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...

This paper uses recently digitised samples of apprentices and masters in London and Bristol to quantify the practice of apprenticeship in the late 17th century. Apprenticeship appears much more fluid than is traditionally understood. Many apprentices did not complete their terms of indenture;...

We consider an industry where one firm with a superior technology competes for market shares with several rivals. The owner of the superior technology (the dominant firm) can license or transfer the source of its dominance to a subset of rivals. Allowing the non-license takers to remain active...

This paper examines the effect of a new technology on a labour-intensive service. Comparing primal and dual TFP-growth with final-year social savings, we find that, between 1900 and 1938, motion pictures increased entertainment output (measured in spectator-hours) by at least nine percent...