ABSTRACT
Theoretically and empirically this chapter attempts a micro based approach to institutional economics, considering corporations as the key agents in analysis of the economy. This chapter summarizes the perspective that was applied to the study of business corporations in the Norwegian Power Study in the 1970s. Corporations and their management may have different motives that ail tend to corporate growth and intercorporate coordination. Market governance is to some extent replaced by hierarchical governance and control within corporations. Even in a market-based economy, the governance of business may be considered as some sort of compromise between the two model extremes. Besides, the liberalization of markets has probably played a role in the sense that larger strategic business corporations have been considered as useful in strengthening the international competitiveness of Norway's business. International competitive forces may have caused domestic production to become more concentrated.
