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: The authors examines the phenomenon of plural governance, a firm's simultaneous use of market contracting and vertical integration for the same basic transaction, and develops a set of research hypotheses and tests them empirically in the context of industrial purchasing decisions.
Abstract: This article examines the phenomenon of plural governance, a firm’s simultaneous use of market contracting and vertical integration for the same basic transaction. The author studies two particular aspects of plural governance, namely the conditions that motivate firms to deploy plural governance and the manner in which one governance form influences the other when the two coexist in a joint structure. Drawing on agency theory and information economics, the author develops a set of research hypotheses and tests them empirically in the context of industrial purchasing decisions. The results suggest that the plural governance phenomenon can be understood from the perspective of solving information asymmetry problems between buyers and suppliers. The author discusses the implications of a “make and buy” approach to extant theory of interfirm governance, relationship management, and marketing strategy in business-to-business settings.
295 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the relative size of spillover and competition effects in China between foreign entrants and local firms, among foreign entrants, and among local firms was examined, and it was shown that the increased presence of foreign entrants has generally benefited local firms nationally, but has negatively affected the survival rates of local firms in regional markets.
Abstract: Combining the FDI spillover literature with a competitor analysis framework, we examine the relative size of spillover and competition effects in China between foreign entrants and local firms, among foreign entrants, and among local firms. Our results show that the increased presence of foreign entrants has generally benefited local firms nationally, but has negatively affected the survival rates of local firms in regional markets. Surprisingly, foreign entrants are crowded out not only by their peers, but also by reformed local firms at both the national and regional levels. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
295 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the determinants of board composition in Belgian small and medium-sized family firms were investigated using a multinomial logit model, and it was shown that family-related contingency variables are far more important than CEO-related or control variables, giving support to the argument that board composition is a reflection of the family characteristics and objectives.
Abstract: This study focuses on the determinants of board composition in Belgian small and medium-sized family firms. It extends the empirical literature on board composition in private small and medium-sized family enterprises by integrating several dimensions of the “family component” in the research model. Furthermore, using a multinomial logit model, we examine in which circumstances family firms opt for (1) a family board, (2) an inside board, or (3) an outside board. Results suggest that family-related contingency variables are far more important than CEO-related or control variables, giving support to the argument that board composition in family firms is a reflection of the family characteristics and objectives. Moreover, the results suggest that a resource dependence and added value perspective explain more of the variation in board composition than agency considerations.
295 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the impact of communication in field-level networks on rates of formation of interorganizational collaborative ties, such as strategic alliances and joint ventures, and derive a set of testable propositions and corollaries that relate field-net properties such as density, reciprocity, centralization, multiplexity, and hierarchy.
Abstract: We investigate the impact of communication in field-level networks on rates of formation of interorganizational collaborative ties, such as strategic alliances and joint ventures. After developing the concept of an organizational field network (“field-net”), we derive a set of testable propositions and corollaries that relate field-net properties, such as density, reciprocity, centralization, multiplexity, and hierarchy, to subsequent nonlinear changes in interorganizational tie-formation rates. We conclude by discussing aspects of empirical research for testing the empirical validity of these propositions.
295 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore how a firm's conceptualization of products in this context, as reflected by product feature choices, is influenced by prior industry affiliation and find that as firms gain experience with particular features, the influence of prior industry experience decreases.
Abstract: New industries sparked by technological change are characterized by high uncertainty. In this paper we explore how a firm's conceptualization of products in this context, as reflected by product feature choices, is influenced by prior industry affiliation. We study digital cameras introduced from 1991-2006 by firms from three prior industries. We hypothesize and find first, that prior industry experience shapes a set of shared beliefs resulting in similar and concurrent firm behavior, second, that firms notice and imitate the behaviors of firms from the same prior industry, and third, that as firms gain experience with particular features, the influence of prior industry decreases. This study extends previous research on firm entry into new domains by examining heterogeneity in firms' framing and feature-level entry choices.
295 citations