The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)
01 Jan 2008-
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them, and describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative.
Abstract: 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.
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Posted Content•
01 Jan 1994TL;DR: In this paper, a natural resource-based view of the firm is proposed, which is composed of three interconnected strategies: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development, and each of these strategies are advanced for each of them regarding key resource requirements and their contributions to sustained competitive advantage.
Abstract: 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.
902 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reconceptualize the firm-level construct absorptive capacity as a learning dyad-level measure, relative absorptive capacities, and test the model using a sample of pharmaceutical-biotechnology R&D alliances.
Abstract: Much of the prior research on interorganizational learning has focused on the role of absorptive capacity, a firm's ability to value, assimilate, and utilize new external knowledge. However, this definition of the construct suggests that a firm has an equal capacity to learn from all other organizations. We reconceptualize the firm-level construct absorptive capacity as a learning dyad-level construct, relative absorptive capacity. One firm's ability to learn from another firm is argued to depend on the similarity of both firms' (1) knowledge bases, (2) organizational structures and compensation policies, and (3) dominant logics. We then test the model using a sample of pharmaceutical–biotechnology R&D alliances. As predicted, the similarity of the partners' basic knowledge, lower management formalization, research centralization, compensation practices, and research communities were positively related to interorganizational learning. The relative absorptive capacity measures are also shown to have greater explanatory power than the established measure of absorptive capacity, R&D spending. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
335 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: This paper employs a difference-in-differences approach to compare premove versus postmove citation rates for the recruits' prior patents and corresponding matched-pair control patents and generates results that are robust to a more stringently matched control sample.
Abstract: When firms recruit inventors, they acquire not only the use of their skills but also enhanced access to their stock of ideas. But do hiring firms actually increase their use of the new recruits' prior inventions? Our estimates suggest they do, quite significantly in fact, by approximately 202% on average. However, this does not necessarily reflect widespread "learning-by-hiring." In fact, we estimate that a recruit's exploitation of her own prior ideas accounts for almost half of the above effect. Furthermore, although one might expect the recruit's role to diminish rapidly as her tacit knowledge diffuses across her new firm, our estimates indicate that her importance is surprisingly persistent over time. We base these findings on an empirical strategy that exploits the variation over time in hiring firms' citations to the recruits' pre-move patents. Specifically, we employ a difference-in-differences approach to compare pre-move versus post-move citation rates for the recruits' prior patents and the corresponding matched-pair control patents. Our methodology has three benefits compared to previous studies that also examine the link between labor mobility and knowledge flow: 1) it does not suffer from the upward bias inherent in the conventional cross-sectional comparison, 2) it generates results that are robust to a more stringently matched control sample, and 3) it enables a temporal examination of knowledge flow patterns.
322 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the relationship between CSR and government and highlight the varied role that the governments can play in order to promote CSR in the context of the wider national governance systems.
Abstract: Abstract This paper explores the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and government. CSR is often viewed as self-regulation, devoid of government. We attribute the scholarly neglect of the variety of CSR-government relations to the inadequate attention paid to the important differences in the way in which CSR has ‘travelled’ (or diffused), and has been mediated by the national governance systems, and the insufficient emphasis given to the role of the government (or government agency) in the CSR domain. We go on to identify a number of different types of CSR-government configurations, and by following empirically the CSR development trajectories in Western Europe and East Asia in a comparative historical perspective, we derive a set of propositions on the changing dynamics of CSR-government configurations. In particular, we highlight the varied role that the governments can play in order to promote CSR in the context of the wider national governance systems.
278 citations
01 Apr 2017
TL;DR: A review and synthesis of existing research on institutional voids, tracking the evolution of institutional void scholarship since the inception of the concept, can be found in this article, where the authors highlight four different strategies for responding to them: internalization, substitution, borrowing and signaling.
Abstract: textFor nearly two decades, scholars in international business and management have explored the implications of institutional voids for firm strategy and structure. Although institutional voids offer both opportunities and challenges, they have largely been associated with firms' efforts to avoid or mitigate institutional deficiencies and reduce the transaction costs associated with operating in settings subject to those institutional shortcomings. The goal of this special issue is to advance scholarship on this topic by (a) exploring institutional voids that are new to the literature, (b) providing a deeper assessment of the different ways in which firms respond to these voids, and (c) utilizing diverse disciplines and theoretical approaches to do so. In this introduction, we first review and synthesize extant research on institutional voids, tracking the evolution of institutional void scholarship since the inception of the concept (Khanna & Palepu, Journal of Economic Literature, 45(2):331-372, 1997) and providing our perspective on its contributions and limitations. We then summarize the contributions of the articles included in this special issue. In addition to identifying an array of institutional voids - economic and social - the articles highlight four different strategies for responding to them: internalization, substitution, borrowing and signaling. Drawing on these, we develop new insights on the implications of institutional voids for firm behavior. We conclude with suggestions for future research.
249 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine critical contingencies arising from hypercompetition that moderate institutional influences on information systems outsourcing in commercial banks and show that the propensity of banks to conform to or resist institutional pressures depends on the nature of institutional pressures, perceived gain in production economies, financial capacity to resist institutional influences, and transaction cost considerations.
Abstract: This paper underscores the importance of examining strategic response to institutional influences in light of hypercompetition. Focusing on the banking industry, which is hypercompetitive and highly institutionalized, affords a unique opportunity to understand how individual corporations in such an industry respond strategically to institutional pressures. We examine critical contingencies arising from hypercompetition that moderate institutional influences on information systems outsourcing in commercial banks. Using data from 226 banks and hierarchical moderated regression analyses, we show that the propensity of banks to conform to or resist institutional pressures depends on the nature of institutional pressures, perceived gain in production economies, financial capacity to resist institutional influences, and transaction cost considerations.
