Showing papers on "Embeddedness published in 2007"
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors tried to take the term of embededness out of the framework of the common program assumption and to disclose how the embeddness and network structure influence economic action and found that firms organized as networks had better chances to survive than those who support casual market ties.
Abstract: In this paper I try to take the term of embededness out of the framework of the common program assumption and to disclose how the embededness and network structure influence economic action. Basing on the existed theory and ethnographic analysis of the 23 clothes production companies I worked out the methodological scheme which depicts the details, functions and the sources of embededness. On the basis of this scheme I formulated and tested a list of hypotheses with the help of the data on network interactions of all the companies producing qualitative female clothes in the New-York sewing industry. It was found out that the embededness is the exchange system providing unique opportunities in comparison to the market and that firms organized as networks had better chances to survive than those who support casual market ties. However there is a pick of positive effect of embededness at a particular level after which it starts going down.
4,815 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the effects of two dimensions of organizational interdependence on the performance of those relationships in two major U.S. auto manufacturers, and found that organizational interdependency was a significant predictor of performance of procurement relationships.
Abstract: This study of the procurement relationships of two major U.S. auto manufacturers examines the effects of two dimensions of organizational interdependence on the performance of those relationships f...
850 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored the historical and theoretical antecedents of social enterprise and its contemporary practice by exploring key theoretical concepts and drew comparisons between "for-profit" and social entrepreneurs, and found that while the contemporary practices of social enterprises share many similarities with their for-profit counterparts, significant differences can be found when comparing these practices with extant entrepreneurship research.
Abstract: – The purpose of this paper is to address the emerging practice of social entrepreneurship by exploring the historical and theoretical antecedents of social enterprise and its contemporary practice. By exploring key theoretical concepts, the paper draws comparisons between “for‐profit” and social entrepreneurs. The paper seeks to discuss the contemporary practice of social entrepreneurship. Discussion of the theory of entrepreneurship and contemporary practice of social entrepreneurs seeks to create a more nuanced view of social entrepreneurship and develop greater theoretical insights into this phenomenon and its recent expansion., – A phenomenological research approach was adopted, and 80 in‐depth interviews with social entrepreneurs from across the UK identified as the most appropriate data collection tool. Data analysis sought to identify and understand similarities between the more understood and studied behaviour of “profit‐seeking” entrepreneurs and those of an emerging group of social entrepreneurs., – In‐depth interviews revealed five key themes within which the practice of social entrepreneurship could be compared and contrasted with for‐profit entrepreneurship. These included: the entrepreneurial process, in particular, opportunity recognition; network embeddedness; the nature of financial risk and profit; the role of individual versus collective action in managing and structuring enterprises; and creativity and innovation., – Findings suggest that while the contemporary practices of social enterprises share many similarities with their for‐profit counterparts, significant differences can be found when comparing these practices with extant entrepreneurship research., – The paper addresses an emerging phenomenon within the practice and theory of entrepreneurship and offers insight into similarities and differences between entrepreneurship in the profit and not‐for‐profit sectors.
699 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present evidence about relations between national culture and social institutions, using data on cultural dimensions for some 50 nations adopted from cross-cultural psychology and generate testable hypotheses about three basic social norms of governance: the rule of law, corruption and democratic accountability.
524 citations
TL;DR: The authors proposes refinements of the constructs of career mobility and career embeddedness and reviews the array of factors that have been found to energize (discourage) employees to change jobs, organizations, and/or occupations.
480 citations
TL;DR: A new theory of technology-mediated organizational change is proposed that explains the process of change as a three-stage cycle in which the ostensive, performative, and material aspects of organizational elements interact differently in each stage.
