Culture, defined as shared values and beliefs, can influence the performance of an economy in many ways. The culture of a group, whether national, regional or ethnic, may be regarded as a particular type of intangible public good. The chapter summarizes and critiques a positive theory of...

Much has been written about where the boundaries of the firm are drawn, but little about what occurs at the boundaries themselves. When a firm subcontracts, does it inform its suppliers fully of what it requires, or is it willing to accept what they have available? In practice firms often engage...

In this book, a well known theorist of the multinational firm extends his major contributions to encompass the scope of the firm in general. Casson presents a model showing how the different activities of the firm - R & D, production, marketing, and distribution, for example - are linked in a...

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...

<title>Abstract</title> <italic>This paper offers an integrated analysis of outsourcing, offshoring, and foreign direct investment within a systems view of international business. This view takes the supply chain rather than the firm as the basic unit of analysis. It argues that competition in the global economy...</italic>

<italic>Entrepreneurship studies is a booming area of research, but, as previous commentators have noted, the literature has become pluralistic and diffuse. There is a profusion of concepts, many of them ill defined. Theory and empiricism are only weakly linked. There is a distinct lack of historical...</italic>

The origins of enterprise are often associated with the Industrial Revolution, but this article presents evidence of entrepreneurial activities from a much earlier date - the medieval period. Between 1250 and 1500 the church, merchants and members of the royal court all engaged in activities...