The concept of industrial quasi-market: Tracing the research programme evolution

Abstract

The crisis of modern economic theory and the model of market-centric economy in particular entails the reconsideration of the essence, forms, and limits of the ongoing industrial markets’ transformation. Economic science and practice are in need to understand the specificities of market actors’ interface, overcome the entropy of existing concepts, and form a comprehensive model of economic development. The paper purports to advance the concept of industrial quasi-market at a meso-level and reveal the structural peculiarities thereof. Methodologically, the study rests on neoliberal and new institutional theories. The methods are theoretical-methodological analysis, generalisation, and comparison. The study has identified three branches in the formation of the concept of industrial quasi-market, within which the following its treatments are suggested: as a mechanism of interaction between business and the state; as interfirm and intrafirm interaction in an industrial market; and as a national mechanism of production organisation, distribution, and exchange. Based on the retrospective analysis of economic theories the study substantiates the concept of industrial quasi-market, and determines the attributes which may underlie the system of indicators for assessing its development. The findings refine the theoretical understandings of the industrial markets’ development, primarily of complex technological products, and allow designing methods for measuring the efficiency of market structures as well as industrial policy methods.

Keywords

• economic development
• quasi-market
• corporate structures
• object-oriented demand
• hybrid form
• industrial quasi-market
• theory of industrial organisation