Abstract: While various theories have been proposed to explain how technology leads to organizational change, in general they have focused either on the technology and ignored the influence of human agency, or on social interaction and ignored the technology. In this paper, we propose a new theory of technology-mediated organizational change that bridges these two extremes. Using grounded theory methodology, we conducted a three-year study of an enterprise system implementation. From the data collected, we identified embeddedness as central to the process of change. When embedded in technology, organizational elements such as routines and roles acquire a material aspect, in addition to the ostensive and performative aspects identified by Feldman and Pentland (2003). Our new theory employs the lens of critical realism because in our view, common constructivist perspectives such as structuration theory or actor network theory have limited our understanding of technology as a mediator of organizational change. Using a critical realist perspective, our theory explains the process of change as a three-stage cycle in which the ostensive, performative, and material aspects of organizational elements interact differently in each stage.
417 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose an analytical-cum-conceptual framework for understanding the nature of institutions as well as their changes, based on the notion of common knowledge regarding self-sustaining features of social interactions.
Abstract: This paper proposes an analytical-cum-conceptual framework for understanding the nature of institutions as well as their changes. First, it proposes a new definition of institution based on the notion of common knowledge regarding self-sustaining features of social interactions with a hope to integrate various disciplinary approaches to institutions and their changes. Second, it specifies some generic mechanisms of institutional coherence and change – overlapping social embeddedness, Schumpeterian innovation in bundling games, and dynamic institutional complementarities – useful for understanding the dynamic interactions of economic, political, social, organizational, and cognitive factors.
406 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess how the societal level of moral inclusiveness influences relations between individuals' universalism values and their perceptions of immigration, opposition to immigrants from different racial or ethnic groups, and participation in activities that benefit the wider society.
Abstract: Inclusiveness of the moral universe refers to the breadth of the community to which people apply moral values and rules of fairness. A preliminary study establishes the values typically viewed as moral. The author indexes moral inclusiveness at the societal level by the number of value items focused on the welfare of non-in-group members that form a distinct region in a multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS), rather than intermixing with moral values that usually relate to the in-group. Three societal characteristics predict inclusiveness of the moral universe across 66 societies: cultural egalitarianism, cultural embeddedness, and level of democratization. Using representative national samples from 21 countries, the author assesses how the societal level of moral inclusiveness influences relations between individuals' universalism values and their perceptions of immigration, opposition to immigrants from different racial or ethnic groups, and participation in activities that benefit the wider society. F...
370 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore how the concept of embeddedness has shaped and been shaped by the evolution of the sub-field of economic sociology and argue that the obstacles to theoretical integration in economic sociology, while not insurmountable, are greater than is typically acknowledged.
Abstract: In this review, we explore how the concept of embeddedness has shaped—and been shaped by—the evolution of the subfield of economic sociology. Although embeddedness is often taken as a conceptual umbrella for a single, if eclectic, approach to the sociological study of the economy, we argue that in fact the concept references two distinct intellectual projects. One project, following from Granovetter's (1985) well-known programmatic statement, attempts to discern the relational bases of social action in economic contexts. Another project, drawing from Polanyi's [1944 (2001), 1957, 1977] social theory, concerns the integration of the economy into broader social systems. Critically, these two formulations of embeddedness involve different views of the relationship between the economic and the social. The implication is that the obstacles to theoretical integration in economic sociology, while not insurmountable, are greater than is typically acknowledged.
273 citations
TL;DR: This paper model the formation of innovation networks as they emerge from bilateral decisions, and focuses attention on the effects of the knowledge and information regime on network formation.
Abstract: In this paper, we model the formation of innovation networks as they emerge from bilateral decisions. In contrast to much of the literature, here firms only consider knowledge production, and not network issues, when deciding on partners. Thus, we focus attention on the effects of the knowledge and information regime on network formation. The effectiveness of a bilateral collaboration is determined by cognitive, relational, and structural embeddedness. Innovation results from the recombination of knowledge held by the partners to the collaboration, and its success is determined in part by the extent to which firms' knowledge complement each other. Previous collaborations (relational embeddedness) increase the probability of a successful collaboration, as does information gained from common third parties (structural embeddedness). Repeated alliance formation creates a network. Two features are central to the innovation process: how firms pool their knowledge resources, and how firms derive information about potential partners. When innovation is decomposable into separate subtasks, networks tend to be dense; when structural embeddedness is important, networks become cliquish. For some regions in this parameter space, small worlds emerge.
