Comment on "Decoupling and the Cultures of Global Finance"

This article presents the author's comments about the article "Decoupling and the Cultures of Global Finance," by Brandon H. Lee and Michael Lounsbury, previously published in the journal "International Studies of Management & Organization." In contrast to the emphasis put by most of institutional research on isomorphism and convergence, Lee and Lounsbury focus on variation in practices. In their article, Lee and Lounsbury look at national finance institutions, a field notorious for its global culture. They suggest that a closer examination of practices shows that while some countries exhibit a substantive modern financial culture, others are only ceremoniously modern. Global finance institutions put nation-states under the pressure to adopt a modern financial culture, embodied in capitalist economy, stock markets, and the like. Lee and Lounsbury report data on 64 nation-states, indicating the existence of two groups. The first group includes 22 countries with active stock and stock option exchanges, as well as with financial expertise, as exhibited by internationally oriented financial associations