Abstract: Explanations of business organization and economic action have increasingly relied, in recent years, on a healthy infusion of organiza-tional, cultural, political, and institutional factors beyond strictly eco-nomic variables, in accounting for the emergence of a variety of eco-nomic structures. Transaction-cost theory' marked a first step toward a broader approach to the study of business organizations, and was fol-lowed in quick succession by clan theory,2 organizational institution-alism,3 and network theories.4 Simultaneously, a re-examination of accepted views of economic action and structures has emerged from empirical studies of national economies outside the United States5 and particularly outside the Western world.6 The empirical evidence has led researchers to identify multiple patterns of, and roads to industriali-zation, international competitiveness, business organization, and the shaping of economic structures.