Back-office intricacy: the description of financial objects in an investment bank

Muniesa, Fabian, Chabert, Dominique, Ducrocq-Grondin, Marceline and Scott, Susan V. (2011) Back-office intricacy: the description of financial objects in an investment bank. Industrial and Corporate Change, 20 (4). pp. 1189-1213. ISSN 0960-6491

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Abstract

The complexity of contemporary finance translates into what we call the problem of “description”: the problem of constructing robust, flexible, portable, and mutually compatible depictions of complex, multisided, and often ambiguous financial objects (products, trades, marketplaces). This problem is characteristically exacerbated in back-office operations within the financial services industry. We provide a case study in the form of a qualitative examination of back- and middle-office operations in an international investment bank. We analyze the manifold manifestations of the problem of description within this bank.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://icc.oxfordjournals.org/
Additional Information:	© 2011 Oxford University Press
Library of Congress subject classification:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HG Finance
Journal of Economic Literature Classification System:	G - Financial Economics > G2 - Financial Institutions and Services > G24 - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage; Rating Agencies L - Industrial Organization > L2 - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior > L22 - Firm Organization and Market Structure: Markets vs. Hierarchies; Vertical Integration; Conglomerates; Subsidiaries Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Social Norms and Social Capital; Social Networks
Sets:	Departments > Management Collections > Economists Online Research centres and groups > Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) Research centres and groups > Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation (CARR) Research centres and groups > Information Systems and Innovation Group
Date Deposited:	29 Jun 2011 11:04
URL:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/37019/

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