First Look

Publications

Collective Memory Meets Organizational Identity: Remembering to Forget in a Firm's Rhetorical History

Abstract

Much organizational identity research has grappled with the question of identity emergence or change. Yet the question of identity endurance is equally puzzling. Relying primarily on the analysis of 309 internal bulletins produced at a French aeronautics firm over almost fifty years, we theorize a link between collective memory and organizational identity endurance. More specifically, we show how forgetting in a firm's ongoing rhetorical history-here, the bulletins' repeated omission of contradictory elements in the firm's past (i.e., structural omission) or attempts to neutralize them with valued identity cues (i.e., preemptive neutralization)-sustains its identity. Thus knowing "who we are" might depend in part on repeatedly remembering to forget "who we were not."

The Enabling Role of Social Position in Diverging from the Institutional Status Quo: Evidence from the U.K. National Health Service

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between social position, both within the field and within the organization, and the likelihood of individual actors initiating organizational changes that diverge from the institutional status quo. I explore this relationship using data from 93 change projects conducted by clinical managers at the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. The results show social position, both within the field and within the organization, influences actors' likelihood to initiate two types of organizational change that diverge from the institutional status quo, namely, (1) changes that diverge from the institutionalized template of role division among organizations and (2) changes that diverge from the institutionalized template of role division among professional groups in a field. The findings indicate that these two types of divergent organizational change are likely to be undertaken by individual actors with different profiles in terms of social position within the field and the organization.

Should You Have a Global Strategy?

An abstract is unavailable at this time.

Read the paper: http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/2011-fall/53103/should-you-have-a-global-strategy/

How to Hang On to Your High Potentials

An abstract is unavailable at this time.

Read the paper: http://hbr.org/2011/10/how-to-hang-on-to-your-high-potentials/ar/1

The Cure for Horrible Bosses

An abstract is unavailable at this time.

Read the paper: http://hbr.org/2011/10/the-cure-for-horrible-bosses/ar/1

Golfing Alone? Corporations, Elites and Nonprofit Growth in 100 American Communities

Abstract

We examine the link between corporations and community by showing how corporate density interacts with the local social and cultural infrastructure to affect the growth and decline of the number of local nonprofits between 1987 and 2002. We focus on two sub-populations of nonprofits in 100 American cities: elite-oriented cultural and educational institutions and social welfare-oriented organizations. We find that corporate density enhances the growth of both types of nonprofits, as does location in the Northeast U.S. and being a long-established business community, but corporate density is especially potent for the growth of elite-oriented nonprofits-but not social welfare nonprofits-when local networks and cultural norms support elite mobilization. We conclude that despite globalizing trends, the local geographic community continues to be an important unit of analysis for unpacking multi-sector organizational processes among corporations and nonprofits.

Read the paper: http://www.people.hbs.edu/cmarquis/GolfingAlone_FINAL.pdf

Regulatory Uncertainty and Corporate Response: How China's Environmental Enforcement Is Catching Up to Regulation and How Business Can Keep Up

Abstract

We develop a framework to analyze the closing gap between regulation and enforcement of environmental protection in China and present a number of resulting implications for doing business there. We identify three major dimensions that characterize change in regulatory systems generally: priorities and incentives, bureaucratic alignment, and transparency and monitoring. Using these dimensions, we first unpack the mechanisms that characterized China's prior period, during which enforcement of environmental protection was decoupled from regulation. These mechanisms include (a) the intense emphasis on economic growth leading to misaligned incentives and regulatory competition across regions, (b) fragmented bureaucratic organization, and (c) lack of transparency and monitoring, all of which undermined enforcement. Then we show how, in each of these dimensions, regulation and enforcement are becoming realigned or recoupled over time. We show how this results from (a) a change in national development strategy to focus more on sustainable development and a harmonious society, (b) reorganization of the bureaucracy, and (c) an increase in monitoring by both the government and the general public. Correspondingly, we advance managerial implications that stem from these recent changes, illustrated by recent MNC and Chinese domestic firm successes. To address changes in policies and incentives, firms should align with governmental signals and embrace environmental innovation. Regarding bureaucratic alignment, firms should avoid regulatory shopping and integrate local and global standards. Finally, to address transparency and monitoring issues, firms should be transparent and compete on reputation. We conclude with a more general discussion of the contributions of our framework to understanding managerial practice in emerging-market regulatory contexts.

Read the paper: http://www.people.hbs.edu/cmarquis/Regulatory_Uncertainty_CMR_Final.pdf

The Factor Environmental Ratings Miss

Abstract

There's a problem with most major environmental rankings of businesses: too often, the ratings fail to incorporate advocacy activities that influence environmental regulation.

Read the story: http://sloanreview.mit.edu/x/53104

Toward a Theory of Extended Contact: The Incentives and Opportunities for Bridging across Network Communities

Abstract

This study investigates the determinants of bridging ties within networks of interconnected firms. Bridging ties are defined as non-redundant connections between firms located in different network communities. We highlight how firms can enter into these relationships due to the incentives and opportunities for action that are embedded in the existing network structure. Specifically, we propose that the dynamics of proximate network structures, which reflect firms' and their partners' direct connections, affect the formation of bridging ties by shaping the value-creation and value-distribution incentives for bridging. We also argue that the evolving global network structure affects firms' propensity to form bridging ties by shaping the structural opportunities for bridging. We test our theory using the network of partnership ties among firms in the global computer industry from 1991 to 2005. We find support for structural incentives and opportunities as influential precursors of bridging ties.