The Growth of the Firm

Edith Penrose has been one of the most significant economists of the second part of the twentieth century. Her contribution to the theory of the firm has reinvented and productively developed the classical tradition in economics. It has informed the currently dominant resource/knowledge-based theory of the firm. Penrose’s contribution, however, extends to a great variety of areas, to include industry organization, strategic management, international business, human
resource management, economics of innovation and technological change, history, methodology, macroeconomics, and much more. This volume builds on a special issue of Contributions to Political Economy,
that celebrated forty years since Penrose’s classic The Theory of the Growth of the Firm. It includes fourteen chapters by leading contributors on the aforementioned aspects of Penrose’s work. This book celebrates Penrose’s contribution to economics and management. Leading scholars (including such ‘classic’ names as Robin Marris and George Richardson), assess Penrose’s contribution to economics, strategic management, industry organization, and more. Using a
Penrosean lens, these authors address the most important issues such as resource allocation and resource creation, co-ordination, innovation and growth. They cover topics ranging from the nature of the firm, firm
growth, and strategy, to multinational firms, industry organization, innovation, and economic development. In so doing, they make contributions to scholarship of the highest quality, with significant implications for business and government policy on competition, industry, and development.

Author Biography

Christos Pitelis is Director of the Centre for International Business and Management at the Judge Institute of Management Studies, Cambridge University. He is also Director of Studies in Management and Fellow in Economics at Queens’ College, Cambridge. He has taught at the universities of Warwick, Nottingham, St. Andrews, and Athens, and has been visiting professor in China, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. He has consulted extensively and coordinated projects
for governments, the European Commission, the United Nations, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the private sector. He has been adviser to the Greek Minister of Industry and Development. He is author and
editor of ten books, over seventy articles in academic journals and books, and has contributed papers to more than sixty conferences worldwide.