Podcast appearances and mentions of Oliver E Williamson

0:00 Intro.1:42 Start of interview2:26 Stilpon's "origin story". He grew up in Greece and studied law at the University of Thessaloniki. He later got an LLM at Harvard Law School. He practiced corporate law in Greece, but left the country permanently in the mid 1980s. He joined the OECD where he became the first Head of the Corporate Affairs Division. In that position, he lead the team which produced the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance (1999). "The corporate governance issues were very linked to the privatization issues at the time." He later left the OECD in Paris to London, where he started his own firm.9:36 The origin of his firm Nestor Advisors in 2002. "The idea was to advise companies and their boards on corporate governance matters, since they needed the advice." "The focus initially was on emerging markets, then on OECD markets." Banking is the core sector that they address  ("at least 2/3 of our clients are banks.") "Personally, my two areas of focus are the private family, and the banks."14:15 On the acquisition of Nestor Advisors by Morrow Sodali in 2021. "The sale of Nestor Advisors was always part of my horizon for two reasons: 1) I wanted an exit, and 2) the firm needed to be a part of something bigger in order to go to the next level."18:04 On the debate of the purpose of the corporation (the shareholder vs stakeholder debate). The BRT '19 restatement that reignited the debate in the U.S. (see Marty Lipton vs Bebchuk). "Milton Friedman said that the social responsibility of the corporation was to increase profits, and that is not a purpose (it's a responsibility)." "The first responsibility for a private economic institution like a corporation is indeed to be profitable (if it's not profitable over time, it goes down and it will not achieve any other purpose." "The process for a company outlining its purpose might be a useful thing, for its strategic focus and as a communications tool."24:47 On ESG: "the European approach is different to the US. The latter has more of a market approach with pressure from institutional investors and other market actors, whereas the EU is treating this more as an issue of regulation. There is emerging set of rules that are quite tough, such as with the new directive on disclosure of sustainability, disclosure on how to get to net-zero for investors, EU taxonomy of sustainable activities, the obligation of companies to do due diligence on everything that has to do with sustainability.29:33 On companies withdrawing from Russia due to the conflict in Ukraine. (see Jeffrey Sonnenfeld's list from Yale, over 400 companies have withdrawn at the time of this writing). Example of Raiffeisen Bank (largest foreign bank in Russia).32:36 How in the current environment CEOs have to make more "geopolitical" decisions or deal with "stakeholder issues" that impact society. "They have become mini statesmen or stateswomen." "I am skeptical about whether these kind of decisions should be put on the shoulders of CEOs and boards, at what point will they loose their purpose?" "I have a fear that we are putting an enormous amount of power in the hands of CEOs and corporations because we expect them to become statesmen/stateswomen." "I am reading this in a pessimistic way, it's a weakening of public institutions in the U.S."36:23 How the practice of corporate governance has changed in the last 20 years particularly given the current trends of CEO/boards "managing externalities." ("corporations are not anymore simple economic institutions") [Here is a good WSJ article on this subject].39:10 On governance of private companies and the rise of private markets [in the U.K. and E.U.] The LSE's allowance of dual-class stock to attract new listings.44:46 New board trends highlighted by Stilpon:"After the financial crisis, and for the last 20 years, we have seen boards face more demands to become more intrusive. This has increased particularly in the financial sector." "European boards are loosing the strategy perspective, and I think the pendulum has swung too far. We will start seeing boards act with more reflection in times of radical uncertainty.""The pandemic gave boards the opportunity to review their working methods, now we see more "monochromatic" meetings: small focused seminars/meetings on specific and strategic areas." "I call this the distributed board model."  "You break up the agenda into reflection chunks.""With all the technology changes, boards will be in a position to challenge the assumptions that AI or other data sources will provide."49:12 Stilpon's favorite books :Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville (1830s) "He did not shy away from finding the worst and the best, and how these two combine - it's amazingly current."Markets and Hierarchies (1975) and The Economic Institutions of Capitalism (1985), by Oliver E. Williamson.On the Road, by Jack Kerouac (1957).51:00 - Who were your mentors, and what did you learn from them? Robert Clark, at Harvard Law School.Ira Millstein, from Weil Gotshal & Manges. "He taught me perseverance."His mother, who was a Professor of Anthropology "she taught me all I know about focusing on the clarity of language."53:04 - Are there any quotes you think of often, or live your life by? From 8th century BC, a pre-Socratic saying: "Pan Metron" "You need measure"From the Rolling Stones: "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you'll get what you need." "This has been a motto in my life."53:47 - An unusual habit or an absurd thing that he loves: He washes the dishes and pans first thing in the morning. 54:19 - The living person he most admires: Bob Bylan. [Stilpon is a also a musician, and he's recorded 5 albums! Check it out]Stilpon Nestor is the Executive Chairman of Morrow Sodali for EMEA. He is also the Executive Chairman and founder of Nestor Advisors, a company that Morrow Sodali acquired in early 2021. __ You can follow Evan on social media at:Twitter: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

