The Ownership of Enterprise [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: farm marketing cooperatives, cooperative corporation statutes, nonprofit savings banks, United States, New York City, Ocean Spray (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

In this remarkable book, Henry Hansmann asks why investor ownership is the dominant but by no means universal form of ownership. His answers provide a masterly demonstration of comparative organizational analysis...A brief review cannot do full justice to the richness, power, and range of Hansmann's analysis. Scattered throughout are little gems of insight, such as his explanations for why there is not cooperative ownership of utilities in urban areas as there is in many rural areas...for why country clubs are member-owned rather than investor-owned...and for why charities and listener-supported public radio stations are run on a non-profit basis...[This book] is a substantial contribution to organizational sociology. -- William Finlay "Contemporary Sociology"

Review

In this book Hansmann considers a wide range of different kinds of organizations that are "owned" in different ways...This is a book that both economists, and scholars of organizations more broadly, should find interesting, informative, and provocative. I found it first-rate.
--R. R. Nelson (Journal of Economics )

[A] fascinating study [which] offer[s] useful insights into why organisations adopt different ownership and control structures...Three broad categories of firms are analysed- producer-owned, customer-owned and non-profit and mutual firms. A series of historical case studies of the development of different industries in which these ownership structures are common, including those of banking and insurance, are then presented.
--Ruben Lee (London Financial News )

In this remarkable book, Henry Hansmann asks why investor ownership is the dominant but by no means universal form of ownership. His answers provide a masterly demonstration of comparative organizational analysis...A brief review cannot do full justice to the richness, power, and range of Hansmann's analysis. Scattered throughout are little gems of insight, such as his explanations for why there is not cooperative ownership of utilities in urban areas as there is in many rural areas...for why country clubs are member-owned rather than investor-owned...and for why charities and listener-supported public radio stations are run on a non-profit basis...[This book] is a substantial contribution to organizational sociology.
--William Finlay (Contemporary Sociology ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Belknap Press; illustrated edition edition (November 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674649702
• ISBN-13: 978-0674649705
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,706,036 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Toward a comprehensive classification of human organizations, April 16, 2000

By	Chia-yen Yang (Taiwan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ownership of Enterprise (Paperback)

Based on property right arrangements, Henry Hansmann proposed in his 1996 book an organizational classification covering most of organizations under the system of private property. With the postulate of cost minimization, he demonstrates convincingly how various kinds of organizations can be placed into the analytical framework of economics. In my opinion, this organizational theory needs only some slight extension to become a comprehensive one that includes all organizations under the private property system. With this extended viewpoint, all seemingly complicated issues of organizations can be placed into a unified and systematic framework of analysis. This is the power and beauty of his organizational theory. My opinion is that Henry Hansmann has made path-breaking contribution in the study of this filed, following R. Coase, A. Alchian, and S. Cheung.