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Firms as Social Actors

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  • Richard Adelstein

    (Department of Economics, Wesleyan University)

Abstract

This essay asks what firms are, whether they are ‘real’ social actors, and whether their actions can be traced without remainder to the actions of living people or whether there is some irreducible aspect of their existence or operation that must be attributed to the organization itself. It describes firms as ongoing, multilateral relational contracts from whose operation, that is, from performance over time by specific individuals in the roles and relationships defined by the contract, emerge the firm’s idiosyncratic routines and capabilities. It emphasizes the role of entrepreneurs in the creation of firms and the close dependence of organizational capabilities on human performance, and argues that this account is consistent with a reasonable individualism that allows for social outcomes to be determined by the actions and interaction of individuals. It then proposes that firms are nonetheless institutional facts and thus ontologically subjective but epistemically objective components of reality, and concludes with directions for future work.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Adelstein, 2010. "Firms as Social Actors," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2013-003, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:wes:weswpa:2010-003
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    File URL: http://repec.wesleyan.edu/pdf/radelstein/2010003_adelstein.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Natalia Yakovleva & Diego Vazquez-Brust, 2012. "Stakeholder Perspectives on CSR of Mining MNCs in Argentina," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 106(2), pages 191-211, March.
    2. Chassagnon, Virgile, 2012. "Une analyse historique de la nature juridique de la firme," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 12.
    3. Keck Markus & Bohle Hans-Georg & Zingel Wolfgang-Peter, 2012. "Dealing with insecurity," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 56(1-2), pages 43-57, October.
    4. Breidbach, Christoph F. & Tana, Silviana, 2021. "Betting on Bitcoin: How social collectives shape cryptocurrency markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 311-320.
    5. Richard Adelstein, 2013. "Firms as Persons," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2013-003, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics.

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