21 MAYIS 2021 DÜNYA TARİHİNDE BUGÜN YAŞANANLAR 1881 - Amerikan Kızılhaçı, Clara Barton tarafından kuruldu. 1900 - Rusya, Çin'deki Boxer ayaklanmasını bahane ederek Mançurya'yı işgale başladı. TÜRKİYE TARİHİNDE BUGÜN YAŞANANLAR 1847 - Tapu ve Kadastro Genel Müdürlüğü (Defterhane-iş Amire Kalemi) kuruldu. 1963 - Harp Okulu Komutanı Talat Aydemir, Anayasa'nın önerdiği bazı reformların gerçekleştirilmediği gerekçesiyle ikinci bir darbe girişiminde bulundu, fakat başarılı olamadı.  1997 - Yargıtay Cumhuriyet Başsavcısı Vural Savaş, Refah Partisi'nin Anayasa'nın laiklik ilkesine aykırı eylemlerin odağı haline geldiği gerekçesiyle sürekli kapatılması istemiyle Anayasa Mahkemesi'ne dava açtı. 2004 - Cumhurbaşkanı Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Anayasa değişikliğini onayladı ve Devlet Güvenlik Mahkemeleri (DGM) kaldırıldı. BUGÜN DOĞANLAR  1527 -  İspanya Kralı II. Felipe, doğdu. 1947 - Türk akademisyen ve tarihçi İlber Ortaylı, dünyaya geldi. 1968 - Türk dağcı, yazar ve fotoğrafçı Nasuh Mahruki, doğdu. BUGÜN ÖLENLER 1967- Nurettin Baransel, Türk asker ve Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri'nin 7. Genelkurmay Başkanı Nurettin Baransel, vefat etti. 2020 - Amerikalı ekonomist ve Nobel Ekonomi Ödülü sahibi Oliver E. Williamson, hayatını kaybetti.

