Modelling the origins of nationally-bound administrative heritages: A historical institutional analysis of French and British firms

The nation state form of capitalism as the determinant of nationally-bound administrative traditions and practices is receiving renewed attention in Organization Theory. In part, this interest derives from theory building on the basis of historical analysis and, in part, it derives from the attempts to conceptualize evolutionary models of new organization forms in which the persistence of the nation state form of capitalism is reflected in specific aspects of the form such as the employment relationship and corporate governance. This paper presents a comparative analysis of French and British administrative heritage, by clarifying the underlying historical reasons which account for the differences in the integrative mechanisms (e.g., centralization/decentralization of decision making). The authors focus on the educational system in both countries as one key dimension of the nation state form of capitalism and the source of beliefs about "how things ought to be done" as they relate to preferences for "how to manage"-the choice to centralize or decentralize decision making.