The papers in this volume demonstrate that it can be fruitful to apply institutional theory to business history. In addition, the volume shows that the wider study of the institutional environment is inseparable from the study of business. It is clear, however, that although 'institutionalism' in business history has a long pedigree, many areas of research and potential interaction with theory remain to be explored. The extent to which this will occur inevitably depends upon the degree to which the interests of theoreticians serve the needs of historians and vice versa.

Transaction costs and the theory of the firm - the scope and limitations of the new institutional approach, S.R.H. Jones; complexity, community structure and competitive advantage within the Yorkshire woollen industry, c.1700-1850, S.A. Caunce; invisible, visible and direct hands - an institutional interpretation of organizational structure and change in British general insurance, Oliver M. Westall; consultancies, institutions and the diffusion of Taylorism in Britain, Germany and France, 1920s to 1950s, Matthias Kipping; financial reconstruction and industrial reorganisation in different financial systems - a comparative view of British and Swedish institutions during the inter-war period, Hans Sjogren; post-war strategic capitalism in Norway - a theoretical and analytical framework, Sverre Knutsen; the politics of protection - an institutional approach to government-industry relations in the British and United States cotton industries, 1945-73, Mary B. Rose; institutional economics and business history - a way forward? Mark Casson.