The Firm in Economic GeographyFootnote

* When writing this article I benefited from interchanges with Ed Malecki, Paivi Oinas, and Michael Taylor and from discussions and the ongoing work of colleagues at the Copenhagen Business School. The participants at the seminar on the Firm in Economic Geography, University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom, 9–10 March 2000, and three anonymous reviewers provided useful comments on an earlier draft. I thank the Nordic Center for Spatial Development for its financial support of the research on which this article is based. The usual disclaimers apply.

References

• Abler, R.; Adams, J. S.; and Gould, P. 1972. Spatial organization. The geographer’s view of the world. London: Prentice Hall International.
   Google Scholar
• Alchain, A. A., and Demsetz, H. 1972. Production, information costs, and economic organisation. American Economic Review. 62:777–95.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Alchain, A. A., and Woodward, S. 1988. The firm is dead; long live the firm—A review of Oliver E. Williamson’s The economic institutions of capitalism. Journal of Economic Literature. 26:65–79.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Alexandersson, G. 1967. Geography of manufacturing. Foundations of Economic Geography Series. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
   Google Scholar
• Amin, A., and Cohendet, P. 1999. Learning and adaptation in decentralized business networks. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space. 17:87–104.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Amin, A., and Cohendet, P. 2000. Organisational learning and governance through embedded practices. Journal of Management and Governance. 4:93–116.
   Google Scholar
• Amin, A., and Thrift, N., eds. 1994. Globalisation, institutions and regional development in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Barnes, T. J., and Sheppard, E. 2000. Companion to economic geography. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
   Google Scholar
• Barney, J. B. 1986. Strategic factor markets: Expectation, luck and business strategy. Management Science. 32:1231–41.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Barney, J. B. 1991. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management. 17:99–120.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bhaskar, R. 1989. The possibility of naturalism. A philosophical critique of the contemporary human sciences. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
   Google Scholar
• Bryson, J.; Henry, N.; Keeble, D.; and Martin, R. L. 1999. The economic geography reader: Producing and consuming global capitalism. Chicester, U.K.: Wiley.
   Google Scholar
• Casson, M. 1993. Cultural determinants of economic performance. Journal of Comparative Economics. 17:418–42.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Chapman, K., and Walker, D. F. 1987. Industrial location. 2d ed. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
   Google Scholar
• Cheung, S. 1983. The contractual nature of the firm. Journal of Law and Economics. 26:1–21.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Clark, G. L.; Feldman, M. P.; and Gertler, M. S., eds. 2000. The Oxford handbook of economic geography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Coase, R. H. 1937. The nature of the firm. Economica. 4:386–405.
   Google Scholar
• Coase, R. H. 1960. The problem of social cost. Journal of Law and Economics. 3:1–44.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Coase, R. H. 1972. Industrial organization: A proposal for research. In Policy issues and research opportunities in industrial organization, ed. V. R. Fuchs Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research.
   Google Scholar
• Cohen, K. J., and Cyert, R. M. 1965. Theory of the firm: Resource allocation in a market economy. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
   Google Scholar
• Collis, D. J. 1991. A resource-based analysis of global competition: The case of the bearings industry. Strategic Management Journal. 12:49–68.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• 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 Journal of Management. 17:121–54.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Cooke, P., and Morgan, K. 1998. The associational economy. Firms, regions and innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Crang, P. 1997. Cultural turns and the (re)constitution of economic geography. In Geographies of economics, ed. R. Lee and J. Willis, 3–15. London: Arnold.
   Google Scholar
• Cyert, R. M., and March, J. G. 1963. A behavioral theory of the firm. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
   Google Scholar
• Cyert, R. M., and Simon, H. A. 1983. The behavioral approach: With emphasis on economics. Journal of Behavioral Science. 28:95–108.
   Google Scholar
• Dahlman, C. J. 1979. The problem of externality. Journal of Law and Economics. 22:141–62.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Dierickx, I., and Cool, K. 1989. Asset stock accumulation and sustainability of competitive advantage. Management Science. 35:1504–13.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Fama, E. 1980. Agency problems and the theory of the firm. Journal of Political Economy. 88:288–307.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Foss, N. J. 1993. More on Knight and the theory of the firm. Managerial and Decision Economics. 14:269–76.
   Google Scholar
• Foss, N. J. ed. 1999. Theories of the firm: Critical perspectives in economic organisation. Vols. 1–3. London: Routledge.
   Google Scholar
• Gambetta, P. 1988. Trust: Making and breaking co-operative relations. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
   Google Scholar
• Gertler, M. S. 2001. Best practice? Geography, learning and the institutional limits to strong convergence. Journal of Economic Geography. 1:5–26.
