Trust is increasingly recognized as a crucial aspect of successful economic relationships, albeit a difficult one to define, and Mark Casson has been at the forefront of recent research in this area.
Mark Casson pioneered the use of transaction cost theory to explain the boundaries of the multinational firm. In The Organization of International Business, he extends the internalization theory of the firm to encompass, on the one hand, inter-firm networking and, on the other, the internal organization and managerial structure of the firm. The key innovation is the distinction between information cost - the cost of gathering information on the assumption that it is true - and transaction cost - the cost of ensuring that the information actually is true. This innovation facilitates a synthesis of transaction cost analysis and organizational behaviour. It also provides new insights into the dynamics of internationalization, and the role of learning in the growth of the firm.
The Organization of International Business is a major extension of international business theory which synthesizes transaction cost analysis and organizational behaviour. Although it focuses on international business and multinational enterprises, the analysis can be applied to a wide variety of business units. Together with its companion volume, Entrepreneurship and Business Culture, this topical and wide-ranging book offers a definitive analysis of the importance of trust in economic life as well as the related concepts of networking, consultation and empowerment.
