Abstract

Edith Penrose's theory of the growth of the firm is widely recognized in strategic management. By contrast, her contribution to research on the international patenting system is much less well known among management scholars. In this paper, we link together Penrose's two streams of intellectual contributions, by focusing sharply on the use and protection of knowledge resources — within and across firms — domestically and internationally. Applying a transaction cost economics lens, we propose that an effective (international) patent system makes it possible to separate the use from the ownership of knowledge resources, thus facilitating a broader use of such resources for achieving firm growth, within and across organizational and geographic boundaries.