The Theory of the Firm presents an innovative general analysis of the economics of the firm.

Firms are a ubiquitous feature of the economic landscape, with much of the activity undertaken within an economy taking place within their boundaries. Given the size of the contribution made by firms to economic activity, employment and growth, having a theoretical understanding of the nature and structure of firms is crucial for understanding how an economy functions. The Theory of the Firm firstly offers a brief overview of the past, consisting of a concise discussion of the classical view of production, followed by an outline of the development of the neoclassical - or ‘textbook’ - approach to firm level production. Secondly, the ‘present’ of the theory of the firm is discussed in three sections. The first section considers the post-1970 theory of the firm literature per se, while the second section scrutinises the relationship between the three most prominent of the modern sets of theories: the reference point, property rights and transaction cost approaches. The third section looks at the theory of privatisation. The unique aspects of this book includes its discussions of the post-1970 contributions to the theory of the firm; the integration of the theory of the entrepreneur with the theory of the firm; and the theory of privatisation. This volume offers an intuitive introduction to the theories of the firm as well as simple formal models of the most important contributions to the literature. It also outlines the historical evolution of the traditional and modern theories of the firm. This book is of great interest to those who study history of economic thought, industrial economics and organizational studies.

This collection examines the forces, both external and internal, that lead corporations to behave efficiently and to create wealth. Corporations vest control rights in shareholders, the author argues, because they are the constituency that bear business risk and therefore have the appropriate incentives to maximize corporate value. Assigning control to any other group would be tantamount to allowing that group to play poker with someone else's money, and would create inefficiencies. The implicit denial of this proposition is the fallacy of the so-called stakeholder theory of the corporation, which argues that corporations should be run in the interests of all stakeholders. This theory offers no account of how conflicts between different stakeholders are to be resolved, and gives managers no principle on which to base decisions, except to follow their own preferences. In practice, shareholders delegate their control rights to a board of directors, who hire, fire, and set the compensation of the chief officers of the firm. However, because agents have different incentives than the principals they represent, they can destroy corporate value unless closely monitored. This happened in the 1960s and led to hostile takeovers in the market for corporate control in the 1970s and 1980s. The author argues that the takeover movement generated increases in corporate efficiency that exceeded $1.5 trillion and helped to lay the foundation for the great economic boom of the 1990s.

The theory of the firm has been fertile ground for economists. Bylund proposes a new theory, rooted in Austrian economics, which examines the firm as a part of the market, and not as a free-standing entity. In this integrated view, a theory is offered which incorporates entrepreneurship, production, market process and economic development.

This volume features a series of essays which arose from a conference on economics, addressing the question: what is the nature of the firm in economic analysis? This paperback edition includes the Nobel Lecture of R.N. Case.

There are not many books that are genuine classics, and only a handful in business and management whose insights and ideas last for 50 years and more. This book is one of the very few 'must reads' for anybody seriously interested in the role of management within the firm. Originally published in 1959, The Theory of the Growth of the Firm has illuminated and inspired thinking in strategy, entrepreneurship, knowledge creation, and innovation. Edith Penrose's tightly-argued classic laid the foundations for the resource based view of the firm, now the dominant framework in business strategy. She analyses managerial activities and decisions, organizational routines, and also the factors that inevitably limit a firm's growth prospects. For this new anniversary edition, Christos Pitelis has written a new introduction which both tells the story of Penrose's extraordinary life, and provides a balanced assessment of her key ideas and their continuing relevance and freshness.

The theory of the firm did not exist, in any serious manner, until around 1970. Only then did the current theory of the firm literature begin to emerge, based largely upon the work of Ronald Coase and to a lesser degree Frank Knight. It was work by Armen Alchian, Robert Crawford, Harold Demsetz, Michael Jensen, Benjamin Klein, William Meckling and Oliver Williamson, among others, that drove the upswing in interest in the firm among mainstream economists. This accessible book provides a valuable overview of the ‘prehistory’ of the firm. Spanning an impressive timeline, it delves into Antiquity, the Medieval era, the pre-classical economics period and the 19th and 20th centuries. Next, the book traces the theoretical contributions from pre-classical, classical and neoclassical economics. It will be illuminating reading for students and researchers of the history of economic thought, industrial organization, microeconomic theory and business history.

This unique Handbook explores both the economics of the firm and the theory of the firm, two areas which are traditionally treated separately in the literature. On the one hand, the former refers to the structure, organization and boundaries of the firm, while the latter is devoted to the analysis of behaviours and strategies in particular market contexts. the novel concept underpinning this authoritative volume is that these two areas closely interact, and that a framework must be articulated in order to illustrate how linkages can be created. This interpretative framework is comprehensively developed in the editors' introduction, and the expert contributors – more than fifty academics of renowned authority – further elaborate on the linkages in the seven comprehensive sections that follow, encompassing: background; equilibrium and new institutional theories; the multinational firm; dynamic approaches to the firm; modern issues; firms' strategies; and economic policy and the firm. Bridging economics and theory of the firm, and providing both technical and institutional perspectives on real corporations, this path-breaking Handbook will prove an invaluable resource for academics, researchers and students in the fields of economics, heterodox economics, business and management, and industrial organization.

The Form of the Firm attempts to unveil the nature of the corporation as it exists in modern liberal societies. The author contends that economic theories understate the importance and danger of corporate power, and should be supplemented with a political analysis that foregrounds the sorts of political and moral values at stake in corporate activity.