Economic Organization, Capabilities and Coordination

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LIMITS TO A FIRM’S RATE OF GROWTH

The Richardsonian view and its contemporary empirical significance

Gavin C. Reid

INTRODUCTION

In a special issue of Oxford Economic Papers in 1964 two notable papers, by Leyland (1964) and Richardson (1964), on the growth of the firm were published. They were the product of an enquiry into ‘Business Policy in an Expanding Economy’ which had been undertaken by the Oxford Economic Research Group under the chairmanship of George Richardson. Richardson’s own contribution ‘The limits to a firm’s rate of growth’ is an elegant piece. It is an example of ‘grounded theory’.¹ Thus his starting point was the empirical evidence from the enquiry which illuminated perceived constraints upon a firm’s growth rate. Based on ...