The ever more frequent and forceful criticisms of management sciences suggest that we need a new model. In fact, the number of proposed alternatives has multiplied, with some suggesting that the range of economic points of departure be extended, while others turn to other sciences (sociology,...

The concept of common good occupies a prominent place in political and social philosophy, yet it has had little impact on the theory of the firm. This is despite some recent attempts to resituate the theory of the firm on broader and therefore more fruitful anthropological and social foundations...

The traditional theories of the firm leave no room for love in business organizations, perhaps because it is thought that love is only an emotion or feeling, not a virtue, or because economic efficiency and profit making are considered to be incompatible with the practice of charity or love. In...

The normative foundations of the investor centered model of corporate governance, represented in mainstream economics by the nexus-of-contracts view of the firm, have come under attack, mainly by proponents of normative stakeholder theory. We argue that the nexus-of-contracts view is static and...

Since Coase's (1937) pioneering article, the theory of the firm, especially in its neoclassical form, has developed tremendously. The criticisms leveled against it confirm its interest and usefulness - which is not to say that it cannot be improved upon or corrected in many respects. This...

This paper attempts to take steps towards the formulation of a more human approach to the theory of the firm than the conventional economics-based models. Unbounded rationality, self-interest and the absence of learning are shown to be crucial assumptions of conventional economic theory. Then,...