IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orstsc/v2y2017i4p258-271.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Theory-Based View: Economic Actors as Theorists

Author

Listed:
  • Teppo Felin

    (Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1HP, United Kingdom)

  • Todd R. Zenger

    (David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112)

Abstract

This paper outlines the theory-based view of strategy and markets. We argue that novel or “great” strategies come from theories. Entrepreneurs and managers originate theories and hypotheses about which activities they should engage in, which assets they might buy, and how they will create value. A firm’s strategy, then, represents a set of contrarian beliefs and a theory—a unique, firm-specific point of view—about what problems to solve, and how to organize and govern the overall process of value creation. We outline the cognitive and perceptual, organizational, and economic foundations of the theory-based view of strategy. We also discuss the essential attributes needed for a firm-level theory of strategy. Throughout the paper we offer informal examples of our argument, by briefly discussing the strategies of companies like Apple, Uber, Disney, Wal-Mart, and Airbnb. The theory-based view of strategy and markets also offers important insights for how firms govern themselves (including ownership, boards, and organization design) and how firms interact with capital markets and external evaluators and stakeholders. We conclude with a discussion of the practical and managerial applications of the theory-based view.

Suggested Citation

  • Teppo Felin & Todd R. Zenger, 2017. "The Theory-Based View: Economic Actors as Theorists," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(4), pages 258-271, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:orstsc:v:2:y:2017:i:4:p:258-271
    DOI: 10.1287/stsc.2017.0048
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/stsc.2017.0048
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/stsc.2017.0048?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sidney G. Winter, 2017. "Pursuing the evolutionary agenda in economics and management research," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 41(3), pages 721-747.
    2. Nicholas S. Argyres & Todd R. Zenger, 2012. "Capabilities, Transaction Costs, and Firm Boundaries," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(6), pages 1643-1657, December.
    3. Israel M. Kirzner, 1997. "Entrepreneurial Discovery and the Competitive Market Process: An Austrian Approach," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 60-85, March.
    4. Armen A. Alchian, 1950. "Uncertainty, Evolution, and Economic Theory," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(3), pages 211-211.
    5. Giovanni Gavetti & Daniel Levinthal & William Ocasio, 2007. "Perspective---Neo-Carnegie: The Carnegie School’s Past, Present, and Reconstructing for the Future," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 523-536, June.
    6. Eric Van den Steen, 2010. "Interpersonal Authority in a Theory of the Firm," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 466-490, March.
    7. Brayden G. King & Teppo Felin & David A. Whetten, 2010. "Perspective---Finding the Organization in Organizational Theory: A Meta-Theory of the Organization as a Social Actor," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(1), pages 290-305, February.
    8. Felin, Teppo & Zenger, Todd R., 2014. "Closed or open innovation? Problem solving and the governance choice," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 914-925.
    9. Jerker Denrell & Christina Fang & Sidney G. Winter, 2003. "The economics of strategic opportunity," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(10), pages 977-990, October.
    10. Lubomir P. Litov & Patrick Moreton & Todd R. Zenger, 2012. "Corporate Strategy, Analyst Coverage, and the Uniqueness Paradox," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(10), pages 1797-1815, October.
    11. Demsetz, Harold, 1988. "The Theory of the Firm Revisited," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(1), pages 141-161, Spring.
    12. Ingemar Dierickx & Karel Cool, 1989. "Asset Stock Accumulation and Sustainability of Competitive Advantage," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(12), pages 1504-1511, December.
    13. Teppo Felin & Todd R. Zenger, 2016. "CROSSROADS—Strategy, Problems, and a Theory for the Firm," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 222-231, February.
    14. Herbert A. Simon, 1955. "A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 69(1), pages 99-118.
    15. Russell W. Coff, 2010. "The coevolution of rent appropriation and capability development," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 711-733, July.
    16. Jay B. Barney, 1986. "Strategic Factor Markets: Expectations, Luck, and Business Strategy," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(10), pages 1231-1241, October.
    17. Conlisk, John, 1996. "Bounded rationality and market fluctuations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 233-250, March.
    18. Lori Rosenkopf & Atul Nerkar, 2001. "Beyond local search: boundary‐spanning, exploration, and impact in the optical disk industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 287-306, April.
    19. Gautam Ahuja & Curba Morris Lampert, 2001. "Entrepreneurship in the large corporation: a longitudinal study of how established firms create breakthrough inventions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 521-543, June.
    20. Akerlof, George A & Yellen, Janet L, 1985. "Can Small Deviations from Rationality Make Significant Differences to Economic Equilibria?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(4), pages 708-720, September.
