Transnational actors, transnational institutions, transnational spaces: the role of law firms in the internationalization of competition regulation

The emergence of systems of transnational regulation and governance in the last decade has been a considerable challenge to authors studying patterns of business and management from an institutionalist perspective. One view, expounded most clearly in Whitley, is that “as long as the nation state remains the primary unit of political competition, legitimacy and definer and upholder of private property rights, in addition to being the predominant influence on labor market institutions, many characteristics of business systems will continue to vary significantly across national boundaries” (Whitley 2005a: 224). Inevitably such arguments are countered by contrary claims showing how, in specific areas, forms of transnational governance are emerging, what Djelic and Quack refer to as “the progressive transnationalization of a few actors, strategies and logics” (Djelic and Quack 2003: 11)