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An exploration of the role of transnational communities in relation to the governance of business and economic activity.

In the twenty-first century, global business regulation has come of age. In this article, we review the literature on globalization and business regulation from the angle of transnational governance, a recently evolving interdisciplinary field of research. Despite the multiplicity and plurality of regulatory platforms and products that have emerged over time, we identify common patterns of field structuration and parallel trajectories. We argue that a major trend, both in practice and in scholarly work, is a move away from an idealized convergence around a set of unified global rules; instead, our conceptualizations and our practices of transnational business regulation increasingly demonstrate a concern for the adaptability of transnational rules to resilient and resistant contextual specificities. Another important trend, both in practice and in scholarly fields, is a growing focus on the complex dynamics between rule making on the one hand and rule implementation and monitoring on the other.

Studies on societal path dependencies tend to focus on mechanisms that anchor and stabilize national trajectories while paying less attention to transnational interactions and multilevel governance. This paper explores processes of path transformation in societies that are presumed to have the characteristics of open systems. Two pairs of case studies are presented and compared. The first illustrates institutional change through collision, when a national path meets with another. The second describes the emergence of transnational institutional paths and the impact of that process on national institutions and their (potential) transformation. The results indicate that path transformation often stems from a gradual succession and combination of incremental steps and junctures - change is gradual but consequential. They also point to increasing co-evolutionary interaction between national path transformation and transnational path creation. This implies a need for analytical tools that are adapted to the analysis of multi-level, nested processes of institutionalization and de-institutionalization. The paper suggests that the concept of path generation allows for a better specification of the conditions for change in existing societal paths and for the emergence of new paths in the case of open systems than the concept of path dependency.

In institutional theory, it is a challenge to explain how rule-setting occurs in transnational contexts with high rule ambiguity and distributed agency. In this article, we address this problem by arguing that emergent and deliberate institutional strategies, though often treated as exclusive opposites, need to be considered in concert. This is demonstrated by analysing transnational law-making in the context of commercial and corporate law. Transnational law-making is thereby conceived as a process driven by the practical problem-solving and sense-making efforts of legal practitioners in large international law firms and international legal associations. Focal actors can exploit the results of this process to deliberately influence the development of law. A concept of two nested cycles of incidental and strategic law-making is employed to explain how dominant influences of common law become interwoven with influences from multiple other legal traditions that eventually trickle up. This article highlights the role of professionals as practice-based experts engaging in practical and political actions, the effects of which shape transnational rule-setting.

ABSTRACT While research on episodes of transnational activism has advanced substantially in recent years, our knowledge about how long-term trajectories of cross-border activism affect the formation of national social movements and their capacity to influence domestic institutional change is still limited. This paper addresses this gap by analyzing transnational mobilization around the political and economic rights of indigenous groups in Brazil. We show that early pathways of transnational mobilization generated a set of ideational, organizational and institutional outcomes that enabled previously marginalized actors to shape the directions of institutional change within the country at the time of the Brazilian democratic transition. We identify three initially uncoordinated trajectories of transnational mobilization taking place in the late 1960s and 1970s and show how they converged over time through two social mechanisms - institutional cross-referencing and social networking - to form an increasingly tightly knit inter-sectoral social movement that was capable of influencing institution-building during the period of the National Constitutional Assembly (1978-1988). We conclude with a discussion of the linkages between transnational activism and national social movement formation. RESUMEN Mientras la investigación de episodios de activismo transnacional ha avanzado significativamente en los últimos años, nuestro conocimiento acerca de cómo las trayectorias a largo plazo de activismo transfronterizo afectan la formación de movimientos sociales nacionales y su capacidad de influir en el cambio institucional aún es limitado. El presente artículo trata esta laguna al analizar la movilización transnacional en torno a los derechos políticos y económicos de grupos indígenas en Brasil. Mostramos que salidas tempranas de movilización transnacional generaron un conjunto de resultados de ideas, organizacionales e institucionales que permitieron que actores marginalizados previamente le dieran forma a los rumbos del cambio institucional dentro del país en la época de la transición democrática brasileña. Identificamos tres trayectorias inicialmente descoordinadas de movilización transnacional transcurriendo a fines de la década de 1960 y 1970 y mostramos cómo convergieron con el paso del tiempo a través de dos mecanismos sociales (referencia cruzada institucional y redes sociales) para formar un movimiento social intersectorial cada vez más compacto capaz de influir en la formación de la institución durante el período de la Asamblea Constitucional Nacional (1978-1988). Concluimos con un debate de los vínculos entre activismo transnacional y la formación de movimientos sociales nacionales. RESUMO Embora as pesquisas sobre episódios de ativismo transnacional tenham avançado substancialmente nos últimos anos, nosso conhecimento acerca de como as trajetórias de longo prazo do ativismo transfronteiriço afetam a formação de movimentos sociais nacionais, bem como de sua capacidade de influenciar mudanças institucionais domésticas, ainda é limitado. Este artigo aborda esta lacuna ao analisar a mobilização transnacional em torno dos direitos políticos e econômicos de grupos indígenas no Brasil. Mostramos que os caminhos iniciais da mobilização transnacional geraram um conjunto de resultados ideacionais, organizacionais e institucionais, os quais permitiram que atores anteriormente marginalizados moldassem as direções das mudanças institucionais dentro do país no período da transição democrática brasileira. Identificamos três trajetórias inicialmente não coordenadas de mobilização transnacional ocorrendo no final dos anos 1960 e 1970, e mostramos como elas convergiram, com o tempo, através de dois mecanismos sociais - o cruzamento de referências institucionais e a formação de redes sociais - para formar um movimento social intersetorial cada vez mais fortemente entrelaçado, o qual foi capaz de influenciar a formação de instituições durante o período da Assembleia Nacional Constituinte (1987-1988). Encerramos o artigo com uma discussão sobre as ligações entre o ativismo transnacional e a formação de movimentos sociais nacionais.

