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Penrose's The Theory of the Growth of the Firm: an exemplar of engaged scholarship

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Type

Article

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Authors

Kor, YY 
Mahoney, JT 
Siemsen, E 
Tan, D 

Abstract

Edith Penrose's (1959) classic book, The Theory of the Growth of the Firm, made a substantial impact on strategic management research, especially in the context of the resource-based view of the firm, and the ripple effects of her impact continue to unfold today in various disciplines. The book serves as a remarkably rich source of inspiration for scholarly research and a generative source of ideas, which are waiting to be further developed. In this paper, we examine Penrose's (1959) classic and provide: (1) the process by which this book came about; (2) a summary of its key ideas; (3) the subsequent impact of the book, in which we focus on mathematical models; and (4) a discussion of some of the research lessons learned from this exemplar of engaged scholarship. We invite management science and operations scholars to discover the rich scientific world of Edith Penrose and experience the product and process of her research creativity

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Keywords

growth of the firm, engaged scholarship, dynamic adjustment costs, resource-based approach, entrepreneurship

Journal Title

Production and Operations Management

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1059-1478
1937-5956

Volume Title

25

Publisher

SAGE Publications