What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

Markets and Hierarchies

In spite of extensive research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its link with economic and social performance, less work has investigated the institutional determinants of corporate social responsibility. This paper draws upon recent developments in comparative institutional analysis to compare the influence of different institutional environments on CSR policies of European firms. Using a dataset of European firms, we find that firms from the more liberal market economies of the Anglo-American countries score higher on most dimensions of CSR than firms in the more coordinated market economies in Continental Europe. This result lends support to the view of voluntary CSR practices in liberal economies as being a substitute for institutionalized forms of stakeholder participation. Meanwhile, CSR tends not to mirror more institutionalized forms of stakeholder coordination. Rather, in coordinated market economies, CSR often takes on more implicit forms. Our analysis also shows that national institutional and sectoral-level factors have an asymmetric effect - strongly influencing the likelihood of firms adopting "minimum standards" of CSR, but having little influence on the adoption of "best practices."

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1341591_code287864.pdf?abstractid=1341591&rulid=52310&mirid=4

Corporate Social Responsibility in Western Europe: An Institutional Mirror or Substitute?

In spite of extensive research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its link with economic and social performance, few studies have investigated the institutional determinants of CSR. This article draws upon neo-institutional theory and comparative institutional analysis to compare the influence of different institutional environments on CSR policies of European firms. On the basis of a dataset of European firms, we find that firms from the more liberal market economies of the Anglo-Saxon countries score higher on most dimensions of CSR than firms in the more coordinated market economies (CMEs) in Continental Europe. This result lends support to the view of voluntary CSR practices in liberal economies as being a substitute for institutionalized forms of stakeholder participation. Meanwhile, CSR tends not to mirror more institutionalized forms of stakeholder coordination. Instead, in CMEs, CSR often takes on more implicit forms. Our analysis also shows that national institutional and sectoral-level factors have an asymmetric effect – strongly influencing the likelihood of firms adopting ‘minimum standards’ of CSR, but having little influence on the adoption of ‘best practices’.

PART I: HISTORY AND THEORY OF THE MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISE PART II: THE POLITICAL AND REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT PART III: STRATEGY AND INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT PART IV: MANAGING THE MNE PART V: AREA STUDIES PART VI: METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES

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The Oxford Handbook of International Business

This introductory article provides a preliminary explanation of the cross-national similarities and differences of union revitalization strategies discussed in this special issue. Differences in th...

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Union Revitalization Strategies in Comparative Perspective

As unions face an ongoing crisis all over the industrialized world, they have often been portrayed as outmoded remnants of an old economic structure. This book argues that despite structural shifts in the economy and in politics, unions retain important functions for capitalist economies as well as for political democracy. Union revitalization in the face of their current difficulties is therefore of fundamental importance. The book charts the strategies unions are using to respond to global union decline and to revive their fortunes in five countries - US, UK, Germany, Italy and Spain - providing a wide range of institutional settings, union structures, identities and union responses. It provides a rich source of documentation about union activity, but more importantly it goes beyond description to address two of the big questions in comparative research: How can we explain cross-country differences of union responses to global decline? And how effective are these actions in helping to revitalize the labour movements? Union strategies and union revitalization outcomes varied strongly across countries and were shaped by national industrial relations institutions, as well as by the interactions between union, employer and state strategies. These findings support the argument for national divergence of the varieties of capitalism literature and challenge the globalization thesis which predicts a degree of convergence in the fate of union movements across the advanced capitalist world. There is no single revitalization strategy that works well for all union movements; the same strategy is likely to produce different results in different countries. Moreover, evidence for variation in revitalization outcomes emerges most clearly when we adopt a multi-dimensional conceptualization of revitalization, moving beyond union membership and density to embrace economic and political power as well as the institutional dimension of union reform. Despite serious revitalization attempts in all countries the scale of revitalization is extremely modest when compared to the great upsurges of unionism in history. Varieties of Unionism presents important research and analysis of union strategy for academics and graduate students of Industrial Relations, Management, Politics, Political Economy, and Sociology.

Varieties of unionism : strategies for union revitalization in a globalizing economy

Varieties of Unionism

The article reviews the existing English- and German-speaking literature on the German works council. Three major research topics are discussed: the ontology and typologies of works councils; their current practice and transformation; and their economic outcomes. Although much research has been conducted on the internal functioning of the works council-management relationship, it is clear that we still know little about the determinants of different workplace relations and their outcomes. The article concludes by advocating a reviving research interest in the link between codetermination and political democracy.

A Critical Assessment of the Theoretical and Empirical Research on German Works Councils

This chapter deals with attempts by unions to build coalitions with other movements and institutions in civil society. In the first place, it identifies the functions of coalition-building for unions and notes the types of resource that unions can access through alliance with other civil society agents. Secondly, it develops a typology of union-backed coalitions that distinguishes between vanguard, common-cause, and integrative coalitions. Thirdly, it examines the factors that promote coalition, which range from diminishing traditional union resources, through the availability of coalition partners to the political opportunity structure. This framework is illustrated by comparing patterns of union coalition-building in the five cases of Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the US.

/pdf/the-new-solidarity-trade-union-coalition-building-in-five-50ahpbtknu.pdf

Carola M. Frege

Papers

Union Revitalization Strategies in Comparative Perspective

Varieties of unionism : strategies for union revitalization in a globalizing economy

Varieties of Unionism

A Critical Assessment of the Theoretical and Empirical Research on German Works Councils

The New Solidarity? Trade Union Coalition-Building in Five Countries