Motivation and the Theory of the Firm Oliver Gottschalg Strategy and Business Policy Department HEC School of Management, Paris 78351 Jouy en Josas Cedex, France gottschalg@hec.fr Tel.: (33) 670017664 Fax: (33) 1 60 74 55 00 Maurizio Zollo INSEAD Department of Strategy 77305 Fontainebleau, France Tel.: (33) 160724474 Fax: (33) 1 60 74 55 43 maurizio.zollo@insead.edu February 8, 2006 (Version 8) Financial support from the Fondation HEC, the R&D Department at INSEAD, the Wharton-INSEAD Alliance, the INSEAD-PwC Research Initiative on High Performance Organizations and the INSEAD Gesellschaft Scholarship is gratefully acknowledged. We are indebted to Steve Barley, Matt Bidwell, Nicolai Foss, Bruce Kogut, Rich Makadok, Peter Roberts, and Sid Winter, as well as to seminar participants at INSEAD, HEC Paris, the Academy of International Business Meeting 2004, the Academy of Management Meeting 2004 and the Strategic Management Society Meeting 2004 for their helpful comments. All remaining errors or omissions remain our own responsibility. 1