    21. Jan W. Rivkin, 2000. "Imitation of Complex Strategies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(6), pages 824-844, June.
    22. Daniel Kahneman, 2003. "Maps of Bounded Rationality: Psychology for Behavioral Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1449-1475, December.
    23. Simon, Herbert A, 1979. "Rational Decision Making in Business Organizations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(4), pages 493-513, September.
    24. Bruce Kogut & Udo Zander, 1996. "What Firms Do? Coordination, Identity, and Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(5), pages 502-518, October.
    25. Ingemar Dierickx & Karel Cool, 1989. "Asset Stock Accumulation and the Sustainability of Competitive Advantage: Reply," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(12), pages 1514-1514, December.
    26. Teppo Felin & Stuart Kauffman & Antonio Mastrogiorgio & Mariano Mastrogiorgio, 2016. "Factor markets, actors, and affordances," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(1), pages 133-147.
    27. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    28. Mary J. Benner & Todd Zenger, 2016. "The Lemons Problem in Markets for Strategy," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(2), pages 71-89, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicolai J. Foss & Peter G. Klein & Lasse B. Lien & Thomas Zellweger & Todd Zenger, 2021. "Ownership competence," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 302-328, February.
    2. Teppo Felin & Todd R. Zenger, 2016. "CROSSROADS—Strategy, Problems, and a Theory for the Firm," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 222-231, February.
    3. Teppo Felin & Stuart Kauffman & Todd Zenger, 2023. "Resource origins and search," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(6), pages 1514-1533, June.
    4. Nicolaï Foss & Nils Stieglitz, 2012. "Modern Resource-based Theory(ies)," Chapters, in: Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm, chapter 20, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Nickerson, Jack A. & Yen, C. James & Mahoney, Joseph T., 2011. "Exploring the Problem-Finding and Problem-Solving Approach for Designing Organizations," Working Papers 11-0107, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    6. Sharon A. Alvarez & Jay B. Barney & Philip Anderson, 2013. "Forming and Exploiting Opportunities: The Implications of Discovery and Creation Processes for Entrepreneurial and Organizational Research," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 301-317, February.
    7. Kyle J. Mayer & Deepak Somaya & Ian O. Williamson, 2012. "Firm-Specific, Industry-Specific, and Occupational Human Capital and the Sourcing of Knowledge Work," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(5), pages 1311-1329, October.
    8. Giovanni Gavetti, 2012. "PERSPECTIVE—Toward a Behavioral Theory of Strategy," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 267-285, February.
    9. Andrew D. Henderson & Melissa E. Graebner, 2020. "Entering a Golden Age of Sustained Superiority: Entrepreneurial Creation or Discovery?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(6), pages 1432-1451, November.
    10. Nicholas S. Argyres & Todd R. Zenger, 2012. "Capabilities, Transaction Costs, and Firm Boundaries," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(6), pages 1643-1657, December.
    11. Gerhard Speckbacher & Kerstin Neumann & Werner H. Hoffmann, 2015. "Resource relatedness and the mode of entry into new businesses: Internal resource accumulation vs. access by collaborative arrangement," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(11), pages 1675-1687, November.
    12. Hunt, Shelby D., 1997. "Resource-advantage theory and the wealth of nations: Developing the socio-economic research tradition," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 335-357.
    13. Yosem Companys & Jeffery McMullen, 2007. "Strategic Entrepreneurs at Work: The Nature, Discovery, and Exploitation of Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 301-322, April.
    14. Hiroko Nagano, 2020. "The impact of knowledge diversity: Integrating two economic perspectives through the dynamic capability approach," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(6), pages 1057-1070, September.
    15. repec:dau:papers:123456789/2423 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Aseem Kaul, 2013. "Entrepreneurial Action, Unique Assets, and Appropriation Risk: Firms as a Means of Appropriating Profit from Capability Creation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(6), pages 1765-1781, December.
    17. Giovanni. Gavetti & Daniel A. Levinthal, 2004. "50th Anniversay Article: The Strategy Field from the Perspective of Management Science: Divergent Strands and Possible Integration," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(10), pages 1309-1318, October.
    18. Arkadiy V. Sakhartov, 2018. "Stock market undervaluation of resource redeployability," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 1059-1082, April.
    19. Reha Karadag & Laura Poppo, 2023. "Strategic resource decay," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(6), pages 1534-1561, June.
    20. Sidney G. Winter, 2012. "Purpose and Progress in the Theory of Strategy: Comments on Gavetti," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 288-297, February.
    21. Maryam Ghorbankhani & Federica Rossi, 2023. "Intrinsic and strategic complementarity of research and knowledge transfer activities as determinants of knowledge transfer management: evidence from public research organisations," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1386-1412, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:orstsc:v:2:y:2017:i:4:p:258-271. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.