272 citations
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: The status and prospects of the principal themes of institutional theory can be found in this paper, where sociological institutionalism, as capturing core ideas in their most dramatic form, rather than the limited arguments emphasized in economics or political science, is reviewed.
Abstract: Contemporary institutional theorizing in the field of organizations dates back thirty-odd years. This particularly describes what are called new or neo-institutionalisms. These terms evoke contrasts with earlier theories of the embeddedness of organizations in social and cultural contexts, now retrospectively called the ‘old institutionalism’ (Hirsch & Lounsbury, 1997; Stinchcombe, 1997). They went through a period of inattention, so that when institutional thinking came back in force after the 1960s, it seemed quite new. Institutional theories, as they emerged in the 1970s, received much attention in the field, along with other lines of thought emphasizing the dependence of modern organizations on their environments. Perhaps surprisingly, they continue to receive attention, and seem to retain substantial measures of vigor. One secondary aim, here, is to explain why. I primarily review the status and prospects of the principal themes of institutional theory. I concentrate on sociological institutionalism, as capturing core ideas in their most dramatic form, rather than the limited arguments emphasized in economics or political science. And within sociological versions, I concentrate on phenomenological theories. These reflect my own interests, are continuing loci of research creativity, and contrast most sharply with other lines of social scientific theorizing about organizations. In practice, ‘organizations’ tends to be both a research field, and a realist ideology about modern society: phenomenological thinking steps back from that commitment, and is useful in analyzing, for example, why so much formal organization exists in the modern world (Drori, Meyer,& Hwang, 2006).
TL;DR: An embeddedness framing of governance and opportunism towards a cross-nationally accommodating theory of agency is proposed in this article, where the authors propose an embeddedness framework of governance.
Abstract: An embeddedness framing of governance and opportunism : towards a cross-nationally accommodating theory of agency
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a theoretical framework to study organizational embeddedness and occupational embeddedness, which identifies the antecedents of these parallel processes and when and why they can diverge.
TL;DR: The authors argued that Polanyi employed embeddedness as a methodological principle akin to methodological holism and as a theoretical proposition on the changing place of economy in society, which reveals a tension in his thought.
Abstract: While Polanyi argues that all economies are embedded and enmeshed in social relations and institutions, he tends to see market economy as disembedded, which reveals a tension in his thought. The main motivation for this paper is to understand the origins of this tension. On the basis of a systematic formulation of Polanyi's work, it is argued that Polanyi employs embeddedness in a dual manner: (a) as a methodological principle akin to methodological holism, and (b) as a theoretical proposition on the changing place of economy in society. These two formulations of embeddedness contradict each other. After tracing out the origins of this contradiction, this paper concludes by considering the implications of this analysis for economic sociology. It is argued that embeddedness as a methodological principle is the only acceptable usage of the term. Yet, in this capacity, embeddedness falls short of economic sociology's goal of providing a theoretical alternative to neoclassical economics.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that it is not the embeddedness of economic action that should constitute the vantage point of economic sociology, but rather three coordination problems that actors face in economic exchange: the valuation of goods, competition and the problem of cooperation deriving from the social risks of exchange.
Abstract: Das Discussion Paper beschreibt, wie das von Karl Polanyi in dem Buch The Great Transformation angefuhrte Konzept der Einbettung in seiner Adaption durch die neue Wirtschaftssoziologie selbst eine "grose Transformation" erfuhr: wichtige Bedeutungen des Konzepts verschwanden, andere kamen hinzu. Zunachst werden die unterschiedlichen Bedeutungen des Konzepts der Einbettung in der neuen Wirtschaftssoziologie untersucht. Weiter wird argumentiert, dass nicht die Einbettung wirtschaftlichen Handelns als solche den Ausgangspunkt der Wirtschaftssoziologie bilden sollte, sondern vielmehr drei Koordinationsprobleme, mit denen Akteure in Tauschhandlungen konfrontiert sind: das Problem des Werts von Gutern, das Problem des Wettbewerbs und das Kooperationsproblem, das aus den sozialen Risiken des Tausches entsteht. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Wirtschaftssoziologie, die Wirtschaftsgeschichte und die Wirtschaftsanthropologie ausgehend von diesen Koordinationsproblemen gemeinsame Forschungsfragen entwickeln konnen, die einen systematischen Dialog uber die Disziplinengrenzen hinaus ermoglichen. In der darauf folgenden Darlegung des sozialreformerischen Anliegens Polanyis in The Great Transformation wird ein Aspekt des Werkes aufgezeigt, der von der neuen Wirtschaftssoziologie nicht aufgenommen wurde. Abschliesend werden Begrenzungen der Entwicklungen einer soziologischen Makrotheorie der Okonomie diskutiert, die sich aus der Verwendung des Konzepts der Einbettung als Kernbegriff der Wirtschaftssoziologie ergeben.