Following the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) intellectual property rights, and more specifically copyright, have become the subject of highly politicized conflicts. In this paper we analyze how these conflicts shifted from the political arena to private standard-setting sites, where two opposing coalitions of actors pursued competing initiatives - an industry coalition which aimed at enforcing copyright protection through Digital Rights Management and an emerging coalition of civil society actors which sought to develop a digital commons based on copyleft licenses. Paradoxically, the industry coalition, which had very successfully lobbied international organizations, ran into trouble developing and enforcing private regulation in the market place, while the civil society coalition proved to be more effective in the market than in the political sphere. The findings of our analysis indicate that the strategic use of organizational forms and collective action frames can be more decisive for the mobilization of users than material resources, and that the success of collective action frames depends on their compatibility with user practices. Based on the argument that regime shifting from intergovernmental to private governance can open up new and favorable spaces for weak actors to experiment with alternative forms of regulation, the paper contributes to the literature on the politics of regime complexity. The paper furthermore highlights the importance of studying non-elite actors and their day-to-day practices to gain a better understanding of changes within the international political economy.

This Special Forum is an invitation to reconsider the analytical toolbox with which world order has been analyzed in the past. In this introductory article, we propose to focus on processes of world ordering from the margins as a contribution to research on world-order conceptions beyond the Liberal International Order. We examine world-ordering practices by a variety of actors, across the Global North and the Global South, including activists, political parties and actors beyond the state, whose activities are not typically perceived as world-ordering endeavors. Shifting the analytical focus to those at the margins of the world polity offers a better understanding of the plurality and contestations of contemporary world order and helps to (un-)cover critiques and possible alternatives to existing world orders that emerge from these groups, practices and discourses. In this introduction, we propose three perspectives to study and research world ordering from the margins: positionality, methodology, and strategy. We argue that examining world order from these perspectives leads to a nuanced picture of a multitude of positions of marginality, emanating from different experiences, perceptions and discourses, all of which matter for the respective world-ordering endeavors. Retrieving such alternative perspectives is paramount in view of multiple crises that current forms of world order seem unable to address.

Why are some firms successful on global markets whilst others are not? In this collection of papers, a group of distinguished international researchers examine the inter-relationship between national context, firm performance and global competitiveness. In a series of empirical studies covering major industries (such as banking, telecommunications, construction, automobiles, and airlines) in a number of European countries (Great Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Finland, Slovenia), the studies show how distinctive patterns of firm competences and capabilities arise from national contexts. These influence the way in which firms perform in response to changing technologies and competitive pressures. Thus the impact of the globalisation of economic activity may be to reinforce existing national differences in firm performance rather than producing a homogenisation and standardisation.This book will be of interest to researchers in business and management, sociology, economics and political science for its comparative organizational approach to problems of economic performance.

Purpose - This paper aims to explore internationalisation strategies of service firms in sectors where markets become increasingly globalised while resource environments still remain distinctively shaped by national institutions. Design/methodology/approach - A theoretical framework is proposed that suggests that the more firms expand their business activities across borders by building up offices abroad or merging with firms from other countries, the more likely they are to embrace recombinant strategies to blend elements of different societal legacies. Subsequently, a comparative case study of internationalisation strategies, governance modes and organisational forms of European and US law firms is presented to illustrate the value of the framework, followed by the analysis of a novel data set on multi-jurisdictional qualifications of partners in these international law firms. Findings - By virtue of their integrative organisational model and mobilisation of versatile legal competences, large pan-European law firms are challenging the dominance of US law firms in international legal markets, while the latter in response are revising their own previous export-oriented internationalisation strategy. Research limitations/implications - The present study provides a starting point for further research on internationalisation in service industries. Originality/value - The framework is useful to expand effect societal analysis to dynamic international environments.