ABSTRACT
This book has used economics to explain and interpret what organisations do. Taking present institutions as given, we have concentrated on the varying objectives of organisations and on how they can pursue those objectives more efficiently. Wider social issues have hardly been considered. But we live in a society of complex and often increasing interdependence, a society where organisations can greatly damage each other and the community, sometimes glaringly but often subtly, cumulatively and even unawares. What should organisations do about these external effects? What changes in existing organisations are needed in response to the fundamental social problems faced by Western societies? What sort of new organisations may be needed?
