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)

Scholars of security affairs can stop their dreary quarrels over military doctrine and balance assessments, and turn their attention to finding ways to prevent global warming and preserve the ozone layer. European leaders can contemplate how to spend peace dividends. This chapter assesses this optimistic view by exploring in detail the consequences for Europe of an end to the Cold War. It examines the effects of a scenario under which the Cold War comes to a complete end. The chapter argues that bipolarity, an equal military balance, and nuclear weapons have fostered peace in Europe. It offers an explanation for the peacefulness of the post-World War II order. The chapter examines the theories underlying claims that a multipolar Europe is likely to be as peaceful, if not more peaceful, than Cold War Europe. The peace-loving democracies theory holds that domestic political factors, not calculations about military power or the international economic system, are the principal determinant of peace.

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Back to the Future: Instability in Europe After the Cold War

Fifteen years of research on business model innovation : how far have we come, and where should we go?

Culture and Consumption: New Approaches to the Symbolic Character of Consumer Goods and Activities

Historically, management theory has ignored the constraints imposed by the biophysical (natural) environment. Building upon resource-based theory, this article attempts to fill this void by proposing a natural-resource-based view of the firm—a theory of competitive advantage based upon the firm's relationship to the natural environment. It is composed of three interconnected strategies: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development. Propositions are advanced for each of these strategies regarding key resource requirements and their contributions to sustained competitive advantage.

A natural resource-based view of the firm

In recent years there has been no shortage of calls for reforming marketing (Håkansson et al., 2004; Lusch and Vargo, 2006; Sheth and Sisodia, 2006). Despite the lack of a consensus on a direction for reform, a growing call for the study of markets can now be heard that connects both to classic marketing thought and current developments in social science. Venkatesh et al. (2006: 253), in particular, claim that: ‘In one of the stranger omissions of the discipline, the term market has not been employed with much seriousness or rigor’. A focus on markets rather than marketing, as Venkatesh and Peñaloza (2006: 147) note, implies that ‘markets are not universal, self-contained entities, but rather take on distinct discursive forms and material practices across various social contexts and over time’. Heeding these calls, this special issue advocates a practicebased approach to markets and marketing following parallel moves in other management disciplines and social sciences (see e.g. Bourdieu, 1977; de Certeau, 1984; Schatzki et al., 2001). We suggest that the genesis of a practice-based approach to markets can be located in Callon’s (1998a) influential volume The Laws of the Markets, which is receiving increased attention in Marketing. Callon (1998b) rejects the notion that markets are spontaneous creations, populated by self-interested agents whose make-up is calculative by nature, and which are aptly described by neoclassical economics. But he is equally dismissive of the notion that it is the social embeddedness (Granovetter, 1985) of markets that creates the supplementary norms and beliefs that allow calculating agents to

Market practices and forms: introduction to the Special Issue

Sustainable procurement: Past, present and future

The Genesis of German Conservatism

The transition from products to solutions: External business model fit and dynamics

This article provides a conceptual overview of theoretical approaches to the study of markets from across social science disciplines. These approaches are arranged according to the dimensions of socialization and materialization. While necessarily simplistic and non-exhaustive, such arrangement drives out some of the strengths and weaknesses of the frameworks considered. Particular attention is given to the emerging markets-as-practice approach, which loosely unites the contributions to this special issue. While the markets-as-practice framework has received considerable attention in the recent decade, much remains to be studied in and around markets. Some of the issues highlighted in this article, and explored across the five contributions in this issue, are multiplicity in markets, market changes and dynamics, the possibility of “managing” markets, and values, morals, and power in markets.

Robert Spencer

Papers

Market practices and forms: introduction to the Special Issue

Sustainable procurement: Past, present and future

The Genesis of German Conservatism

The transition from products to solutions: External business model fit and dynamics

Shaping exchanges, building markets