The IV Research Workshop on Institutions and Organizations
will take place at Insper Institute of Education and Research on October 5-6, 2009

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1. SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES

Institutions define the rules and norms of conduct in a society; organizations are players in the society that interpret and act upon those rules. For a long time, research on institutions and organizations has been conducted almost independently by different theoretical lenses. Economists, sociologists, management scholars and political scientists have all embraced the study of institutional environments and institutional arrangements within and between firms. However, the contributions of those distinct streams have not been properly debated and integrated. For instance, while scholars associated with organizational economics have largely focused on formal mechanisms to govern exchanges (such as explicit contracts and hierarchies), sociologists and other social theorists have stressed the role of informal mechanisms including trust-based networks, political relations, and social-cognitive processes.

The IV Research Workshop on Institutions and Organizations is an effort by three research-oriented schools in Brazil (Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Insper Ibmec São Paulo and University of São Paulo) to discuss relevant academic and practical issues of institutions and organizations in an interdisciplinary way. Seminar participants will discuss recent developments in the analysis of institutions and organizations through the lens of several disciplines (economics, management, sociology, and so forth). Instead of focusing on the contributions of specific disciplines dealing with institutions and organizations, workshop presenters and discussants will try to emphasize differences and commonalities among distinct approaches, leading to potential advances and refinements in the field. Although the Workshop will be jointly organized by three schools in Brazil, we encourage the participation of scholars all over the country, as well as from abroad.

The Workshop will be held at Insper Ibmec São Paulo, in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, on October 5th-6th, 2009. In the afternoon of October 5th, there will be a keynote speech followed by a plenary discussion. In the late afternoon and in the following day, we will promote three thematic Panels. In each Panel, two scholars will present working papers on a particular topic, followed by the participation of one discussant who will comment on the papers.

2. KEYNOTES SPEAKERS

“De Facto and De Jure Property Rights: Land Settlement and Land Conflict on the Australian, Brazilian and U.S. Frontiers”

Lee J. Alston – University of Colorado

Lee Alston is the Director of the Program on Environment and Society in the Institute of Behavioral Science and Professor of Economics at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Over the past thirty years Alston has focused his research in two broad areas: 1) the role of contracts and institutions in shaping agricultural land use in the historical U.S. and contemporary Brazil, including the Amazon. Examples include the beneficial role of tenancy in the U.S. and titling in the Amazon; and 2) the important role of institutions in the economy, including an explanation for the growth timing of the U.S. welfare system, and the importance of strong Presidential powers in Brazil shaping policy outcomes. The contributions are theoretical and empirical with considerable implications for public policy. Alston has authored three books, edited two books, and published over 50 scholarly articles. He has received six grants from the National Science Foundation and a Research Grant from the World Bank. He has given papers at over two hundred universities and conferences around the World and delivered numerous keynote addresses to academic and professional audiences.

Alston has been a Research Associate at the National Bureau for Economic Research since 1995. He was recently President of the International Society for the New Institutional Economics (2006-2007). He has been an elected Trustee of: the International Society for the New Institutional Economics (2004-2007); the Economic History Association (2002-2005); EH.Net and the Cliometrics Society (2004-). Alston has also served on: the Board of Editors for the Journal of Economic History and Explorations in Economic History; the Review Panel for the Economics Program at the National Science Foundation (2000-2002); and the Board of Advisors for the Center on Peace and Liberty (2002-).

“Opening Closure: Intercohesion and Entrepreneurial Dynamics in Business Groups”

David Stark – Columbia University

David Stark is Arthur Lehman Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at Columbia University where he directs the Center on Organizational Innovation. He is an External Faculty Member of the Santa Fe Institute. Stark examines organizational forms as sites of multiple evaluative principles, or frames of worth. He has carried out field researches in Hungarian factories before and after 1989, in new media startups in Manhattan before and after the dot.com crash, and in a World Financial Center trading room before and after the attack on September 11th. With support from the National Science Foundation, he is currently working on an historical network analysis of ties between enterprises and political parties based on longitudinal data on the largest 2,200 Hungarian enterprises from 1987-2006.

