IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/polsoc/v34y2006i4p543-570.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Victim of Its Own Success: Internationalization, Neoliberalism, and Organizational Involution at the Business Council of Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen Bell

    (School of Political Science and International Studies, University of Queensland, Australia, stephen.bell@uq.edu.au)

Abstract

The focus of this article is on the Business Council of Australia (BCA), an association of the CEOs of the 100 or so largest companies operating in Australia. Since its inception the BCA has been an influential supporter of largely successful efforts to neoliberalize and internationalize the Australian economy. Running in parallel with these developments, however, the BCA has moved from being a “somewhat strong†to a relatively weak policy organization. This article argues these two trends are causally related. Neoliberal-inspired economic restructuring and economic internationalization have weakened the “logic of membership†and the “logic of influence†of the BCA, leading to a process of organizational involution. Furthermore, potential offsets to what I describe as the organizational predations of neoliberalism and internationalization—especially via a willingness or capacity to forge supportive or mutualistic relations with the state—have not been realized.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Bell, 2006. "A Victim of Its Own Success: Internationalization, Neoliberalism, and Organizational Involution at the Business Council of Australia," Politics & Society, , vol. 34(4), pages 543-570, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:polsoc:v:34:y:2006:i:4:p:543-570
    DOI: 10.1177/0032329206293643
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0032329206293643
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0032329206293643?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Doner, Richard F. & Schneider, Ben Ross, 2000. "Business Associations and Economic Development: Why Some Associations Contribute More Than Others," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(3), pages 261-288, November.
    2. Coleman, William & Grant, Wyn, 1984. "Business Associations and Public Policy: a Comparison of Organisational Development in Britain and Canada," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(3), pages 209-235, August.
    3. Doner Richard F. & Schneider Ben Ross, 2000. "Business Associations and Economic Development: Why Some Associations Contribute More Than Others," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 2(3), pages 1-29, December.
    4. Vogel, David, 1987. "Political Science and the Study of Corporate Power: A Dissent from the New Conventional Wisdom," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(4), pages 385-408, October.
    5. Streeck, Wolfgang, 1983. "Between Pluralism and Corporatism German Business Associations and the State," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(3), pages 265-283, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. José Carlos Marques, 2017. "Industry Business Associations: Self-Interested or Socially Conscious?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(4), pages 733-751, July.
    2. Papaioannou, Theo & Watkins, Andrew & Mugwagwa, Julius & Kale, Dinar, 2016. "To Lobby or to Partner? Investigating the Shifting Political Strategies of Biopharmaceutical Industry Associations in Innovation Systems of South Africa and India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 66-79.
    3. Pyle, William, 2006. "Resolutions, recoveries and relationships: The evolution of payment disputes in Central and Eastern Europe," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 317-337, June.
    4. Oznur Ozdamar & Eleftherios Giovanis & Sahizer Samuk, 2020. "State business relations and the dynamics of job flows in Egypt and Turkey," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(4), pages 519-558, December.
    5. Shao, Yan & Sun, Lingxia, 2021. "Entrepreneurs’ social capital and venture capital financing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 499-512.
    6. Jeffrey B. Nugent & Grigor. Sukiassyan, 2009. "Alternative Strategies For Firms In Oppressive And Corrupt States: Informality Or Formality Via Business Associations?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 27(4), pages 423-439, October.
    7. Owolabi, Oluwarotimi & Pal, Sarmistha, 2011. "The Value of Business Networks in Emerging Economies: An Analysis of Firms' External Financing Opportunities," IZA Discussion Papers 5738, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Abdel-Latif Abla & Schmitz Hubert, 2010. "Growth Alliances: Insights from Egypt," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(4), pages 1-29, December.
    9. Kazun, Anton (Казун, Антон) & Yakovlev, Andrei (Яковлев, Андрей), 2015. "Community of Attorneys and the Quality of Law Enforcement in Russia [Адвокатское Сообщество И Качество Правоприменения В России]," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 5, pages 7-37.
    10. Neba Bhalla & Rakesh Kumar Sharma & Inderjit Kaur, 2023. "Effect of Goods and Service Tax System on Business Performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440231, June.
    11. Scandura, Alessandra & Bolzani, Daniela, 2020. "The Role of Collaboration Networks for Innovation in Immigrant-Owned New Technology-Based Firms," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 202004, University of Turin.
    12. Theodore Kahn & Zack Zimbalist, 2022. "Public investment versus government consumption: how FDI shocks shape the composition of subnational spending in Mexico," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 502-537, March.
    13. repec:zbw:bofitp:2007_018 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Salo Coslovsky, 2013. "Enforcing Food Quality and Safety Standards in Brazil," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 649(1), pages 122-138, September.
    15. Yakovlev, Andrei & Freinkman, Lev & Zolotov, Anton, 2016. "Domestic and external factors in the development of Russia's economic think tanks sector," BOFIT Policy Briefs 3/2016, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    16. Brimble, Peter & Doner, Richard F., 2007. "University-Industry Linkages and Economic Development: The Case of Thailand," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1021-1036, June.
    17. Dennis Coates & Jac Heckelman & Bonnie Wilson, 2011. "Special-interest groups and growth," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 439-457, June.
    18. William Pyle, 2007. "Organized Business, Political Regimes and Property Rights across the Russian Federation," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0703, Middlebury College, Department of Economics.
    19. Coates, Dennis & Heckelman, Jac C. & Wilson, Bonnie, 2010. "The political economy of investment: Sclerotic effects from interest groups," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 208-221, June.
    20. Calì, Massimiliano & Sen, Kunal, 2011. "Do Effective State Business Relations Matter for Economic Growth? Evidence from Indian States," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 1542-1557, September.
    21. Anton P. Kazun & Andrei A. Yakovlev, 2014. "Who Demands Collective Action In An Imperfect Institutional Environment? A Case-Study Of The Professional Community Of Attorneys In Russia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 54/SOC/2014, National Research University Higher School of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:polsoc:v:34:y:2006:i:4:p:543-570. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.