I argue that in its adaptation from Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation, the concept of embeddedness has itself undergone a great transformation. In the process, significant meanings of the concept have vanished, while others have been added. First I explore the different meanings the concept of embeddedness has achieved in the new economic sociology. Then I argue that it is not the embeddedness of economic action that should constitute the vantage point of economic sociology, but rather three coordination problems that actors face in economic exchange: the valuation of goods, competition and the problem of cooperation deriving from the social risks of exchange. I show that by proceeding from these coordination problems economic sociology, economic anthropology and economic history can find common research questions which allow them to enter into dialogue with each other more systematically. In the next section I focus on the social-reformist inclinations of Polanyi's use of the notion of embeddedness and thereby highlight a challenge posed in The Great Transformation that was largely not taken up by economic sociologists. Finally, I discuss limitations for developing a macro theory of the economy that result from making embeddedness the core concept of economic sociology.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the impact of virtual embeddedness on the likelihood of new venture survival and argue that virtual embeddings positively affect new venture success by decreasing the liabilities of newness associated with a new venture's need to create and manage new roles and systems, lack of extant trust relationships, and lack of social capital.
Abstract: In this article, we examine the impact of virtual embeddedness—the establishment of interorganizational connections through the use of electronic technologies—on the likelihood of new venture survival. We explore the effects of recent technological and social changes on traditional conceptions of the liabilities of newness. We argue that virtual embeddedness positively affects new venture survival by decreasing the liabilities of newness associated with a new venture's need to create and manage new roles and systems, lack of extant trust relationships, lack of social capital, and lack of economic capital. This argument has important implications for both the study and management of contemporary new ventures.
TL;DR: This paper examined relationships among measures of religious orientation, embeddedness in social networks and the level of trust individuals direct toward others using data from the 2002 Religion and Public Activism Survey and found that older persons and those who are more trusting of acquaintances show greater trust.
Abstract: Data from the 2002 Religion and Public Activism Survey were used to examine relationships among measures of religious orientation, embeddedness in social networks and the level of trust individuals direct toward others. Results from ordered logistic regression analysis demonstrate that Catholics and members of other denominations show significantly less trust in strangers than mainline Protestants, while older persons and those who are more trusting of acquaintances show greater trust. Although measures of personal religiosity and activity within a congregation show no statistically significant relationship to trust once important controls are taken into account, measures of embeddedness within secular social networks do.
TL;DR: In this paper, the importance of ties that bind national interest groups to their constituency, their critical resource dependencies and their immediate environment was analyzed and the main conclusion was that Europeanization is not just shaped by properties of the EU system, but also by the interest group's embeddedness in its immediate environment.
Abstract: Although EU institutions and policies create additional opportunities for national interest groups to influence policy-making, not all domestic groups make use of the extended niche provided by the EU. Lagging Europeanization has often been explained by resource-based accounts; for instance, the group's staff resources or financial strength determines the ability to Europeanize. This article explores an alternative explanation and analyses the importance of ties that bind national interest groups to their constituencies, their critical resource dependencies and their immediate environment. Our main conclusion is that Europeanization is not just shaped by properties of the EU system, but also by the interest group's embeddedness in its immediate environment.
