Working Paper Series, Department of Industrial Economics & Strategy, Copenhagen Business School
No 97-11:
Can contractual theories of the firm ecplain the existence of knowledge-intensive firms?
Volker Mahnke
Abstract: This paper argues that the existence of
knowledge-intensive firms pose puzzelments for the contractual theories of
the firm. For example, in knowledge-intensive firms physical assets are
widely absent, the nature of employment relations and asset-ownership are
much less clear compared to industrial firms. Although knowledge-intensive
firms account for a growing share in wealth-creation and employment, they
have hitherto made relatively little impact on contributions to the
contractual theories of the firm (e.g. the work associated with Coase,
1937; Williamson, 1971 1975, 1985; Alchian and Demsetz, 1972; Meckling and
Jensen, 1976, Grossman and Hart, 1986, Hart, 1995). Here, I identify
puzzlement for the contractual theories of the firm related to the
existence of knowledge-intensive firms.
Keywords: knowledge; firm; theories of firms; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: L22; D83; (follow links to similar papers)
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