Abstract:

The economic level of the competition can be considered as a mechanism of resources allocation which allows, in many cases, the promotion of the economic efficiency. The firms have different behaviours on the real market. Starting from these ideas the present intends to identify the main explanatory elements that show the evolution of the firm theory. Focus will be on explaining the concept of consistency of the firm and of its link to the main theories of the firm. The paper is to present in full the developments that have led to the re-assessment of theories of firms starting from the criticism on Coase's theory based on the lack of testable hypotheses and on non-operative definition of transaction costs. This paper is focused on the oligopoly market structures. In this market the firms must define its behaviour and formulate strategies for future actions affected by risk and uncertainty. The conclusions of the paper reveal that using a theory of the firm as reference framework regarding the representation of the economic agent’s on oligopoly market structure, opens the way for a new field of investigation.