Faulconbridge, James Robert (2017) Communities inside and outside the corporation : control, power and interests. In: The corporation : A critical, multi-disciplinary handbook. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 457-469. ISBN 9781107073111
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Abstract
This chapter examines how critical analysis of communities within and without of the corporation can provide valuable insights into the way communities emerge, are leveraged, are imbued with power and politics, and are used to serve the interests of different parties. The starting point for discussions is geographical and organization studies literatures on corporate communities. In this work, one preoccupation is identifying how managers in corporations seek to construct communities (see for example, Amin and Cohendet, 2004; Faulconbridge, 2010). This work has been informed, in particular, by the communities of practice literature (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998). A second preoccupation is analysing the various extra-firm communities that corporations participate in (see for example, Bathelt et al., 2004; Maskell, 2014; Morgan, 2001). The purpose here is to reveal the ways corporations define, exploit and contribute to communities outside of the organisation’s boundaries. The effects on institutions are afforded particular attention in this literature as part of efforts to understand how, through communities, corporations influence local and global governance regimes (see also Morgan, this volume; Sanchez, this volume).