Edith T. Penrose: Economist of 'The Ordinary Business of Life'

Jason M. Pattit, Katherina G. Pattit and J.-C. Spender

Strategic Management Review, 2024, vol. 5, issue 1-2, 51-74

Abstract: When Edith T. Penrose became Fritz Machlup's student in the late-1940s, she found little in mainstream or Austrian economics to guide her as she began her explorations into the growth of the firm. While she acknowledged Kenneth Boulding's influence on her work, we suspect she drew on a broader tradition that includes, among others, Alfred Marshall, Frank Knight (Boulding's teacher), and Ronald Coase. We seek to demonstrate Penrose's connection to this 'invisible college', particularly to Knight, and its influence on her investigation of the growth of the firm. Given mainstream economists' pursuit of rigor at the expense of practical relevance and their continuing inattention to Coase's work, we suggest Penrose's work on the growth of the firm can be understood as part of a broader tradition represented by this 'invisible college', leading to useful new insights for business strategy and business ethics scholarship.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/111.00000061 (application/xml)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:now:jnlsmr:111.00000061

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Strategic Management Review from now publishers
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Lucy Wiseman ().