Abstract

The social responsibility literature generally agrees on the necessity for a renewal of economic theory to understand social and ecological issues faced by the firm. In this chapter, we analyse some features of the dominant economic conceptualizations of the firm, showing that their representations of the firm are hardly compatible with social responsibility theories. But those theories do not provide a unified alternative conceptualization of the firm able to challenge the dominant economic perspective. Moreover, their representations often remain confined to an organizational level unable to grasp today’s transformations and challenges. Here, we draw upon early analyses of the modern corporation to propose a conceptualization of the firm as a social institution. Such a definition enhances the social and historical construction processes of the corporate form, but also its changing nature with regard to social and economic conflicts and challenges of a particular time. It also opens the debate about the legal framing of what has become a major structuring institution, and its relevance and effectiveness in light of current challenges of our societies.