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 paper, the influence of external pressure on environmental disclosures in annual reports, including the amount and types of strategies used in disclosure, the characteristics of environmental disclosure vis-a-vis other social disclosure, and the association between environmental disclosures and actual performance.
Abstract: Through the juxtaposition of theory and a meso-level empirical illustration of the environmental disclosures included in the annual reports of Canadian public companies operating in the mineral extraction, forestry, oil and gas, and chemical industries over the 1982 to 1991 period, the current study attempts to increase our understanding of the role and functioning of environmental disclosures. Our analyses focus on three concerns: the influence of external pressure on environmental disclosures in annual reports, including the amount and types of strategies used in disclosure; the characteristics of environmental disclosure vis-a-vis other “social” disclosures; and the association between environmental disclosures and actual performance. We question whether such disclosures highlight positive environmental actions, obfuscate negative environmental effects or both.
1,779 citations
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors investigated the impact of guanxi utilization on firm performance, primarily sales growth and net profit growth, based on a survey of 128 firms in central China, and provided strong support that institutional, strategic, and organizational factors are critical determinants of Guanxi with competitive forces.
Abstract: This paper focuses on the utilization of guanxi, which is an important cultural and social element in China, and the impact of guanxi on firm performance. Although guanxi is embedded in every aspect of Chinese social life, companies demonstrate different needs and capacity for guanxi cultivation. Chinese firms develop guanxi as a strategic mechanism to overcome competitive and resource disadvantages by cooperating and exchanging favors with competitive forces and government authorities. We develop an integrative framework theorizing guanxi utilization according to institutional, strategic, and organizational factors, and we explore the impact of guanxi on firm performance, primarily sales growth and net profit growth. Our findings, based on a survey of 128 firms in central China, provide strong support that institutional, strategic, and organizational factors are critical determinants of guanxi with competitive forces. However, only institutional and strategic factors are significant for guanxi utilization with government authorities. In general, guanxi leads to higher firm performance, but is limited to increased sales growth, and has little impact on profit growth. Guanxi benefits market expansion and competitive positioning of firms, but does not enhance internal operations. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
1,775 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors suggest that attempts to increase legitimacy may trigger a series of vicious circles which ultimately decrease legitimacy, which ultimately leads to the organization being perceived as a "clumsy actor", a "nervous actor", and an "overacting actor".
Abstract: Organizations require legitimacy to attract constituents' support Legitimacy, however, is always problematic. Thus, organizations frequently pursue legitimacy through a variety of substantive and symbolic practices. But legitimacy is a social judgment that is ultimately accorded the organization by its constituents. Organizations that pursue this judgement run the risk of “protesting too much”–of being perceived as precisely the opposite, manipulative and illegitimate. Such organizations include (1) the clumsy actor, perceived as unethical, heavy-handed, or insensitive, (2) the nervous actor, perceived as dogmatic, intolerant, or evasive, and (3) the overacting actor, perceived to overstate claims to legitimacy or overreact to faults. The analysis suggests that attempts to increase legitimacy may trigger a series of vicious circles which ultimately decrease legitimacy.
1,772 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the formation of a network is determined by the opposition of two forces: the reproduction of network structure as a general social resource for network members and the alteration of the network structure by entrepreneurs for their own benefit.
Abstract: The formation of a network is determined by the opposition of two forces. The first is the reproduction of network structure as a general social resource for network members. The second is the alteration of network structure by entrepreneurs for their own benefit. The idea of reproduction is a conventional one in organizational sociology but has taken on increased importance due to the work of Bourdieu and Coleman. In contrast, Burt stresses the entrepreneurship of individual agents in exploiting structural holes that lie between constrained positions. Though complementary, the theories of social capital and structural holes have fundamentally different implications for network formation. This paper investigates these theories by examining empirically the formation of the interorganizational network among biotechnology firms. We propose that network structure determines the frequency with which a new biotechnology firm (or startup) establishes new relationships. Network structure indicates both where soci...
1,770 citations
TL;DR: The 1993 Special Research Forum on Configurations as discussed by the authors was dedicated to the proposition that configurational theory and research can significantly advance understanding of people, groups, and organizations, and thus can be used to improve organizational analysis.
Abstract: The 1993 Special Research Forum on Configurations is dedicated to the proposition that configurational theory and research can significantly advance understanding of people, groups, and organizations. In this introductory essay, we define configurational approaches to organizational analysis, trace the history of configurational thinking, distinguish the contingency approach from the configurational approach, and highlight key contributions of the five empirical articles that make up the special research forum. Most of these articles report research conducted at the organizational level of analysis, but we argue that the configurational perspective has unrealized potential at other levels as well and suggest some configurational approaches to revitalizing theory and research at the individual and group levels.
1,729 citations