To perform effectively in any leadership position in a firm you need to first understand how firms actually work. This book, built on three decades of thinking, researching, and engaging with practitioners, sets out an integrated social science perspective that takes as its starting point that all firms are complex open systems. How Firms Really Work explores a wide range of topics related to The firm’s value system, transformation risk and the role of knowhow in the value creation process The firm’s lifecycle including co-evolution of firms and markets  Managing hybrid configurations The impact of technology on value creation and value captureWith its extensive use of figures and case examples to illustrate its points, this book offers a comprehensive yet broad perspective on the reality of modern firms. Scholars, researchers, and students will find the bringing together of previously unconnected bodies of knowledge into a coherent account of the birth and development of a firm to be very insightful, while professionals armed with the book’s perspectives will be able to assume leadership positions with more confidence.