Advances in Strategic Management, Volume 17

M.C. Escher's 'Symmetry Drawing E72' Copyright 2000 Cordon Art B.V. - Baarn Holland. All rights reserved. Used with Premission.
Economics Meets Sociology in Strategic Management

Advances in Strategic Management, Volume 17 • 2000 (Available in Paperback and Hardcover)
Edited by Joel A. C. Baum and Frank Dobbin

Read the review in Administrative Science Quarterly (June 2002)

The last several years has witnessed a growing interaction between economists and sociologists engaged in the study of organizations' strategies. Economists and sociologists can gain real insight from these interactions. To date, however, these interactions have been to ad hoc and unfocused to bear any real fruit. This volume moves the discussion to the next level by focusing the discussion, and taking a step toward systematizing some of the relationships between economic and sociological approaches to strategic management. To accomplish this, the volume reprints four 'matched pairs' of influential articles on firms' strategies in economic sociology and strategic management and use these articles to frame a conversation between the articles' pioneering authors and other prominent researchers in strategic management and sociology working on closely-related research problems. Each pair of articles followed by provocative essays-inspired by the pairing-written by the articles' original authors. Two contextualizing commentaries penned by influential strategy and organizations researchers-one grounded in strategic management and one in economic sociology-extend each conversation. A reflective reply from the articles' authors concludes the conversation-for now. A framing introduction and concluding epilogue set the stage both for the volume and for future conversations between the disciplines in strategic management.

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INTRODUCTION
Economics meets sociology in strategic management
Frank Dobbin and Joel A. C. Baum

PART ONE - An Embarrassment of Riches

Articles
Towards an economic theory of the multiproduct firm
David J. Teece
The spread of the multidivisional form among large firms, 1919-1979
Neil Fligstein

Essays
Economic and Sociological Perspectives on Diversification and organizational Structure
David J. Teece
Alternative Approaches to Firm Strategic Behavior
Neil Fligstein

Commentaries
Differentiation in Business Organizations
John Freeman
The Facts, Neil said, Nothing but the Facts … Whose Facts? Answered David
Bruce Kogut

Final Words
Common Ground, Different Assumptions
David J. Teece
Competition, Stability, and Conceptions of Control
Neil Fligstein

PART TWO - All Happy Firms are the Same

Articles
The dominant logic: A new linkage between diversity and performance
C.K. Prahalad and Richard A. Bettis
The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields
Paul J. DiMaggio and Walter W. Powell

Essays
The Iron Cage is Emptying, The Dominant Logic No Longer Dominates
Richard A. Bettis
The Sources of Managerial Logics
Walter W. Powell

Commentaries
The Structuration and Destructuration of Organizations and Organizational Fields
W. Richard Scott
Dominant Logic and the Iron Cage
Charles W.L. Hill

Final Words
Cages and Logics: (Hopefully Not) the Last Word
Richard A. Bettis
The Last Word: Not a Chance
Walter W. Powell

PART THREE - Where All the Firms are Above Average

Articles
Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage
Jay B. Barney
Social structure and organizations
Arthur L. Stinchcombe

Essays
Context is Crucial: Commonalities, Differences and Subtle Differences
Jay B. Barney
On Equilibrium, Organizational Form, and Competitive Strategy
Arthur L. Stinchcombe

Commentaries
"Luck," "Leadership" and "Strategy"
Rebecca L. Henderson
Cause for Optimism
Christine Oliver

Final Words
Nothing's Permanent: The Role of Sustainability and Luck in Resource-Based Logic
Jay B. Barney
Contexts Make Resources Valuable or Worthless: A Reply to Barney
Unions and Coin Tossing: A Reply to Oliver and Henderson
Arthur L. Stinchcombe

PART FOUR - Finding Your Niche

Articles
Intraindustry structure and the ease of strategic change Sharon M. Oster
Where do markets come from?
Harrison C. White

Essays
Is There a Future in Diversity? The View from Economics and Sociology
Sharon M. Oster
Does the early bird get the worm?
Harrison C. White

Commentaries
The Great Disciplinary Divide
Wayne Baker
The business organization in economics, sociology, and strategy research
Will Mitchell

Final Words
The Disciplinary Divide has been Bridged
Sharon M. Oster
Small Numbers, in Depth
Harrison C. White

Epilog
Doing interdisciplinary research in strategic management – without a paradigm war
Joel A. C. Baum and Frank Dobbin