You have read Valve’s survival manual for new employees. You have read Michael Abrash’s wonderful account of working at Valve. Now read my political economy analysis of Valve’s management model; one in which there are no bosses, no delegation, no commands, no attempt by anyone to tell someone what to do. Can useful lessons be drawn about not only Valve’s inner workings but, importantly, regarding the future of the corporate world?

Contents

1. Introduction: Firms as market-free zones
2. The wheels of change: Valve’s ultimate symbol of an alternative ‘spontaneous order’
3. What are corporations for?
4. Spontaneous order via time allocation and team formation: Valve’s way
5. Conclusion: What Valve signals for the future.