An up-to-date analysis of the theory of the firm, including the latest research on the resource-based view.

This invaluable book provides the foundations for a new theory of the firm, drawing on Birger Wernerfelt's landmark work on economic theory and the resource-based view of the firm. It addresses a vigorous and long-standing academic debate over what exactly a 'firm' is, both in the field of management and economics. Wernerfelt revisits his classic articles, including an extensively revised 'A Resource-Based View of the Firm' (1984), which have been updated and synthesized to provide precise and accessible concepts and predictions. By offering future directions for research and practice, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of management and economics alike.

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.

Develops a value-based theory of the firm specifically aimed at strategic decision-making.

Strategy is essentially about achieving organisational success. Growth, Adaptation, Resilience, and Competition (GARC) is a general framework that helps organisations think creatively about attaining success and acknowledges the reality that there is no one single criteria for success. What drives and defines organisational success? Using the path- breaking GARC framework, this book provides an answer to this important question. Combining practice with theory, the reversal of the conventional ‘theory with practice’ idea being intentional, one of the standout features of this book is that it articulates business heuristics for each of the drivers of success along with guidelines on how to use them. To illustrate the empirical grounding of the theoretical aims, the authors connect multiple real- life business cases to each of the four GARC dimensions. This book will therefore be of value to researchers, academics, practitioners, and advanced students in the fields of strategy, organisational studies, and management.

Advances in Strategic Management is dedicated to communicating innovative, new research that advances theory and practice in Strategic Management. This volume focuses on organization design and collaborative ways of working.