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Edith Penrose Quotes

1914–1996 United Kingdom

Edith Elura Tilton Penrose (November 15, 1914 – October 11, 1996) was an American-born British economist, whose best known work is The Theory of the Growth of the Firm (1959), which describes the ways which firms grow and how fast they do.

United Kingdom
Academics
Authors
Business theorists
Economists

Also known as: Edith T. Penrose

Random Edith Penrose quote

6 quotes

Management tries to make the best use of the resources available.

Internal inducements to expansion arise largely from the existence of a pool of unused productive services, resources and special knowledge, all of which will always be found within any firm.

A firm is essentially a pool of resources the utilization of which is organized in an administrative framework.

A firm is more than an administrative unit; it is also a collection of productive resources the disposal of which between uses and over time is determined by administrative decision.

There is no need to deny that other 'objectives' are often important—power, prestige, public approval, or the mere love of the game— it need only be recognized that the attainment of these ends more often than not is associated directly with the ability to make profits.

Difficulties arise when an attempt is made to acclimatize the theory to an alien environment and, in particular, to adapt the analysis of the expansion of the innovating multi-product, ‘flesh and blood’ organisations that businessmen call firms.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Edith Penrose (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.