An intriguing volume has arrived in the post, [amazon_link id=”0691148872″ target=”_blank” ]The Emergence of Organizations and Markets [/amazon_link] edited by John F Padgett and Walter W Powell. It’s a tome, rather, a series of essays combining sociology and biochemistry to analyse a range of organisational innovations – partnerships in Renaissance Florence, the joint stock company in Calvinist Holland, Communism in the Societ Union, oligarchy in post-Soviet Russia. There’s also a section on entrepreneurship in modern capitalism. I’m not sure I’m going to sit down and read it, but will dip into the introductory chapter, The Problem of Emergence, and report back.

[amazon_image id=”0691148872″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Emergence of Organizations and Markets[/amazon_image]