Um modelo do processo de inovação à luz da Resource-Based View e da teoria do Crescimento da Firma, de Edith Penrose

Objective: To analyze the innovation process in the light of the RBV and The Theory of the Growth of the Firm, by Edith Penrose.Methodology: A Systematic Literature Review was carried out using the Methodi Ordinatio. The Social Network Analysis technique was performed to determine which theoretical contexts the studies were based on. Similarity Analysis was also carried out to identify the relationship between the elements of the focal approaches and the innovation process.Originality/relevance: The Penrose study is considered by many researchers to be the antecedent of what was later called Resource-Based View, however, most of these studies did not fully explain the contribution of Penrose´s theory in the specifics of the theoretical view. Although research on innovation has been based on theoretical approaches in the field of strategy, there have been no analyses that systematized the innovation process by integrating the Penrose theory and RBV.Main results: The studies that analyzed innovation from the RBV and the Theory of the Growth of the Firm emphasized the maintenance of competitive advantage as a result of its dynamic capabilities, as well as access to and use of organizational knowledge.The authors identified heterogeneous innovation resources and imperfectly mobile, such as user-technology interactions, trajectory-dependent capabilities, specialized assets, RD capabilities, and network ties.Theoretical contributions: The study revealed that through the continuous execution of the innovation process, unique core competencies (e.g., RD experience) are developed to improve heterogeneous and imperfectly mobile innovation resources.

Mute, mutation, and mutiny: on the work of feminist epistemology

Purpose This paper aims to bring to the fore the importance of feminist epistemologies in the history of the organization of management studies since the 1980s by following various intellectual moves in the development of feminist theorizing as they cross over to organization studies, including their analytical possibilities for reclaiming historically the voices of major women scholars, especially in doctoral seminars. The paper narrates these epistemological activities by mobilizing and reconsidering from the past to the present, the notions of “unmuting,” “mutating” and “mutiny.” It ends in a reflection addressing the state of business schools at present and why the field of organization and management studies needs “mutiny” now. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a narrative approach in which the voices of its authors appear to be central as they consider and reconsider over time their understanding of “unmuting,” “mutation” and “mutiny” as notions with analytical potential. This approach is influenced by Foucault’s “history of the present” but with contingencies brought about by feminist interpretations. The application of these notions is demonstrated by reclaiming and clarifying the epistemological underpinning in the works of three major women scholars as included in a doctoral seminar: Mary Parker Follett, Edith Penrose and Rosabeth Moss Kanter. These notions are further redeployed for their potential in institutional applications. Findings At present, the findings are discursive – if they can be called so, but the main motivation behind this writing is to go beyond discourse in the written sense, and to mobilize other activities, still in the realm of epistemological and scholarly work. These activities would legitimize actual interventions for changing business schools from their current situation as neoliberal entities, which mute understanding of major problems in the world, as well as the voices of most humans and non-humans paying for the foibles of neoliberalism. Originality/value The paper demonstrates the necessity of developing approaches for interventions in knowledge producing institutions increasingly limited by neoliberal premises in what can be said and done as legitimate knowledge. In doing this, the paper articulates the importance of keeping history alive to avoid the increasing “forgetfulness” neoliberalization brings about. The paper, in its present form, represents an active act of “remembering”.

The Life and Work of Edith Penrose

Edith Penrose (1914–96) was a pioneering and original scholar whose best-known work, The Theory of the Growth of the Firm written over sixty years ago, has had enduring influence and is now regarded as a “classic” in strategy, management, and organization studies. With the benefit of extensive secondary literature and a recent biography this chapter explores the relationship between her life and work, the people and events that shaped her work, and the importance of history, time, and process in her thinking. The chapter also considers how studying the classics can inform our understanding of the history and evolution of organization studies.

