Finance, Corporate Governance and the New Techno-Economic Paradigm

This paper assumes, with Perez (1983, 2002), that technological development follows a 'long wave' rhythm, in which new 'techno-economic paradigms' succeed one another at long intervals; the latest being the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) paradigm. When the new paradigm appears a tension develops between it and the existing socio-institutional framework. We argue that the financial and corporate governance system (FCCS), is a key element of that framework which is unusually resistant to change. The focus is on the UK FCGS, an outsider-dominated/stock-exchange-based system, though with comparisons with the US and with 'insider-dominated' economies. Based on fieldwork conducted between 1999 and 2005, we find that Britain is still a long way from witnessing a new creative partnership of financial and industrial capital in most of the economy, needed to fully release the potential of the new paradigm. We discuss what form that might take.