Mark Casson

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Mark Casson FBA (born in 1945) is a British economist and academic. He is a professor of economics at the University of Reading in England. He served as Head of the Department of Economics from 1987 to 1994 and is currently the Director of the Centre for Institutional Performance at the same institution.^[1]

Together with Peter Buckley, Casson developed the internalisation theory of the multinational enterprise, which is widely used to analyze the internationalization of firms. He also contributed to the modern economic theory of entrepreneurship by synthesizing the ideas of Joseph Schumpeter, Friedrich Hayek, and Frank Knight. According to this theory, successful entrepreneurs exhibit good judgment in making risky innovations and are rewarded through either profits or salaries, depending on whether they are owners or managers of their firms.^[2]

Casson's research suggests that culture and institutions significantly influence the performance of both individual entrepreneurs and large multinational corporations. He developed a leader-follower theory of culture, positing that leaders establish cultural norms that shape the decision-making processes of entrepreneurs and managers. To test this theory, he has applied institutional theory to business history and economic history. This approach led him to conduct a major study on Victorian British entrepreneurship, specifically focusing on the construction of the railway system through private enterprise, which is the subject of one of his most recent books.

Casson is a founding member of the Reading School of International Business, a global network of economists established in the 1970s at the University of Reading, England. This network has played a significant role in reshaping public perceptions regarding the costs and benefits of multinational enterprises and foreign direct investment. Casson also serves as the general editor of two book series: The Globalisation of the World Economy and Handbooks of Research Methods and Applications in the Social Sciences.