Today I spoke with Michael Heller about the book he has just published with James Salzman. The title is Mine!: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives (Doubleday, 2021) Michael Heller at Columbia University is Professor of Real Estate Law. Before joining Columbia Law in 2002, you taught at the University of Michigan, NYU, UCLA, and Yale Law Schools. Prior to entering academia, you worked at the World Bank on post-socialist legal transition and you even served as a law clerk at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. James Salzman is the Donald Bren Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law with joint appointments at the UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. He was formerly at Duke University. His book, Drinking Water: A History, was reviewed and praised in the New York Times and Washington Post. Ownership rules have been a key topic in economics and law since the establishment of the disciplines, with economics being much more junior than law. Recently Law and economics or economic analysis of law have become an important field. Ownership rules are a key issue for Marx, John R. Commons, Oliver E. Williamson, Henry Hanssman. The authors themselves are very erudite academics that have chosen to write a book based on their research but very accessible to everyone in the style of Freakonomics. The book is about 300 pages, 7 chapters and one epilogue. They reveal six simple stories everyone uses to claim everything. Owners choose the rule that steers us to do what they want. But we can pick a different rule. As Heller and Salzman show, ownership is always up for grabs. Ownership is not simple, natural. It is intrinsically controversial and linked to inequality. We started our conversation with children arguing for the ownership of a toy at the playground and we ended talking about the tax and ownership regime in South Dakota. “Mine” is one of the first words babies learn. By the time we grow up, the idea of ownership seems natural, whether we are buying a cup of coffee or a house. But who controls the space behind your airplane seat: you reclining or the squished laptop user behind you? Why does HBO look the other way when you illegally borrow a password to stream their shows? And after a snowstorm, why does a chair in the street hold your parking space in Chicago, but in New York you lose the space and the chair? This is a very nice book that many will enjoy reading and is advertised by a very cool website with videos that allow you to meet the authors: https://www.minethebook.com/videos/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We wrap up our discussion of Oliver E. Williamson's famous 1981 article, "The Economics of Organization: The Transaction Cost Approach" with an exploration of related works and on-going research. Included is a review of Tom Malone et al.'s predictive look at "Electronic Markets and Electronic Hierarchies," written in 1987 when the promises of information technology were becoming reality. How well did their predictions hold up 30 years later?

Please join us as continue our discussion of Oliver E. Williamson's famous 1981 article, "The Economics of Organization: The Transaction Cost Approach." Williamson proposed several important constructs in the article such as the 'efficient boundary' and how asset specificity shapes organizational behaviors. What did we think of these ideas?

Following on a theme from the previous episode, we explore an important reading that bridges organization theory with economics. This was the explicit aim of Oliver E. Williamson’s famous article, “The Economics of Organization: The Transaction Cost Approach,” published in the American Journal of Sociology in 1981. The article begins with a statement that the assumption of firms operating on a profit motive has not helped organization theorists understand and explain the behaviors of firms, and that economists were also finding themselves similarly limited. He thus set out on a different path and argued that transactions, not the products or services the firm provides, is a better unit of analysis.In the discussion, we wrestle with Williamson’s central arguments and proposals, such as the construct of the efficient organizational boundary, human asset specificity and the difference types of governance structures related to it, and how markets and hierarchies represent different choices for organizing. We also explored a related article presenting early thoughts about the growing impact of rapid advances in information technology on firm and market structures. Written in 1987, Tom Malone et al.’s “Electronic Markets and Electronic Hierarchies” presages the modern online economic environment and its many virtual interactions between seller and buyers. This fascinating extension of Williamson’s ideas made a number of predictions. How many came true 30 years later?

Oliver E. Williamson de l'Université de Californie (Berkeley) a obtenu en 2009 le prix Nobel d'économie pour ses travaux sur « la gouvernance économique », c'est à dire la manière dont on organise et régule l'échange et la production. Il est considéré comme un spécialiste de la gouvernance. Diplômé du prestigieux MIT, il commence sa carrière comme ingénieur de projets pour le gouvernement américain. Il découvre la diversité des environnements institutionnels et des modes d'organisation de l'activité économique et se tourne alors vers l'économie et la gestion. Dès lors, il voit l'entreprise comme une structure complexe où s'imbriquent relations contractuelles et hiérarchie.

Oliver E. Williamson de l'Université de Californie (Berkeley) a obtenu en 2009 le prix Nobel d'économie pour ses travaux sur « la gouvernance économique » c'est à dire la manière dont on organise et régule l'échange et la production. Il est considéré comme un spécialiste de la gouvernance. Diplômé du prestigieux MIT, il commence sa carrière comme ingénieur de projets pour le gouvernement américain. Il découvre la diversité des environnements institutionnels et des modes d'organisation de l'activité économique et se tourne alors vers l'économie et la gestion. Dès lors, il voit l'entreprise comme une structure complexe où s'imbriquent relations contractuelles et hiérarchie.