Exploring the Middle Way: The Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI) in Between Corporate Capitalism and Planned Economy (1948–1973)
The Corporation: Rethinking the Iconic Form of Business Organization
ISBN: 978-1-80043-377-9, eISBN: 978-1-80043-376-2
Publication date: 27 January 2022
Abstract
This paper narrates the efforts made in Italy after the end of the Second World War to develop an economic and social model in between corporate capitalism and planned economy, on the one hand, and shareholder versus stakeholder capitalism on the other. The result was the institutional infrastructure that supported the Istituto per la Ricostruzione industriale (IRI), a state-owned public holding in charge of managing the funds of the so-called Marshall Plan. The history of IRI illustrates the importance of a pragmatic approach to dealing with institutional constraints and opportunities when faced with the need to reconstruct destroyed economies in a context of very fragmented societies such as those of post-war Italy. The result was the resistance to an acritical adoption of the corporate American model and the definition of a more balanced form of capitalism. In an era of new recovery plans, there is a lot we can learn from IRI’s history.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank Pierluigi Ciocca and Franco Russolillo, who have directed the project on the history of IRI from which this paper originates. We also wish to thank the editors of the RSO volume for their guidance and patience along the process. The usual disclaimers apply.
Citation
Monfardini, P., Quattrone, P. and Ruggiero, P. (2022), "Exploring the Middle Way: The
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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