   Google Scholar
• Gierke, O. V. 1900. Political theories of the Middle Ages. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Grant, R. 1991. The resource-based theory of competitive advantage implication for strategy formulation. California Management Review. 33:114–35.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Grossman, G. M., and Hart, O. 1986. The costs and benefits of ownership: A theory of vertical integration. Journal of Political Economy. 94:691–719.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hamilton, F. E. I., ed. 1974. Spatial perspectives on industrial organization and decision-making. London: Wiley.
   Google Scholar
• Hart, O. 1995. Firms, contracts and financial structure. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
   Google Scholar
• Hart, O., and Moore, J. 1990. Property rights and the nature of the firm. Journal of Political Economy. 98:1119–58.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hirschman, A. O. 1982. Rival interpretations of market society: Civilizing, destructive or feeble Journal of Economic Literature. 20:1463–84.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hodder, B. W., and Lee, R. 1974. Economic geography. London: Methuen.
   Google Scholar
• Holmström, B., and Milgrom, P. 1994. The firm as an incentive system. American Economic Review. 84:972–91.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Holmström, B., and Tirole, J. 1989. The theory of the firm. In Handbook in industrial organization, ed. R. Schmalensee and R. D. Willig, 61–133. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
   Google Scholar
• Hoover, E. M. 1948. The location of economic activity. New York: McGraw-Hill.
   Google Scholar
• Hotelling, H. 1929. Stability in competition. Economic Journal. 39:41–57.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Isard, W. 1956. Location and space-economy. A general theory relating to industrial location, market areas, land use, trade, and urban structures. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
   Google Scholar
• Jensen, M. C., and Meckling, W. 1976. The theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics. 3:305–60.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Jensen, M. C., and Meckling, W. 1992. The theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. In Contract economics, ed. L. Werin and H. Wijkander Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
   Google Scholar
• Kirzner, I. M. 1973. Competition and entrepreneurship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
   Google Scholar
• Klein, B. 1983. Contracting costs and residual claims: The separation of ownership and control. Journal of Law and Economics. 26:367–74.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Knudsen, C. 1993. Modelling rationality, institutions and processes in economic theory. In Rationality, institutions and economic rationality, ed. U. Mäki, B. Gustafsson, and C. Knudsen London: Routledge.
   Google Scholar
• Krugman, P. R. 1991a. Increasing returns and economic geography. Journal of Political Economy. 99:483–99.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Krugman, P. R. 1991b. Geography and trade. Leuven, Belgium, and Cambridge, Mass.: Leuven University Press and MIT Press.
   Google Scholar
• Krugman, P. R. 1991c. History and industry location: The case of the manufacturing belt. American Economic Review. 81:80–3.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Krugman, P. R. 1995. Development, geography, and economic theory. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
   Google Scholar
• Lee, R., and Wills, J., eds. 1997. Geographies of economies. London: Arnold.
   Google Scholar
• Lippman, S. A., and Rumelt, R. P. 1982. Uncertain imitability. An analysis of interfirm differences in efficiency under competition. Bell Journal of Economics. 12:418–38.
   Google Scholar
• Lloyd, P. E., and Dicken, P. 1972. Location in space: A theoretical approach to economic geography. New York: Harper and Row.
   Google Scholar
• Loasby, B. J. 1990. Firms, markets and the principle of continuity. In Centenary essays on Alfred Marshall, ed. J. K. Whitaker Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press for the Royal Economic Society.
   Google Scholar
• Lorenz, E. H. 1992. Trust, community and cooperation: Towards a theory of industrial districts. In Pathways to industrialisation and regional development, ed. M. Storper and A. J. Scott, 195–203. London: Routledge.
   Google Scholar
• Lösch, A. 1938. Beiträge zur Standortstheorie. Schmollers Jahrbuch. 42:329–35.
   Google Scholar
• Lösch, A. [1940]. Die räumliche Ordnung der Wirtschaft. Jena, Germany: G. Fischer. 1954. The economics of location. Translated by W. H. Woglom. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Lundvall, B.-Å., and Maskell, P. 2000. Nation states and economic development—From national systems of production to national systems of knowledge creation and learning. In The Oxford handbook of economic geography, ed. G. L. Clark, M. P. Feldman, and M. S. Gertler, 353–72. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Machlup, F. 1967. Theories of the firm: Marginalist, behavioral, managerial. American Economic Review. 57:1–33.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mahoney, J. T., and Pandian, J. R. 1992. The resource-based view within the conversation of strategic management. Strategic Management Journal. 13:363–80.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Malecki, E. J. 1991. Technology and economic development: The dynamics of local, regional and national change. London: Longman.
