A retrospective look at A Behavioral Theory of the Firm

The papers in this special issue focus on ideas associated with a book published 45 years ago, A Behavioral Theory of the Firm (Cyert, R.M., March, J.G., 1963. A Behavioral Theory of the Firm. Endlewood Cliffs. Prentice Hall, NJ). The book proposed the introduction of a few more realistic behavioral assumptions into the economic theory of the firm. The papers presented here examine some aspects of the history of the ideas found in the book, extend and elaborate the ideas in the context of current research, and indicate possible directions for future research in the behavioral tradition. We will not attempt to summarize the papers, but will try to locate them gently in their historical and intellectual context.