TL;DR: The case study of the Stimulus Cluster Scheme shows that the norms, values, and customs of these networks facilitate collaboration for mutual benefit as discussed by the authors, which helps explain how and why networks of innovating companies are successful.
TL;DR: This work presents a hierarchical composed error structure framework that relies on cross-sectional data and allows for generalizations to panel data and shows that the embeddedness of organizational capabilities influences retailer performance above and beyond the tangible and intangible resources and capabilities that a retailer possesses.
Abstract: Managers must regularly make decisions on how to access and deploy their limited resources in order to build organizational capabilities for a sustainable competitive advantage. However, failure to recognize that organizational capabilities involve complex and intricately woven underlying processes may lead to an incomplete understanding of how capabilities affect competitive advantage. As a means of understanding this underlying complexity, we discuss how managerial decisions on resource acquisition and deployment influence capability embeddedness and argue that capability embeddedness has an incremental effect on firm performance beyond the effects from organizational resources and capabilities. To investigate these issues, we present a hierarchical composed error structure framework that relies on cross-sectional data (and allows for generalizations to panel data). We demonstrate the framework in the context of retailing, where we show that the embeddedness of organizational capabilities influences retailer performance above and beyond the tangible and intangible resources and capabilities that a retailer possesses. Our results illustrate that understanding how resources and capabilities influence performance at different hierarchical levels within a firm can aid managers to make better decisions on how they can embed certain capabilities within the structural and social relationships within the firm. Moreover, understanding whether the underlying objectives of the capabilities that are being built and cultivated have convergent or divergent goals is critical, as it can influence the extent to which the embedded capabilities enhance firm performance.
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper used the case of Chinese lawyers, their professional troubles, and their coping strategies to build on and develop the concept of political embeddedness, defined broadly as bureaucratic, instrumental, or affective ties to the state and its actors, which helps Chinese lawyers survive their everyday difficulties.
Abstract: This article uses the case of Chinese lawyers, their professional troubles, and their coping strategies to build on and develop the concept of political embeddedness. Data from a first‐of‐its‐kind 25‐city survey suggest that political embeddedness, defined broadly as bureaucratic, instrumental, or affective ties to the state and its actors, helps Chinese lawyers survive their everyday difficulties, such as routine administrative interference, official rent seeking, and police harassment and intimidation. The article draws the ironic conclusion that legal practice in China reveals at least as much about the enduring salience of socialist institutions as it does about incipient capitalist and “rule of law” institutions. Lawyers' dependence on state actors both inside and outside the judicial system preserves the value of political connections inside the very institutions that some sociologists have argued are responsible for obviating the need for such guanxi.
TL;DR: In this paper, Latour et al. take up approaches that presuppose the embeddedness of economic action in shifting networks or assemblages of people and things (human and nonhuman actors), and that call attention to the agency distributed within such networks.
Abstract: My goal in this article is to apprehend claims about person–product relationships now circulating in the world of business. I take up approaches that presuppose the embeddedness of economic action in shifting networks or assemblages of people and things (human and nonhuman actors), and that call attention to the agency distributed within such networks. I discuss the work of Michel Callon and his colleagues and specifically their notion of “the economy of qualities” (Callon et al. 2002). I pose two sets of related questions. First, can we translate marketing claims that relationships between consumers and corporate brands define a locus of value creation into the terms of Marx's theory of value? And how might this translation revise not only the marketing claim, but also Marx's understanding of surplus value creation? Second, can we translate the claim that value creation hinges on a dynamic relationship between corporations and consumers into terms of a theory of participatory democracy? That is, what sort of political potential might inhere in this relationship? In particular, how might this relationship endow consumers with agency not only in value creation but also in “making things public” (Bruno Latour 2005b)? I address these questions of commodity networks and consumer agency with a set of visual props drawn from my research into the sociotechnical lives of an iconic type of global commodity: Coca-Cola brand soft drinks.
TL;DR: It is suggested that evolutionary theory should coherently embrace an “embeddedness” view of organizations, whereby the latter are not simply efficient solutions to informational problems arising from contract incompleteness and uncertainty, but also shape the “visions of the world,” interaction networks, behavioral patterns, and the identity of the agents.