474 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the preferences of 4405 individuals in forty-three organizations from sixty-eight different countries for four innovation championing roles: the organizational maverick, the network facilitator, the transformational leader and the organizational buffer.
Abstract: This paper examines the preferences of 4405 individuals in forty-three organizations from sixty-eight different countries for four innovation championing roles: the organizational maverick, the network facilitator, the transformational leader and the organizational buffer. The study shows that the cultural value of uncertainty acceptance is significantly associated with preferences for these four championing roles. It suggests that uncertainty-accepting societies may be more innovative than uncertainty-avoiding societies because of the greater legitimacy of those roles.
474 citations
TL;DR: This work finds that firms adapt to the pressures of corruption via short-term contracting and entry into joint ventures, and shows that MNEs use nonequity-entry modes or partnering as an adaptive strategy to participate in markets despite the presence of corruption.
Abstract: With globalization and the growth in emerging economies, multinational enterprises (MNEs) now frequently confront challenges associated with corrupt governments. Already, a growing body of research has demonstrated that corruption significantly reduces a countrys aggregate inflows of foreign direct investment through its effects on firm performance. We move the analysis of corruption from aggregate financial flows toward managerial theory and practice by examining how firms adjust their strategy for entering foreign markets in corrupt environments and how different types of corruption affect firms choices. Building on institutional theory, we predict that MNEs will respond to pervasive and arbitrary corruption in a host country by selecting particular types of equity and nonequity modes of entry. Using data on 220 telecommunications development projects in 64 emerging economies, we find that firms adapt to the pressures of corruption via short-term contracting and entry into joint ventures. We also find that the arbitrariness surrounding corrupt transactions has a significant impact on firms decisions, in addition to the overall level of corruption. In contrast to extant research, we show that MNEs use nonequity-entry modes or partnering as an adaptive strategy to participate in markets despite the presence of corruption.
472 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that technology-based entrepreneurs tend to have a higher degree of relational capital than their non-technology counterparts and that there are no significant differences in various dimensions of social capital between nascent entrepreneurs and the general public.
Abstract: This study was built upon Nahapiet and Ghoshal's three dimensions of social capital--structural, relational, and cognitive. It addresses three research questions: (1) Are there significant differences in social capital between nascent entrepreneurs and the general public (control group)? (2) Are there significant differences in social capital between technology and nontechnology nascent entrepreneurs? (3) How do the three dimensions of social capital interact among themselves across different sample groups? These questions were examined by using the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics data set. Results suggest that there are no significant differences in various dimensions of social capital between nascent entrepreneurs and the general public. What differentiates the two groups is not the amount of social capital but the patterns of association among its different dimensions. Additionally, the authors found that technology-based nascent entrepreneurs tend to have a higher degree of relational capital than their nontechnology counterparts. Implications and future research directions are discussed. Introduction Researchers studying social capital are centrally concerned with the significance of relationships as a resource for social action (Burt 1992; Baker 1990; Coleman 1988, 1990; Bourdieu 1985). The term social capital has traditionally been conceptualized as a set of social resources embedded in relationships (for example, Burt 1992; Loury 1977). It takes a sociological view of human action and perceives individuals as actors who are shaped by societal factors. Early usage highlighted the central importance of the development of individuals in community social organizations (Loury 1977; Jacobs 1965). A broader conceptualization presents social capital as including not only social relationships but also the norms and values associated with them (for example, Tsai and Ghoshal 1998; Putnam 1995; Coleman 1990). Social capital is therefore described by researchers as an asset embedded in the relationships of individuals, communities, networks, or societies (Nahapiet and Ghoshal 1998; Burt 1997; Walker, Kogut, and Shan 1997). The concept has been applied to a wide range of social phenomena, with focused attention on the role of social capital as an influence on compensation of chief executive officers (CEOs) (Belliveau, O'Reilly, and Wade 1996), individual occupational attainment (Lin and Dumin 1986), economic performance of firms (Baker 1990), the development of human capital (Coleman 1988), industry creation (Aldrich and Fiol 1994), and firm growth (Ostgaard and Birley 1994). More recently, the theory of social capital has been expanded to the field of entrepreneurship research. At the company level, the entrepreneurship literature has highlighted the significance of social capital in understanding how firms create and manage a network and what the outcomes are (e.g., Florin, Lubatkin, and Schulze 2003; Larson and Starr 1993; Aldrich and Zimmer 1986). At the individual level, studies have demonstrated that an entrepreneur's personal network allows access to resources that are not possessed internally (Ostgaard and Birley 1994). The general consensus is that a high level of social capital, built on a favorable reputation, relevant previous experience, and direct personal contact, often assists entrepreneurs in gaining access to venture capitalists, key competitive information sources, potential customers, and others (for example, Florin, Lubatkin, and Schulze 2003). The availability of resources made possible by entrepreneurial networks greatly enhances the survival and growth potential of new firms (Bruderl and Preisendorfer 1998). Although the theory of social capital has made significant inroads into entrepreneurship research, there are a number of limitations in how the concept is explored. First, social capital has been mainly defined and operationalized as a unidimensional rather than multidimensional construct, with much emphasis placed on the network or structural component. …
471 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a review of current empirical work on electronic human resource management (e-HRM) and its implications for future research is presented. Based on a definition and an initial framework, the review analyzes the used theories, the employed empirical methods, the chosen levels of analysis, the examined topics, and the revealed findings.
471 citations