This volume features a series of essays which arose from a conference on economics, addressing the question: what is the nature of the firm in economic analysis? This paperback edition includes the Nobel Lecture of R.N. Case.

Introduction ; 1. The Nature of the Firm ; 2. The Nature of the Firm: Origin ; 3. The Nature of the Firm: Influence ; 4. Nobel Lecture ; 5. Transactions Costs and Internal Labor Markets ; 6. The Logic of Economic Organization ; 7. Asset Specificity and the Structure of Vertical Relationships: Empirical Evidence ; 8. Incomplete Contracts and the Theory of the Firm ; 9. The Theory of the Firm Revisited ; 10. On Coase, Competence, and the Corporation ; 11. A Legal Basis for the Firm ; 12. Vertical Integration as Organizational Ownership: The Fisher Body-General Motors Relationship Revisited

"Our advice to anyone interested in organizations and organization theory is don't miss this book. It includes some of the past, present, and future of a major line of thought regarding the nature of the firm. It is an important contribution to the expanding interest in organization theory."--Journal of Management "Particularly timely given Coase's receipt of the 1991 Nobel Prize for economics....For students and noneconomists, the volume provides an accessible route into the now enormous literature on economic organization....Specialists, on the other hand, will find ample grist for their analytical mills."--Business History Review "The evolution of the theory is interesting, several important issues are discussed, and the suggestions for future research are illuminating. For those not familiar with this literature, the book provides a clear exposition of its origins and key ideas."--Business History "Many of the papers are exccellent. The book is accessible to advanced undergraduates and graduate students and valuable for specialists in the field. It is that rare conference volume which is interesting, enlightening, and important."--Journal of Economic Literature "A lively debate on economic approaches to the firm....It is unlikely that there is a better book than this one for understanding what the economics mainstream and periphery have to say today on the organization and governance of the firm."--Administrative Science Quarterly "Our advice to anyone interested in organizations and organization theory is don't miss this book. It includes some of the past, present, and future of a major line of thought regarding the nature of the firm. It is an important ontribution to the expanding interest in organization theory."--Journal of Management "Particularly timely given Coase's receipt of the 1991 Nobel Prize for economics....For students and noneconomists, the volume provides an accessible route into the now enormous literature on economic organization....Specialists, on the other hand, will find ample grist for their analytical mills."--Business History Review "The evolution of the theory is interesting, several important issues are discussed, and the suggestions for future research are illuminating. For those not familiar with this literature, the book provides a clear exposition of its origins and key ideas."--Business History "Many of the papers are exccellent. The book is accessible to advanced undergraduates and graduate students and valuable for specialists in the field. It is that rare conference volume which is interesting, enlightening, and important."--Journal of Economic Literature "A lively debate on economic approaches to the firm....It is unlikely that there is a better book than this one for understanding what the economics mainstream and periphery have to say today on the organization and governance of the firm."--Administrative Science Quarterly