Abstract: Cyert and March's A Behavioral Theory of the Firm has been acknowledged as one of the most fundamental pillars on which evolutionary theorizing in economics is built. Nelson and Winter's 1982 book is pervaded by the philosophy and concepts previously developed by Cyert, March, and Simon. Behavioral notions, such as bounded rationality are also at the heart of economic theories of institutions such as transaction costs economics. In this paper, after briefly reviewing the basic concepts of evolutionary economics, we discuss its implications for the theory of organizations (and business firms in particular), and we suggest that evolutionary theory should coherently embrace an “embeddedness” view of organizations, whereby the latter are not simply efficient solutions to informational problems arising from contract incompleteness and uncertainty, but also shape the “visions of the world,” interaction networks, behavioral patterns, and the identity of the agents. After outlining the basic features of this perspective, we analyze its consequences and empirical relevance.
TL;DR: This paper argued that face-to-face interaction continues to play a crucial role in shaping both firm and industry success or failure in the context of transnationalization and argued that many of the factors behind its ongoing key significance are likely to be common to transnational firms more widely.
Abstract: Economic geographical theories of both firm and regional development have increasingly placed significance on the sociological aspects of business activity. In particular, debates about clustering, embeddedness, and relational networks have led to an implicit emphasis on face-to-face interaction as a key factor behind more effective explanation of economic activity in the global economy. However, much of the debate around the nature and role of face-to-face interaction has been limited to wider discussions about the forces behind agglomeration, and has not considered how it is important to transnational firms (TNCs) as key global economic actors. Drawing on research into transnationalizing UK-based law firms, this work proposes a theoretical framework for understanding the nature and significance of face-to-face interactions to TNCs. It argues that face-to-face interaction continues to have a crucial role in shaping both firm and industry success or failure in the context of transnationalization. Whilst recognizing that legal services may have specific requirements for face-to-face interaction, the study argues that many of the factors behind its ongoing key significance are likely to be common to TNCs more widely. Thus, this form of economic practice warrants much greater empirical attention in theories of global economic development.
Posted Content•
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this article, the authors inductively derive a model that develops the concept of subsidiary embeddedness as the canvas within which subsidiary strategy can take place, and identify three hierarchical levels of embeddedness: operational embeddedness relates to the interlocking day-to-day relations, capability embeddedness deals with the development of competitive capabilities for the multinational as a whole, and strategic embedding deals with subsidiary participation in the MNC strategy setting.
Abstract: This paper inductively derives a model that develops the concept of subsidiary embeddedness as the canvas within which subsidiary strategy can take place. Our model identifies three hierarchical levels of embeddedness: Operational embeddedness relates to the interlocking day-to-day relations. Capability embeddedness deals with the development of competitive capabilities for the multinational as a whole. Strategic embeddedness deals with subsidiary participation in the MNC strategy setting. We deem these three types of embeddedness as ways to develop subsidiary strategic alternatives. In as such, different types of subsidiary embeddedness imply different subsidiary roles. Embeddedness, as it was inductively derived from a revelatory case study, is not merely an outcome of the institutional setting, but a resource a subsidiary can manage by means of manipulating dependencies or exerting influence over the allocation of critical resources. A subsidiary can modify its embeddedness to change its strategic restraints. Therefore, the development of subsidiary embeddedness becomes an integral part of subsidiary strategy.
TL;DR: The authors reviewed the substantial recent literature on regional development in China, emphasizing studies of regional inequality and local development, highlighting the important role of institutions and geography, as well as emerging theoretical notions of transitional institutions, embedded globalization, and hybrid economies.
