Management Report
Выпуски:
Опубликовано на портале: 11-12-2002
Nicolai J. Foss
Management Report.
1997.
No. 16.
This paper is taken up with discussing the extent to which existing
economic theories of the firm are helpful for constructing what Rumelt
called a strategic theory of the firm. Such a theory explains the existence,
boundaries, organization and competitive advantage of the firm. The
modern economics of organization (e.g., agency theory, transaction cost
economics, incomplete contracts theory) is characterized by the heuristic of
reducing literally all aspects of economic organization to the alignment of
incentives. It thus arguably misrepresents many management and strategy
issues. On the other hand, the dominant contender, the capabilities
perspective, is lacking in several respects, for example, with respect to its
lack of crisp microfoundations, and its inability to predict, explain
ownership and explain the existence of the firm. The best way forward in
the construction of a strategic theory of the firm is probably to draw
eclectically on both approaches.

