing World (B300).

This Reader is an invaluable tool for students taking courses in strategy, business policy and management. It covers a wide domain, including relevant issues in economics and technology. It will be required reading for undergraduate as well as MBA courses on business policy, technology and innovation management, change management and strategy. This is a course reader for The Open University undergraduate course Business Behaviour in a Changing World (B300).

SECTION ONE: POLICY: SIGNIFICANCE AND RATIONALE
The Insider - Joseph Stiglitz
What I Learnt at the World Economic Crisis
Stiglitz versus the IMF - Rudi Dornbusch
Another View
Why Do We Need Policy? - Robert Heilbroner and Lester Thurrow
Culture, Social Norms and Economics - Mark Casson
Some Implications for Policy
SECTION TWO: COMPETITION POLICY
Competition Policy - David Young and Stan Metcalfe
International Competition Policy - Alan O Sykes
SECTION THREE: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION POLICY
Science Policy and Technology Policy - J S Metcalfe
National System of Innovation - Chris Freeman
The Competitive Advantage of Nations - Michael E Porter
Imperfect Markets and Fallible Governments - Sanjaya Lall
The Role of the State in Industrial Development
SECTION FOUR: INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INVESTMENT POLICY
Making Sense of the Competitiveness Debate - Paul R Krugman
Themes in Trade and Industrialization - Deepak Nayyar
A Business Analytic Approach to Governments and Globalization - John H Dunning
Foreign Direct Investment and the Challenge of Development - World Investment Report
Information Technology and Global Capitalism - Manuel Castells
SECTION FIVE: REGIONAL POLICY
Towards a Competence Theory of the Region - Clive Lawson
Policies for the Development of Knowledge-Intensive Local Production Systems - Fiorenza Belussi
SECTION SIX: ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
Sustainable Development - Giles Atkinson