More critical comments on knowledge-based theories of the firm

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Foss, NJ
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.7.5.519
• 发表日期: 1996
• 页码: 519-523
• 关键词: the existence of the firm; opportunism; the employment contract; asset-ownership

摘要

This paper continues the critique of knowledge-based theories of the firm that was undertaken in Foss (1996a), specifically criticizing the reasoning in Kogut and Zander (1996) and Conner and Prahalad (1996). I argue that Kogut and Zander (1996) attempt to explain firm organization in terms of a preference for such organization--a distinctly non-economic mode of explanation--and that Conner and Prahalad fail to sufficiently characterize the nature of the firm, because they identify firm organization with the employment contract and neglect asset-ownership.