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Cited by 283

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 9 of the 9 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Toward a theory of business

Open access
Donaldson, Thomas, Walsh, James P.·2015·Research in Organizational Behavior

Abstract

What is the purpose of business? While most agree that business minimally involves the creation of value, a blurred double image of value haunts our discussion of purpose. The image of what counts as value for a single firm is laid atop an image of what counts as value for business in general. These two images cannot match. Indeed, the resulting conceptual blurriness is a classic example of a composition fallacy. We should never mistake the properties of a part for the properties of the whole. A theory of the firm is ill equipped to handle the many expectations we hold for business practice. As such, we seek to establish the beginnings of a theory of business, one that is both empirical and normative. Offering four central propositions about the purpose, accountability, control and success of business, we close with a consideration of several important theoretical issues and practical opportunities that await us in the years ahead.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.riob.2015.10.002

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Metadata

Authors
Donaldson, T., & Walsh, J. P.
Venue
Research in Organizational Behavior
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2015
Volume
35
Pages
181-207
ISSN
0191-3085 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2219606438
Cited by
283
References
9
FWCI
54.03
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
hybrid

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

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