This paper investigates the optimal assignment of principalship in teams. We formalize a theory of the firm pioneered by Alchian and Demsetz [Am. Econ. Rev. 62 (1972) 777] using an approach in the spirit of Grossman and Hart [J. Pol. Econ. 94 (1986) 691]. Our theory makes a distinction between...

At an interim stage players possessing only their private information freely communicate with each other to coordinate their strategies. This results in a core strategy, which is interpreted as an equilibrium set of players' alternative type-contingent contract offers to their fellows. From this...

This book contains eight articles written (six with co-authors who are noted at the beginning of the relevant chapters) over the past 30 years addressing various aspects of the Theory of the Firm. These articles emanated from our desire to understand more thoroughly the forces pushing firms to...

This conference paper suggests that the problem of corporate ethics cannot be reduced to the autonomous person. Although the greatest influence on action and choice is one's moral constitution, it does not follow that the agent's behavior is the same within or without the firm. Ethics is a...

Research in the “theory of the firm” tradition has often characterized firms as subeconomies in which economic exchange is shaped by a central authority. We propose an expanded view of firms as subsocieties in which authority is further responsible for establishing principles that shape...

Globalization has been identified by many experts as a new way firms organize their activities and as the emergence of human capital as the new stakeholder of the firm. This paper surveys recent work which examines the role of trade integration for these changes in corporate organization. More...

Research on the nature and value of firms’ dynamic capabilities has produced contradictory propositions and findings. Scholars have argued that contingency theorizing has the potential to improve our understanding, as the context in which dynamic capabilities are deployed may affect their...