Do entrepreneurs from institutionally distinct countries apply different decision logic when internationalizing their companies? A multiple-case analysis

Literature on entrepreneurs’ decision logic has either focused on effectuation or causation, lacking comparison and analysis of logics when founders come from different institutional environments. This paper presents an exploratory study examining the behaviors, beliefs, and decisions of entrepreneurs (all typical drivers for new market entries), considering those institutional differences. Research was based on the comparison of two case studies of young software companies, one from Brazil and one from Germany, each founded by two entrepreneurs with similar academic and professional backgrounds. Results indicate that apparently, business environment affects founders’ decision logics with much more strength than the institutional environment.     

Public value,institutional logics and practice variation during austerity localism at Newcastle City Council

This article outlines how a local authority, Newcastle City Council (NCC), employed a public value strategy to address austerity localism. Borrowing from neo-institutional theory, it traces how organizational change constituted also a variation of democratic deliberation practices. Legitimation of budget decisions against central government cuts involved such practice variations as public consultations to change NCC’s vision and mobilize support, building operational capacity beyond the organization, and new accountings for measuring public value. Insofar as such organization changes constituted instances of institutional entrepreneurship of local government as a key democratic institution, our article refines existing theorizing of public value accounting.     

Does Institutional Theory Need Redirecting?

Greenwood, Hinings and Whetten (2014) present two major criticisms of current institutional scholarship, and see need for a broad redirection: institutional organization theory, they argue, has lost sight of the claim to study organizations and, with its overwhelming focus on isomorphism and similarity, has fallen short on adequately theorizing differences across organizations. In our article, we offer support as well as a riposte. First, while we agree that the organizing of collective efforts needs to be at the core of organization research, we warn that focusing on formal organization – a rationalized cultural product itself – may direct attention away from studying alternative modes of organizing, and underestimates the dynamic developments that have transformed contemporary organizations into increasingly complex objects of inquiry. Second, we are concerned that, by abandoning the analysis of similarities in favour of differences, institutional theory may eventually lose sight of its pivotal quest: to study institutions.     

Multiple Institutional Logics in Health Care: ‘Productive Ward: Releasing Time to Care’

Health care organizations are often confronted with multiple institutional logics. In this study, a longitudinal case study method was used to gain insights into the adoption decision-making and implementation process of an apparently hybrid innovative practice when multiple logics are present. The case study focuses on the adoption and implementation of ‘Productive Ward: Releasing Time to Care’ in a Dutch hospital. This is a quality improvement programme developed by the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom. The results show that institutional logics complicate the adoption and implementation process.     

Substantive or Symbolic Environmental Strategies? Effects of External and Internal Normative Stakeholder Pressures

Different forms of stakeholder pressures drive different environmental strategies in organizations. This article differentiates between internal and external normative stakeholder pressures to test their potentially unique effects on environmental strategies. The findings suggest that internal, normative stakeholder pressures primarily drive substantive commitments to environmental practices, reflecting an internalized, voluntary commitment to the natural environment and dedication to environmental leadership by the firm. External, normative pressures instead primarily drive symbolic commitments to environmental practices, aimed at managing the image of the organization to establish and reinforce an appearance of commitment to the natural environment. This novel perspective accounts for the institutionally plural contexts of organizations and their environments, in which internal pressures directly drive substantive environmental commitments and external pressures drive symbolic responses. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

多重制度逻辑下企业创新合法化战略行为——基于阿里巴巴案例分析

如何在多重制度主体的制约下获取创新合法性,是每个创新型企业都必须解决的问题。本文采用文献分析法和案例研究法,以阿里巴巴1999—2016年的案例信息为分析对象,从多重制度逻辑出发,分析不同制度逻辑主导下企业创新合法化战略行为对创新合法性的影响机理。研究发现专业逻辑、合作逻辑、社区逻辑和家族逻辑对创新合法性具有正向促进作用,其中合作逻辑的影响效应最为明显;而市场逻辑和管制机构逻辑对创新合法性的影响则具有一定弹性。在操作层面上,不同制度逻辑主导的产品营销、高管专业化、战略联盟、社会责任以及规范化运营等战略行为对创新合法化都具有重要作用,且以战略联盟效果最为明显。企业可以据此调整战略行为适应制度环境,以便实现创新合法化。     

Acquaintance or partner? Social economy organizations,institutional logics and regional development in Australia

The social economy as a regional development actor is gaining greater attention given its purported ability to address social and environmental problems. This growth in interest is occurring within a global environment that is calling for a more holistic understanding of development compared to traditionally economic-centric conceptions. While regional development policies and practices have long considered for-profit businesses as agents for regional growth, there is a relatively limited understanding of the role of the social economy as a development actor. The institutional environment is a large determinant of all kinds of entrepreneurial activity, and therefore understanding the relationships between the social economy and broader regional development processes is warranted. This paper moves beyond suggestions of an economic-centric focus of regional development by utilizing institutional logics as a theoretical framework for understanding the role of social enterprises in regional development. A multiple case study of ten social enterprises in two regional locations in Australia suggests that social enterprises can represent competing logics to economic-centric institutional values and systems. The paper argues that dominant institutional logics can promote or constrain the inter-play between the social and the economic aspects of development, in the context of social enterprises.     

制度距离对企业跨区域发展管理模式的影响

随着国内市场竞争的日渐加剧,为抢占市场、增强竞争力,越来越多的企业开始走跨区域发展道路。但由于区域之间发展不平衡,各地的政策、文化以及人们的价值观和行为标准等也有所不同,企业的跨区域发展难以完全按照统一的管理模式进行管理。制度环境的差异已成为影响企业跨区域发展战略的重要因素之一,且目前国内关于制度环境同企业跨区域发展管理模式的选择问题的研究少之又少。本文试图通过文献研究,讨论制度环境如何影响企业跨区域发展管理模式,在一定程度上进一步丰富相关理论。     

Study on the contract characteristics of Internet architecture

The importance of Internet architecture goes beyond the technical aspects. The architecture of Internet has a profound influence on the Internet-based economy in term of how the profits are shared by different market participants (Internet Server Provider, Internet Content Provider), since it is the physical foundation upon which the profit-sharing contracts are derived. In order to facilitate the continuing growth of the Internet, it is necessary to systematically study factors that curtail the Internet-based economy including the existing Internet architecture. In this paper, we used transaction cost economics and contract economics as new tools to analyse the contracts derived from the current Internet architecture. This study sheds light on how the macro characteristics of Internet architecture effect the microeconomical decisions of market participants. Based on the existing Internet architecture, we discuss the possibility of promoting Internet-based economy by encouraging user to connect their private stub network to the Internet and giving the user more right of self-governing.     

制度视角下中国OFDI区位选择的路径研究 ——基于模糊集的定性比较分析(FsQCA)

以2015年为基期,将54个国家的中国对外直接投资(OFDI)存量作为样本,利用模糊集定性比较分析法(FsQCA),从东道国制度环境、东道国与中国之间的制度距离以及双边投资协定(BIT)三个方面考察了制度视角下中国OFDI区位选择的路径。选择了5个指标作为前因变量——母国与东道国文化距离、经济制度距离、政治制度距离、双边投资协定以及东道国制度环境,分析前因变量之间的何种组态可以最终导致结果变量——中国对东道国高OFDI投资规模的产生。研究结果表明:中国与东道国之间的文化距离小是中国对其进行OFDI投资的必要条件;东道国与中国之间签订的双边投资协定与两国之间较小的正式制度距离,包括政治制度距离和经济制度距离存在替代性;良好的东道国制度环境会对中国对其OFDI规模产生正向的影响。