Resources, capabilities, competences and the theory of the firm

Journal of Economic Studies

Volumn 31, Issue 5, 2004, Pages 409-434

  Montresor, Sandro ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA   (Italy)

Author keywords

Economic theory; Organizational theory; Organizations

Indexed keywords

EID: 23744497025     PISSN: 01443585     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1108/01443580410555528     Document Type: Review

References (90)

1. Alchian, A.A. and Demsetz, H. (1972), "Production, information costs, and economic organization", American Economic Review, Vol. 62, pp. 772-95.
2. Aoki, M. (1990), "The participatory generation of information rents and the theory of the firm", in Aoki, M., Gustafsson, B. and Williamson, O.E. (Eds), The Firm as a Nexus of Treaties, Sage, London, pp. 26-51.
3. Arrow, K.J. (1962), "Economic welfare and the allocation of resources to invention", in Nelson, R.R. (Ed.), The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity: Economic and Social Factors, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
4. Arthur, W.B. (1989), "Competing technologies, increasing returns, and lock-in by historical event", Economic Journal, Vol. 99, pp. 116-31.
5. Bray, M. and Kreps, D.M. (1987), "Rational learning and rational expectations", in George, R.F. (Ed.), Arrow and the Ascendent of Modern Economic Theory, Macmillan, London, pp. 597-625.
6. Casson, M. (1982), The Entrepreneur: an Economic Theory, Martin Robertson, Oxford.
7. Chandler, A.D. Jr, Hagstrom, P. and Solvell, O. (Eds) (1999), The Dynamic Firm. The Role of Technology, Strategy, Organization, and Regions, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
8. Coase, R.N. (1937), "The nature of the firm", Economica, Vol. 4, pp. 386-405.
9. Coase, R.N. (1988), "The nature of the firm: meaning", Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Vol. 4, pp. 19-32.
10. Cohen, M.D. and Bacdayan, P. (1996), "Organisational routines are stored as procedural memory", in Cohen, M.D. and Sproull, L.S. (Eds), Organizational Learning, Sage, London, pp. 403-30.
11. Connor, K. and Prahalad, C.K. (1996), "A resource-based theory of the firm: knowledge versus opportunism", Organization Science, Vol. 7, pp. 477-501.
12. Coriat, B. and Dosi, G. (1999), "Learning how to govern and learning how to solve problems: on the coevolution of competences, conflicts and organizational routines", in Chandler, A.D. Jr, Hagstrom, P. and Solvell, O. (Eds), The Dynamic Firm, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 103-33.
13. Cremer, J. (1990), "Common knowledge and the coordination of economic activities", in Aoki, M., Gustafsson, B. and Williamson, O.E. (Eds), The Firm as a Nexus of Treaties, Sage, London.
14. David, P.A. (1985), "Clio and the Economics of QWERTY", American Economic Review, Vol. 75, pp. 332-7.
15. Delmas, M.A. (1999), "Exposing strategic assets to create new competencies: the case of technological acquisitions in the waste management industry in Europe and in the United States", Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 8, pp. 635-71.
16. Dosi, G. (1999), "Norms as emergent properties of adaptive learning: the case of economic routines", Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Vol. 9, pp. 5-26.
17. Dosi, G. and Marengo, L. (1994), "Some elements of an evolutionary theory of organizational competences", in Englander, R.W. (Ed.), Evolutionary Concepts in Contemporary Economics, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
18. Dosi, G. and Marengo, L. (1999), "On the tangled discourse between transaction costs economics and competence-based views of the firms: some comments", LEM Working Paper, 1999/08.
19. Dosi, G., Winter, S.G. and Teece, D.J. (1992), "Towards a theory of corporate coherence: preliminary remarks", in Dosi, G., Giannetti, R. and Toninelli, P.A. (Eds), Technology and Enterprise in a Historical Perspective, Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 185-211.
20. Durkheim, E. (1984), The Division of Labour in Society, [English translation of the French Edition (1893)], Macmillan, London.
21. Farmer, M.K. and Matthews, M.L. (1991), "Cultural differences and subjective rationality: where sociology connects with economics of technological choice", in Hodgson, G.M. and Screpanti, E. (Eds), Rethinking Economics. Markets, Technology and Economic Evolution, Edward Elgar, Aldershot, pp. 103-15.
22. Foss, N.J. (1993), "Theories of the firm: contractual and competence perspectives", Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Vol. 3, pp. 127-44.
23. Foss, N.J. (1996a), "Knowledge-based approaches to the theory of the firm: some critical comments", Organization Science, Vol. 7, pp. 470-6.
24. Foss, N.J. (1996), "Capabilities and the theory of the firm", Revue d'èconomie industrielle, Vol. 77, pp. 7-28.
25. Foss, N.J. (1997), "The resource-based perspective: an assessment and diagnosis of problems", DRUID Working Paper, No. 97-1.
26. Foss, N.J. (1999), "The theory of the firm: an introduction to themes and contributions", in Foss, N.J. (Ed.), Theories of the Firm: Critical Perspectives in Economic Organisation, Routledge, London.
