Value Creation Principles: The Pragmatic Theory of the Firm Begins with Purpose and Ends with Sustainable Capitalism (Hardcover)

Preface and Overview

Part I A Firm’s Role in Society

Chapter 1 Overview of the Pragmatic Theory of the Firm

The nucleus of the pragmatic theory of the firm   

The evolution of thinking about the theory of the firm

Kindred spirits for the pragmatic theory

Innovation and economic growth 

The purpose of the firm

The pragmatic theory of the firm

Chapter 2 Knowledge Building and Firm Performance

The knowledge-building path to improved performance  

The knowledge-building loop

Human behavior, culture, and firm performance

Elegant, parsimonious, and reliable theories

Chapter 3 Work, Innovation, and Resource Allocation

Lean Thinking— “No problem is a problem”

The Theory of Constraints

Ontological/phenomenological model

Knowledge building and innovation

Resource allocation

The key constraint in sustaining a knowledge-building culture

Part II The Pragmatic Theory of the Firm Connects Innovation and Valuation

Chapter 4 Life-cycle Performance and Firm Risk

The firm’s competitive life cycle

A paranoid optimist successfully restructures Nokia  

A case study of innovation—Amazon   

The life-cycle valuation model

What does a stock price say about a firm’s future investments?

Forward-looking, market-derived discount rate

The roots of modern finance

Firm risk offers a different mindset

Summary of key ideas

A research methodology for advancing the life-cycle framework

Chapter 5 Intangible Assets, Brands, and Shareholder Returns

The New Economy and connectivity-enabled business models

Empirical evidence about intangible assets

Brands impact a firm’s market value

A conceptual roadmap for handling intangible assets

Integrated Reports, Life-cycle Reviews, and intangibles

Expect more than coffee—Starbucks

Costco starts by caring for its employees

Ringing doorbells and changing times—Avon

Why did Illumina outperform the stock market 18-fold from 2004 to 2014?

The efficient market hypothesis and the factor zoo

Excess shareholder returns and three levels of cause-and-effect logic

Useful ideas for investors, management, and academic researchers

System principles and effective language 

Part III Value Creation

Chapter 6 Life-cycle Position, Key Managerial Tasks, and Organizational Structure

Life-cycle guideposts

Focused execution of an innovative business model—Netflix

Innovation in the operating room—Intuitive Surgical

Nothing runs like a Deere

Smith Corona and NCR

The ABCs of organizational structure

Organizational experimentation at Haier Group

Value creators drive Chinese dynamism

Chapter 7 Achieving Progress through Knowledge Building and Value Creation

The New Economy and the pragmatic theory of the firm

Life-cycle track records are a scorecard and a learning tool

Politics and the greater good

Progress Studies

About the Author

Index