   Google Scholar
• Martin, R. L., and Sunley, P. 2000. Rethinking the “economic” in economic geography: Broadening our vision or loosing our focus Antipode. 32:115–34.
   Google Scholar
• Maskell, P. 1998. Successful low-tech industries in high-cost environments: The case of the Danish furniture industry. European Urban and Regional Studies. 5:99–118.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Maskell, P. Forthcoming. Towards a knowledge-based theory of the geographical cluster. Industry and Corporate Change. 10(4).
   Google Scholar
• Maskell, P.; Eskelinen, H.; Hannibalsson, I.; Malmberg, A.; and Vatne, E. 1998. Competitiveness, localised learning and regional development: Specialisation and prosperity in small open economies. London: Routledge.
   Google Scholar
• Maskell, P., and Malmberg, A. 1999a. Localised learning and industrial competitiveness. Cambridge Journal of Economics. 23:167–85.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Maskell, P., and Malmberg, A. 1999b. The Competitiveness of firms and regions: “Ubiquitification” and the importance of localised learning. European Urban and Regional Studies. 6:9–26.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Milgrom, P., and Roberts, J. 1988. Economic theories of the firm: Past, present, and future. Canadian Journal of Economics. 21:444–58.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Montgomery, C. A., ed. 1995. Resource-based and evolutionary theories of the firm—Towards a synthesis. Boston: Kluwer.
   Google Scholar
• Nelson, R. R., and Winter, S. G. 1977. In search of a useful theory of innovation. Research Policy. 6:36–76.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Nelson, R. R., and Winter, S. G. 1982. An evolutionary theory of economic change. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Palander, T. 1935. Beiträge zur Standortstheorie. Uppsala, Sweden: Almqvist and Wiksells.
   Google Scholar
• Penrose, E. T. 1959. The theory of the growth of firms. New York: Oxford University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Porter, M. E. 1990. The competitive advantage of nations. London: Macmillan.
   Google Scholar
• Porter, M. E. 1994. The role of location in competition. Journal of the Economics of Business. 1:35–39.
   Google Scholar
• Prahalad, C. K., and Hamel, G. 1990. The core competence of the corporation. Harvard Business Review. 68:79–91.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Richardson, G. B. 1972. The organisation of industry. Economic Journal. 82:883–96.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Richardson, G. B. 1998. Production, planning and prices. Working Paper (http://www.business.auc.dk/DRUID). Aalborg, Denmark, and Copenhagen: DRUID.
   Google Scholar
• Sako, M. 1992. Contracts, prices and trust: How the Japanese and British manage their subcontracting relationships. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Schoenberger, E. 1997. The cultural crisis of the firm. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell.
   Google Scholar
• Simon, H. A. 1951. A formal theory of the employment relation. Econometrica. 19:293–305.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Smith, D. M. 1971. Industrial location: An economic geographical analysis. New York: Wiley.
   Google Scholar
• Storper, M., and Walker, R. 1984. The spatial division of labor: Labor and the location of industries. In Sunbelt/snowbelt, urban development and regional restructuring, ed. L. Sawers and W. K. Tabb, 19–47. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Storper, M., and Walker, R. 1989. The capitalist imperative: Territory, technology and industrial growth. New York: Basil Blackwell.
   Google Scholar
• Teece, D. J. 1980. Economies of scope and the scope of the enterprise. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. 3:223–47.
   Google Scholar
• Toyne, P. 1974. Organisation, location and behaviour: Decision-making in economic geography. London: Macmillan.
   Google Scholar
• Weber, A. [1909]. Über den standort der industrien. Tübingen, Germany: J. C. B. Mohr. 1971. Theory of the location of industries. Translated by C. J. Freidrich. New York: Russell and Russell.
   Google Scholar
• Wernerfelt, B. 1984. A resource-based view of the firm. Strategic Management. 5:171–80.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Williamson, O. E. 1971. The vertical integration of production: Market failure considerations. American Economic Review. 41:112–27.
   Google Scholar
• Williamson, O. E. 1975. Market and hierarchies—Analysis and antitrust implications. A study in the economics of internal organization. New York: Free Press.
   Google Scholar
• Williamson, O. E. 1981a. The economics of organizations: The transaction cost approach. American Journal of Sociology. 87:548–77.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Williamson, O. E. 1981b. The modern corporation: Origins, evolution, attributes. Journal of Economic Literature. 19:1537–68.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Williamson, O. E. 1985. The economic institutions of capitalism. New York: Free Press.
   Google Scholar
• Williamson, O. E. 1996. Transaction cost and market failure. In Managing the multibusiness company: Strategic issues for diversified groups, ed. M. Goold and K. S. Luchs, 17–40. London: Routledge.
   Google Scholar