The internalisation theory of the multinational enterprise (MNE) is a significant intellectual legacy of Ronald Coase. US direct investment in Europe became highly political in the 1960s, and neoclassical trade theory had no explanation. A theory of the multiplant enterprise was required, and...

Coase's ‘The Nature of the Firm’ can be read as contributing to either or both a marginalist or a comparative institutional perspective, although Coase made clear in the paper that he saw its primary contribution as belonging to the former camp. However, it has since tended to be interpreted...

This paper argues that Coase provides the primary 20th century exemplar of the grounding of analytical developments in economics in direct fieldwork observation. In particular, his focus on the business enterprise, its internal functions (including decision‐making), and its external relations...

The emergence and delayed influence of Coase's ideas demonstrate the role of unpredictability and path dependence in the creation of knowledge and the recognition of its implications. Coase's approach to the operation of firms and markets was not readily accommodated in a theoretical vision of...

Ronald Coase viewed transaction cost minimization as a central goal of contracting and organizational decisions. We discuss how a solution to the traditional successive monopoly problem that has not been discussed in the literature can economize on such costs. Specifically, we show that when we...

This case study of Avis Europe PLC examines the diminished role of franchising in the vehicle leasing firm's achievement of market dominance in Europe. Market maturity, industry consolidation, adoption of centralised, efficiency-oriented technologies, and strategic alliances are the principal...