Industrial and Corporate Change, Volume 11, Number 4, pp. 623-644
© 2002 Oxford University Press
Learning and the sources of corporate growth
Correspondence: P. Geroski: London Business School, Sussex Place, Regents Park, London NW1 4SA, UK; pgeroski{at}london.edu. M. Mazzucato: Department of Economics, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK; m.mazzucato{at}open.ac.uk.
Abstract
This paper explores the link between learning and corporate growth by developing different models of learning and showing that they produce observably different models of corporate growth. Using data on the growth of a number of firms in the US automobile industry during the 20th century, we compare these different models of growth in an effort to identify the major sources of learning which these firms seem to have relied on. Although there are interesting differences between growth processes before and after the Second World War, the basic conclusion that we are drawn to is that learning in this sector is largely unsystematic and opportunistic.