Abstract
The era of money manager capitalism has called into question the contemporary relevance of the going concern theory of the business enterprise, which frames much of heterodox microeconomic thinking. The increased economic instability associated with this period, affecting even the long-term survival prospects of large corporations, indicates a need, at least, to update the framework, which has been inherited especially from theory developed under the prior epoch of managerial capitalism. Toward that end, a schema is sketched that posits a fundamental transformation of the contemporary financialized business enterprise adding to, rather than replacing, the earlier structures of this organization. From this perspective, it is argued, the contemporary business enterprise is no less stable than its previous incarnations, per se, though the additional ‘layer’ of business control and valuation further separates the interests and stability of business enterprise from the interests and stability of society generally.
Keywords: going concern, money manager capitalism, managerial capitalism, financialization, conglomerate, merger waves, theory of the firm, heterodox microeconomics, conception of control, planned obsolescence, product proliferation, sabotage.
JEL codes: A13, B50, B51, B52, D21, D22, D23, D24, K22, L16, L20, O30, P12
