The Economic Sociology of Firms and Entrepreneurs
Abstract The central issue I want to address is how it is possible for entrepreneurs to assemble the capital and labor required to sustain the cooperative venture we call a “firm.” Although firms will find it difficult to survive in an economic environment that affords them no profit, I argue that the possibility of profits that is, profits above and beyond those available in other uses of resources, or what are sometimes called “excess profits”-is also not a sufficient condition for such emergence; instead, one must study the social structure within which individuals and groups attempt the construction of firms.