The Penrose Lectures 2019

Professor Rita McGrath will deliver two lectures: 

• Financialisation and the innovative capability of firms: Penrose’s lessons loom large
• From firms to markets: How digitization is changing our theories of firm level growth

About the speaker

Professor Rita Gunther McGrath is a world-renowned thought leader and an expert on leading innovation and growth during times of uncertainty. Rita is a professor at Columbia Business School and the author of five books, including the best-selling The End of Competitive Advantage and the upcoming Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen. She has received the #1 achievement award for strategy from the prestigious Thinkers50 and has been consistently named one of the world’s top ten management thinkers in its bi-annual ranking. 

Organiser 

The Penrose Lectures Committee, SOAS University of London

About the Penrose Lectures

The Penrose Lectures were established in memory of Professor Edith Penrose who made an outstanding contribution to social science.  Her work on innovation, international corporations, the theory of the firm, organisation and economic development have left a lasting legacy on the disciplines of economics and management.  Penrose was also an inspirational teacher of students at all levels – undergraduate, postgraduate, PhD, MBA - and a major contributor to important public policy issues and debates. In keeping with her legacy, the Penrose Lectures have been established to honour her contribution.  The lectures are held each year on a subject in economics, management or political economy.

Edith Penrose was appointed to a Chair in Economics at SOAS in 1964 having previously held a joint Readership in Economics at LSE and SOAS.  After retiring from SOAS in 1978 she was appointed Professor of Political Economy at INSEAD, Paris.  As well as being a pioneer in the disciplines of economics and management, Penrose was also the first woman to hold a professorial position in economics at SOAS.  In recognition of her work and legacy, the Penrose Lectures provide a platform for outstanding scholars to communicate their research work to faculty, students, practitioners and the wider public.

Oxford University Press has recently published a biography of Edith Penrose: Penrose, A (2017) No Ordinary Woman: The Life of Edith Penrose, Oxford University Press, Oxford.