27. Foss, K. and Foss, N.J. (1999), "The knowledge-based approach and organizational economics: how much do they really differ? And how does it matter", Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy, Copenhagen Business School, mimeo.
28. Foss, N.J., Knudsen, C. and Montgomery, C.A. (1995), "An exploration of common ground: integrating evolutionary and strategic theories of the firm", in Foss, N.J., Knudsen, C. and Montgomery, C.A. (Eds), Resourced-based and Evolutionary Theories of the Firm, Kluwer, Boston, MA, pp. 1-18.
29. Fransman, M. (1994), "Information, knowledge, vision and theories of the firm", Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 3, pp. 713-57.
30. Fujimoto, T. (1999), "Reinterpreting the resource-capability view of the firm: a case of the development-production systems of the Japanese auto-makers", in Chandler, A.D. Jr, Hagstrom, P. and Solvell, O. (Eds), The Dynamic Firm, The Role of Technology, Strategy, Organization, and Regions, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
31. Ghoshal, S. and Moran, P. (1996), "Bad for practice: a critique of transaction cost theory", Academic of Management Review, Vol. 21, pp. 13-47.
32. Ghoshal, S., Moran, P. and Almedia-Costa, L. (1995), "The essence of the megacorporation: shared context, not structural hierarchy", Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, Vol. 151, pp. 748-59.
33. Grossman, S. and Hart, O. (1986), "The costs and benefits of ownership: a theory of vertical integration", Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 94, pp. 691-719.
34. Hart, O.D. (1995), Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure, The Clarendon Press, Oxford.
35. Hart, O. and Moore, J. (1990), "Property rights and the nature of the firm", Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 98, pp. 1119-58.
36. Hodgson, G.M. (1998a), "Evolutionary and competence-based theories of the firm", Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. 25, pp. 25-56.
37. Hodgson, G.M. (1998b), "Competence and contract in the theory of the firm", Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol. 35, pp. 179-201.
38. Hogarth, R.M., Michaud, C., Doz, Y. and Van der Heyden, L. (1991), "Longevity of business firms: a four-stage framework for analysis", mimeo.
39. Holland, J.H. and Miller, J.H. (1991), "Artificial adaptive agents in economic theory", American Economic Review, Paper and Proceedings Vol. 81, pp. 365-70.
40. Holmstrom, B. and Milgrom, P. (1991), "Multitask principal-agent analyses: incentive contracts, asset ownership, and job design", Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Vol. 7, pp. 24-52.
41. Jensen, M.C. and Meckling, W. (1976), "The theory of the firm: managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure", Journal of Financial Economics, Vol. 3, pp. 305-60.
42. Klein, B., Crawford, R.A. and Alchian, A.A. (1978), "Vertical integration, appropriable rents, and the competitive contracting process", Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 21, pp. 297-326.
43. Knight, F.H. (1921), Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit, Augustus M. Kelley, New York, NY.
44. Kogut, B. and Zander, U. (1992), "Knowledge of the firm, combinative capabilities, and the replication of technology", Organization Science, Vol. 3, pp. 383-97.
45. Kreps, D.M. (1996), "Markets and hierarchies and (mathematical) economic theory", Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 5, pp. 561-96.
46. Langlois, R.N. (1996), "Cognition and capabilities: opportunities seized and missed in the history of the computer industry", in Garud, R., Nayyar, P. and Shapira, Z. (Eds), Technological Entrepreneurship: Oversights and Foresights, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY.
47. Langlois, R.N. (1992), "Transaction cost economics in real time", Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 1, pp. 99-127.
48. Langlois, R.N. and Foss, N.J. (1999), "Capabilities and governance: the rebirth of production in the theory of economic organization", Kyklos, Vol. 52, pp. 201-18.
49. Leijonhfvud, A. (1986), "The factor system", in Langlois, R. (Ed.), Economics as a Process. Essays in the New Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, pp. 171-202.
50. Leoncini, R., Montresor, S. and Vertova, G. (2003), "Dynamic capabilities: evolving organisations in evolving (technological) systems", Working Paper of the Department of Economics 'Hyman P. Minsky', University of Bergamo, April 2003.
51. Liebeskind, J. (1996), "Knowledge, strategy and the theory of the firm", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, pp. 93-107.
52. Lippman, S.A. and Rumelt, R.P. (1982), "Uncertain imitability: an analysis of interfirm differences under competition", Bell Journal of Economics, Vol. 13, pp. 418-38.
53. Loasby, B.J. (1996), "On the definition and the organisation of capabilities", mimeo, presented at the IDSE-CNR seminar, Milan, June.
54. Loasby, B.J. (2000), "Market institutions and economic evolution", Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Vol. 10, pp. 297-309.