Stark's recent publications include: “Sociotechnologies of Assembly” (with Monique Girard) in Governance and Information: The Rewiring of Governing and Deliberation in the 21st Century (2007); “Rooted Transnational Publics: Integrating Foreign Ties and Civic Activism.” (with Balazs Vedres and Laszlo Bruszt) in Theory and Society (2006); “Social Times of Network Spaces: Network Sequences and Foreign Investment in Hungary,” (with Balazs Vedres) American Journal of Sociology (2006); "Tools of the Trade: The Socio-Technology of Arbitrage in a Wall Street Trading Room,” (with Daniel Beunza) in Industrial and Corporate Change (2004); “Organizing Technologies: Genre Forms of Online Civic Association in Eastern Europe.” (with Balazs Vedres and Laszlo Bruszt) Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (2004); "Ambiguous Assets for Uncertain Environments: Heterarchy in Postsocialist Firms" in The Twenty-First-Century Firm: Changing Economic Organization in International Perspective (2001); and “Postsocialist Pathways: Transforming Politics and Property in Eastern Europe” (with Laszlo Bruszt, 1998).

Stark has been a visiting fellow at the Russell Sage Foundation in New York City, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Palo Alto, the Institute for Advanced Study/Collegium Budapest, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, the Center for the Social Sciences in Berlin, and the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. He was recently named a Guggenheim Fellow.

3. WORKSHOP PANELS

Each Panel Paper Presenter will have 25 minutes for presentation and each discussant will have 15 minutes for presenting comments on the paper presentations. The structure and invited panel presenters are as follows:

4. PARALLEL RESEARCH ROUND TABLE (PRRT)

The PRRT will bring together participants with an interest in discussing research issues related to institutions and organizations. The PRRT design is a directed conversation about a participant’s research guided by a moderator (one of the panel presenters or keynote speaker). With such design we expect that the discussions seek to create a deeper understanding of the research issues. While the moderators decide the final format of the conversations, the conversations begin with an introductory presentation by the participant. Following the introductory presentation, the participants receive comments and suggestions from the moderators and other participants of the PRRT.

5. SCHEDULE

6. PARTICIPANTS

The Research Workshop is aimed at promoting the debate among scholars and graduate students developing research on institutions and organizations through different theoretical lenses. Practitioners intending to learn about current advances in the field are also welcome. In order to magnify the debate and exchange of ideas among participants, the research workshop will accommodate a maximum of 80 participants. The presentations and discussions will be in English. Insper Ibmec São Paulo is located at Rua Quatá, 300 - Vila Olímpia, São Paulo. Call 55 11 4504-2383, contact us by email: cpe@insper.org.br or visit our website at http://www.insper.org.br/cpe for additional information

7. EVENT ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Scientific Committee
Charles Kirschbaum – Insper Ibmec São Paulo
Danny Claro – Insper Ibmec São Paulo (General Coordinator)
Décio Zylberzstajn – FEA-USP
Paulo Furquim de Azevedo – EESP-FGV
Mário Gomes Schapiro – EDESP-FGV
Ramon Fernandez – EESP-FGV
Sérgio Lazzarini – Insper Ibmec São Paulo
Sylvia Saes – FEA-USP

Organizing Assistant

Amanda Campos – Insper - Ibmec São Paulo
Flávia Sousa Teles da Cunha – Insper - Ibmec São Paulo
Gustavo Goldenberg – Insper - Ibmec São Paulo

8. REGISTRATION AND FURTHER INFORMATION

The Research Workshop is aimed at promoting the debate among scholars and students doing research on institutions and organizations through different theoretical lenses.  Practitioners intending to learn about current advances in the field are also welcome.  In order to magnify the debate and exchange of ideas among participants, the research workshop will accommodate a maximum of 85 participants. There will be a registration fee of R$100,00 . We encorage early registration to guarantee availability at the event. You may pay the registration by credit card or bank invoice (boleto). For registration click here.