Notes on Tom Juravich "Strategic Corporate Research"

Summary

Juravich began by claiming no discipline looks specifically at the firm for a level of analysis.  I think that is incorrect.  Within economic theory, economists have looked at firm level analysis - perhaps most famously in Coase's "Nature of the Firm".  Applied work has looked at firm level data, for example, Pay without Performance by Bebchuk and Fried explicitly discuss the make up of specific firms with actual data on them.

Juravich then discussed why labor is taking this new approach of action.  The post war labor accord which consisted of strong unions and perhaps not so toxic relationships between business and labor, was over.  Globalization, increased technology, and financialization have made the old strategies of resistance obsolte.  Striking at the plant when the owners of the plant are halfway around the world is not as effective as if ownership were in the US.

Juravich suggests using the wealth of information on corporations to find "pressure points" that could be leverage to make concrete gains for workers.

Implications, Questions, and Thoughts

I think first any gains from this strategy will be a band-aid for a systemic problem but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done- there will be concrete gains for people.

Second, how reliable are the databases? Bebchuk and Fried go to great lengths in their book Pay without Performance to demonstrate how executives and boards distort actual compensation levels and earnings reports.  Do these databases address those issues?

Third, even if the databases are reliable (even if they aren't, it is all we have), how effective is the strategy of leveraging these pressure points?  If we do a lot of research, we could find things that outrage people or that we could use to put pressure on a certain group.  What if people don't care, or don't care enough to act and if the certain groups involved are too big to be affected by union pressure?

Fourth, Juravich discussed labor as employing these new strategies, but union membership has declined since the labor accord.  Will this new strategy strengthen union membership somehow? If social organizations take this work on in lieu of labor, will it decrease union membership?