Edith Penrose and the Penrose Lectures

This article summarises Edith Penrose’s career and impact on two disciplines - economics and management. The extent of her influence can be gauged by scanning the pages of leading publications in both fields, where copious references to Penrosian Theory, the Penrose Effect, the Penrosian Firm, Penrosian Analysis, the Penrosian Perspective, Penrosian Dynamics are standard. Penrose also played a major role in a variety of economics associations, policy bodies and government inquiries. This article considers the nature of her achievements and the fact that they are all the more remarkable for having been made at a time when economics was even more male dominated than it is today. Perhaps it is because she was a woman that her major contribution – The Theory of the Growth of the Firm - modelled firms as collections of people rather than as anonymous automata. We show how her contributions are honoured today via the annual Penrose Lectures; two lectures given each year at SOAS University of London, on a topic in economics, management or political economy. One of the objectives of the Penrose Lecture series is to showcase the work of leading women working in the fields of economics and management.