Penrose's “unused services”: a cross‐cultural perspective on growth of firms

Purpose – Penrose introduced the concept of “unused services” which she identified as the internal inducement to firm growth. The purpose of this paper is to explore “unused services”, insufficiently examined in the literature to date, by applying Eastern conceptual thinking to refine Penrose's arguments.Design/methodology/approach – The centrality of “unused services” to Penrose's theory is highlighted. The rationale for a general propensity of entrepreneurial managers to overlook the generation of such services in practice is developed and two Chinese concepts (Xing and Shi from Sun Tzu) are employed to work through their implications for Penrose's concept.Findings – The continuous availability of unused services represents the firm's propensity to grow (Shi) and is derived from the disposition of existing resources (Xing). The authors' cross‐cultural perspective highlights the fundamental and inherent force governing the growth of the firm as the process through which the management team makes meaning ...