The Corporation As Command And Control Economy

Our large corporations are highly centralized command and control systems.  The Soviet Union was unable to make its centralized command and control system work.  Brad DeLong posted this paper that he wrote 17 years ago which attempted to explain why the corporate system has been able to do what the Soviet system was unable to accomplish.  Some his comments are outdated but it offers several of the major arguments that have been used to defend the corporate command and control system.  The comments that follow are also interesting.  His article provides a good starting point for discussions on the strength and weaknesses of the corporate form of organization.