Knowledge-Based Approaches to the Theory of the Firm: Some Critical Comments

It is argued that Kogut and Zander (Kogut, B., U. Zander. 1992. Knowledge of the firm, combinative capabilities, and the replication of technology. Organ. Sci.3 383–397.) and Conner (Conner, K. R. 1991. A historical comparison of resource-based theory and five schools of thought within industrial organization economics: Do we have a new theory of the firm? J. Management17 121–154.) erred in the specific way in which they claimed that a distinct theory of the multi-person firm can be constructed on the basis of a theory of organizational knowledge or from resource-based insights. It is not possible to tell very much of a story about why there should be firms in lieu of notions such as “opportunism” or “moral hazard.” However, properly interpreted, knowledge-based theories may help shed light on issues relating to the boundaries and internal organization of the firm.