A firm is more than an administrative unit; it is also a collection of productive resources the disposal of which between uses and over time is deter… - Edith Penrose

A firm is essentially a pool of resources the utilization of which is organized in an administrative framework.

If profits are a condition of successful growth, but profits are sought primarily for the sake of the firm, that is, to reinvest in the firm rather than to reimburse owners for the use of their capital or their 'risk bearing,' then, from the point of view of investment policy, growth and profits become equivalent as the criteria for the selection of investment programmes.

Internal inducements to expansion arise largely from the existence of a pool of unused productive services, resources and special knowledge, all of which will always be found within any firm.