55. Marengo, L., Dosi, G., Legrenzi, P. and Pasquali, C. (2000), "The structure of problem-solving knowledge and the structure of organizations", Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 9, pp. 757-88.
56. Marschack, J. and Radner, R. (1972), The Economic Theory of Teams, Yale University Press, New Haven.
57. Marshall, A. (1920), Principles of Economics, 8th ed., Macmillan, London.
58. Montgomery, C.A. (1995), "Of diamonds and rust: a new look at resources", in Foss, N., Knudsen, C. and Montgomery, C.A. (Eds), Resourced-based and Evolutionary Theories of the Firm, Kluwer, Boston, MA.
59. Montresor, S. and Romagnoli, A. (2003), "Modelling the firm from a system perspective: some methodological insights", mimeo, University of Bologna.
60. Myerson, R.B. (1999), "Nash equilibrium and the history of economic theory", Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 37, pp. 1067-82.
61. Nelson, R.R. and Winter, S.G. (1982), An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, The Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA.
62. Newell, A. and Simon, H. (1972), Human Problem Solving, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
63. Nonaka, I. (1994), "A dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation", Organization Science, Vol. 5, pp. 14-37.
64. Nonaka, I. and Toyama, R. (2002), "A firm as a dialectical being: towards a dynamic theory of a firm", Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 11, pp. 995-1009.
65. Nonaka, I., Toyama, R. and Nagata, A. (2000), "The firm as a knowledge creating entity: a new perspective on the theory of the firm", Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 9, pp. 1-20.
66. Nooteboom, B. (1996), "Trust, opportunism and governance: a process and control model", Organization Studies, Vol. 17, pp. 985-1010.
67. Nooteboom, B. (2003), "Governance and competence: how can they be combined?", mimeo, presented at the CRIE Workshop on Explaining the firm: transaction costs vs capabilities, Great Oftley, UK, 25-27 June 2003.
68. Penrose, E.T. (1959), The Theory of the Growth of the Firm, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
69. Peteraf, M.A. (1993), "The cornerstones of competitive advantage: a resource-based view", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 14, pp. 179-91.
70. Pitelis, C.N. (1991), Market and Non-market Hierarchies, Blackwell, Oxford.
71. Pitelis, C.N. and Pseiridis, A.N. (1999), "Transaction costs versus resource value?", Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. 26, pp. 221-40.
72. Polanyi, M. (1967), The Tacit Dimension, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
73. Prahald, C.K. and Hamel, G. (1990), "The core competence of the corporation", Harvard Business Review, Vol. 66, pp. 79-91.
74. Richardson, G.B. (1972), "The organisation of industry", Economic Journal, Vol. 82, pp. 883-96.
75. Rumelt, R. (1984), "Towards a strategic theory of the firm", in Lamb, R.B. (Ed.), Competitive Strategic Management, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
76. Rumelt, R., Schendel, D. and Teece, D. (1994), Fundamental Issues in Strategy: a Research Agenda, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
77. Senge, P.M. (1990), The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, Doubleday, New York, NY.
78. Simon, H.A. (1951), "A formal theory of the employment contract", Econometrica, Vol. 19, pp. 293-305.
79. Simon, H.A. (1955), "A behavioral model of rational choice", Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 69, pp. 99-118.
80. Simon, H.A. (1962), "The architecture of complexity", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 106, pp. 467-82.
81. Teece, D.J. (1982), "Towards an economic theory of the multiproduct firm", Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol. 3, pp. 39-63.
82. Teece, D. (1986), "Profiting from technological innovation: implications for integration, collaboration, licensing, and public policy", Research Policy, Vol. 15, pp. 285-305.
83. Teece, D.J. and Pisano, G. (1994), "The dynamic capabilities of firms: an introduction", Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 3, pp. 537-56.
84. Teece, D.J., Pisano, G. and Shuen, A. (1997), "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 18, pp. 509-33.
85. Wernerfelt, B. (1984), "A resource-based view of the firm", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 5, pp. 171-80.
86. Williamson, O.E. (1975), Markets and Hierarchies, Free Press, New York, NY.
87. Williamson, O.E. (1985), The Economic Institutions of Capitalism, Free Press, New York, NY.
88. Williamson, O.E. (1999), "Strategy research: governance and competence perspectives", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 20, pp. 1087-108.
89. Winter, S.G. (1988), "On Coase, competence, and the corporation", in Williamson, O.E. and Winter, S.G. (Eds), The Nature of the Firm, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
90. Zajac, E.J. and Olsen, C.P. (1993), "From transaction cost to transactional value analysis: implications for the study of interorganizational strategies", Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 30, pp. 131-45.