Much recent work on firms' capabilities and competitive competences builds on Penrose's (1959) seminal contribution to the theory of the firm in emphasising their organisational nature, and the critical role of managerial routines in transforming resources into distinctive services (see, e.g....

In many markets firms set posted prices which are potentially negotiable. We analyze theoptimal marketing mix of pricing and bargaining when price takers buy at posted prices butbargainers attempt to negotiate discounts. The optimal bargaining strategy involves the firmsoffering bargainers...

In the view of most policymakers and economists,competition in retail banking takes place in localmarkets covering a relatively small geographic area.Banks are thought to design their services and settheir loan and deposit rates in response to the supply anddemand conditions prevailing in a...

We present a general Cournot model in which each ¯rm may sell multiplequality-di®erentiated products. We use an upgrades approach, working not with theactual products, but instead with upgrades from one quality to the next. The prop-erties of single-product Cournot models carry over to the...

This paper analyses market valuations of UK companies using a new data set of their R&Dand IP activities (1989-1999). In contrast to previous studies, the analysis is conducted at thesectoral level, where the sectors are based on the technological classification in Pavitt (1984).The first main...

[...]We conclude that technological change, combinedwith overall growth in the capital stock, is the most importantfactor driving the growing wage inequality betweenlow-skilled and high-skilled workers. Increased competitionfrom abroad, both from developing and industrializedcountries, appears...

This paper examines major privately-owned British railway companies before World War I. Quantitative evidence is presented on return on capital employed, total factor productivity growth, cost inefficiency, and speed of passenger services. There were discrepancies in performance across companies...