The Network-Firm as a Single Real Entity: Beyond the Aggregate of Distinct Legal Entities

Abstract:     
This paper intends to depart from a critique of the nexus of contracts theory of the firm endowed with its moral personification to propose some theoretical foundations of the firm as a real entity. Some old legal views of the corporation are mobilized to complete the conceptual vacuity of economic theories. This provides crucial insights for modern complex organizations such as the network firm. The integrating and unifying role of intra-network power relationships is then emphasized and some law and economics of the network-firm are ultimately proposed to clarify the argument that the network-firm - as the firm stricto sensu - is a singular real entity composed from distinct legal entities.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 22

Keywords: Law and economics, contract theory of the firm, network-firm, legal fiction, real entity

JEL Classification: B40, K00, L20

working papers series