Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v7y1996i5p470-476.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Knowledge-Based Approaches to the Theory of the Firm: Some Critical Comments

Author

Listed:
  • Nicolai J. Foss

    (Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy, Copenhagen Business School, Nansensgade 19.6, DK-1366 Copenhagen K, Denmark)

Abstract
It is argued that Kogut and Zander (Kogut, B., U. Zander. 1992. Knowledge of the firm, combinative capabilities, and the replication of technology. Organ. Sci. 3 383--397.) and Conner (Conner, K. R. 1991. A historical comparison of resource-based theory and five schools of thought within industrial organization economics: Do we have a new theory of the firm? J. Management 17 121--154.) erred in the specific way in which they claimed that a distinct theory of the multi-person firm can be constructed on the basis of a theory of organizational knowledge or from resource-based insights. It is not possible to tell very much of a story about why there should be firms in lieu of notions such as “opportunism” or “moral hazard.” However, properly interpreted, knowledge-based theories may help shed light on issues relating to the boundaries and internal organization of the firm.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicolai J. Foss, 1996. "Knowledge-Based Approaches to the Theory of the Firm: Some Critical Comments," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(5), pages 470-476, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:7:y:1996:i:5:p:470-476
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.7.5.470
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.7.5.470
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.7.5.470?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:7:y:1996:i:5:p:470-476. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.