Revisitando a "Teoria do Crescimento da Firma" sob as perspectivas de Penrose e Kirzner: conteúdos e divergências

Este artigo propõe uma releitura metodológica original das principais conclusões do livro “Teoria do Crescimento da Firma”, de Edith Penrose, sob a ótica da Escola Austríaca, com ênfase nas ideias de Israel Kirzner. Apresenta uma introdução da Teoria Neoclássica da firma, e discute como ela é entendida e criticada por Penrose e Kirzner. Com isso, faz uma revisão da teoria proposta no livro de Penrose, analisando como suas conclusões são consequências necessariamente dependentes dos caminhos metodológicos percorridos pela autora, ao antropomorfizar na firma as ações empresariais que são de caráter exclusivo do homo agens. Constata que Penrose, ao seguir uma metodologia não muito bem definida, e que nem mesmo é expressa por ela, ignora o subjetivismo e o individualismo defendidos pela Escola Austríaca, acabando por propor não mais que uma leitura unilateral da firma, em uma perspectiva gerencial que olha as empresas de dentro para fora, na busca de oportunidades de lucro, mas que incorre no erro de deixar de lado a característica essencial do processo de mercado, a competição empresarial.

Proposing an innovation-based view of the firm

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on theories of the firm and argues for the importance of an innovation-based view (IBV). In doing so, it examines the incumbent management theories of the firm, resource-based view (RBV), knowledge-based view (KBV) and dynamic capabilities, considering the recent developments in the academic literature and in the nature of the firm. The research approach of abduction (conceiving of theory) proposed by Peirce and described by Van de Ven is used. A conceptual framework that incorporates the growing influence of information and communications technology and open innovation on the characteristics of the firm is developed. The managerial tradition that originated in the scholarship of Edith Penrose is used to develop the framework, as opposed to the lens of economic ‘black box’ theories.

Introduction

In 1994 the Academy of International Business elected Edith Penrose an Emeritus Distinguished Fellow of the Academy—an honour only bestowed once before, on Charles Kindleberger. Her distinctive contribution was singled out in two areas; the theory of the growth of the firm and the understanding of the interface between the strategies and activities of international and multinational enterprises and the nation states—particularly the developing countries—in which they operated. The first topic engaged her in the 1950s and early 1960s, the latter in the later 1960s and 1970s. These topics led on to a third; the implications for firms and national governments of the emergence of a more liberalized and closely integrated global economy, which she addressed as a professor emeritus in the 1980s and early 1990s. Her major contribution to the field of economics was ...

No Ordinary Woman

Edith Penrose was a creative thinker, a distinguished economist, and an inspirational teacher who profoundly challenged the prevailing orthodoxy in several fields, including micro-economics, business studies, and development economics. Her major contribution to the field of economics was The Theory of the Growth of the Firm (1959), now regarded as a classic that has ‘inspired thinking in strategy, entrepreneurship, knowledge creation, and innovation’. Edith Penrose’s approach to explaining the nature of the firm, her fundamental insights, and the concepts she developed are still being applied and extended to new fields of enquiry. She has had a major influence on the study of the business enterprise and, some argue, the economy itself. She had a distinguished academic and public service career and wrote over 100 books and articles, many of which are devoted to the understanding of the interface between the strategies and activities of multinational enterprises, including the oil industry, and the nation states—particularly the developing countries—in which they operated. This is the first biography of Edith Penrose drawing on unpublished diaries and letters, the personal memories of her family, friends, and colleagues, and describes her eventful life, her extensive output, and influence. The book tells her personal and professional story, weaving through the extraordinary upheavals of the twentieth century in which she played a part. The book builds a picture of a vital, energetic woman who lived life to the full, defied convention, made an impression on all who met her, and left a significant intellectual legacy.

História da Adama Agricultural Solutions

A Adama Agricultural Solutions é uma das líderes mundiais do mercado de produtos equivalentes (patente vencida) da indústria de agrotóxicos. É resultante da fusão entre a Makhteshim e a Agan, duas empresas israelenses fundadas na década de 1940, no contexto do movimento sionista para a formação de Israel. Passou a ser controlada, em 2001, por uma estatal chinesa (ChemChina). O objetivo deste artigo é o resgate da história da Adama Agricultural Solutions a partir das suas estratégias de crescimento esterno (fusões e aquisições), de diversificação e de multinacionalização. Adota-se como referencial de análise a teoria do crescimento da firma de Edith Penrose e a lógica de multinacionalização de capitais, proposta por John Dunning e Sarianna Lundan.