Management tries to make the best use of the resources available. - Edith Penrose

There is no need to deny that other 'objectives' are often important—power, prestige, public approval, or the mere love of the game— it need only be recognized that the attainment of these ends more often than not is associated directly with the ability to make profits.

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 determined by administrative decision.

Difficulties arise when an attempt is made to acclimatize the theory to an alien environment and, in particular, to adapt the analysis of the expansion of the innovating multi-product, ‘flesh and blood’ organisations that businessmen call firms.