Cultural variation in the theory of the firm

This paper presents a model of the firm that includes the possibility of firm and employee on-the-job decision making based on alternatives to profit and utility maximization. Such alternatives are relevant and significant when explaining firm activity in cultural environments in which self-interest is not considered to be a primary force driving human behavior. Three types of firms are defined and their properties are compared: the Western firm, the Japanese firm, and the clan. The third is a combination of the first two.