Abstract: This paper by a recognized specialist reviews the substantial recent literature on regional development in China, emphasizing studies of regional inequality and local development. It attempts to critically assess progress and changes in the structure of such research, highlighting the important role of institutions and geography, as well as emerging theoretical notions of transitional institutions, embedded globalization, and hybrid economies. The paper identifies intriguing and important questions that remain understudied, and highlights concepts deserving further development. In so doing, it raises questions relating to future research and explores avenues for moving the field forward. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O10, O15, O18. 145 references.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the emergence of saffron as a local food network in southern Tuscany by adopting a constructivist approach and show that the concept of embeddedness assumes simultaneously a social, spatial, and temporal dimension that are dynamically created by participants in the SAffron economy as a response to specific market requirements.
Abstract: Despite the widespread use of the concept of embeddedness in the literature on agri-food networks, not much has been written on the process through which a food economy becomes embedded To explore this dynamic and contribute to a more critical perspective on the meanings and implications of embeddedness in the context of food, this paper analyzes the emergence of saffron as a local food network in southern Tuscany By adopting a constructivist approach, the analysis shows that embeddedness assumes simultaneously a social, spatial, and temporal dimension that are dynamically created by participants in the saffron economy as a response to specific market requirements The paper concludes that a focus on how embeddedness is achieved in the context of food has both theoretical and empirical implications Theoretically, it supports the need for a more holistic and actor-oriented approach that takes into consideration the tensions inherent in the process of embedding and also its ramifications outside of the social realm Practically, a focus on how a food network comes to be embedded complicates the notion of food relocalization – an issue that raises empirical questions about the sustainability of local food networks and their contribution to rural development
01 Jun 2007
TL;DR: In this article, the extent to which economic action is embedded in structures of social relations, in modern industrial society, is examined, and it is argued that reformist economists who attempt to bring social structure back in do so in the "oversocialized" way criticized by Dennis Wrong.
Abstract: How behavior and institutions are affected by social relations is one of the classic questions of social theory. This paper concerns the extent to which economic action is embedded in structures of social relations, in modern industrial society. Although the usual neoclassical accounts provide an "undersocialized" or atomized-actor explanation of such action, reformist economists who attempt to bring social structure back in do so in the "oversocialized" way criticized by Dennis Wrong. Under- and oversocialized accounts are paradoxically similar in their neglect of ongoing structures of social relations, and a sophisticated account of economic action must consider its embeddedness in such structures. The argument is illustrated by a critique of Oliver Williamsons "markets and hierarchies" research program.
01 Aug 2007
TL;DR: In this article, the authors define a region's capacity to create new firms start-ups as the region's entrepreneurship capital and investigate the local embeddedness of this variable and which variables have an impact on this variable.
Abstract: Whereas initially physical capital and later, knowledge capital were viewed as crucial for growth, more recently a very different factor, entrepreneurship capital, has emerged as a driving force of economic growth. In this paper, we define a region’s capacity to create new firms start-ups as the region’s entrepreneurship capital. We then investigate the local embeddedness of this variable and which variables have an impact on this variable. Using data for Germany, we find that knowledge-based entrepreneurship capital is driven by local levels of knowledge creation and the acceptance of new ideas, indicating that local knowledge flows play an important role. Low-tech entrepreneurship capital is rather increased by regional unemployment and driven by direct incentives such as subsidies. All three measures are locally clustered, indicating that indeed, entrepreneurship capital is a phenomenon that is driven by local culture, and is therefore locally bounded.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined antecedent factors that influence foreign subsidiaries' innovation through learning from local environments, which in turn influences their knowledge contribution back to the headquarters, and found that the learning and innovation of U.S.-based subsidiaries are significantly influenced by their local embeddedness, their top management team heterogeneity, and the corporate entrepreneurial culture of their parent company.
Abstract: and Key Results
This study examines antecedent factors that influence foreign subsidiaries’ innovation through learning from local environments, which in turn influences their knowledge contribution back to the headquarters. We argue that subsidiary local embeddedness, subsidiary top management team heterogeneity, and MNC corporate entrepreneurial culture are the key enablers for subsidiaries to learn and innovate in the local environments.
The findings support that the learning and innovation of U.S.-based subsidiaries are significantly influenced by their local embeddedness, their top management team heterogeneity, and the corporate entrepreneurial culture of their parent company, along with the control variables including subsidiary size and the internationalization of parent company.