ICTs in the Contemporary World seminar

Mediating Instruments and Making Markets

Peter Miller
Department of Accounting and Finance, LSE

listen to a recording of this talk

Tuesday 6 February, 2007 2.00 - 4.00 p.m.

 
Fifth Floor, Tower One

Discuss this video on the ISIG discussion blog

This research examines how certain instruments link science and the economy by acting on capital budgeting decisions, and in doing so how they contribute to the process of making markets. The substantive focus is on the microprocessor industry, and the roles of “Moore ’s Law” and “technology roadmaps”. The paper examines the ways in which these instruments envision a future, and how they link a multitude of actors and domains in such a way that the making of future markets for microprocessors and related devices can continue. The paper seeks to help remedy the empirical deficit in studies of capital budgeting practices, and to demonstrate that investment is much more than a matter of valuation techniques. The paper argues, through the case of the microprocessor industry, for greater attention to investment as an inter-firm and inter-agency process, thus lessening the fixation in studies of capital budgeting on the traditional hierarchical and bounded organization. In addition, the authors seek to extend and illustrate empirically the richness of the notion of “mediating instruments” for researchers in accounting, science studies, and economic

Peter Miller is Professor of Management Accounting in the Department of Accounting and Finance at LSE. He is the author of 'Domination and Power'.

Please note places will be available on a first-come-first-serve basis - registration is not required. For any further queries regarding this seminar or to request information about future events please contact Frances White, Research Coordinator

Page last updated 18 March 2009

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