In this paper we analyse the role of general strategy concepts as provided by influential institutions (e.g. business schools or consulting firms) in the strategic practice of business organisations. We analyse why such general concepts are drawn upon, what challenges one is facing when trying to introduce them into an organisation, how the ‘introduction’ can be conceptualised and what conseque...

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 ...

New institutionalism increasingly informs work on comparative human resource management (HRM), downplaying power and how competing logics play out, potentially providing an incomplete explanation of why ‘HRM’ associated practices vary in different national contexts. We examine HRM Pakistan’s banking industry assess managers’ espoused views reflect prevailing ones dominant models, they differ fr...

Although most political sociologists and political scientists nowadays either consider themselves or are deemed “institutionalists,” key differences remain among major schools of institutionalism (see reviews in Pierson and Skocpol 2002; Amenta 2005). In this chapter, we review sociological institutionalism, historical institutionalism, and political institutionalism. We discuss their similarit...

Executive Overview This article identifies the emergence of the institution-based view as a third leading perspective in strategic management (the first two being the industry-based and resource-based views). We (a) review the roots of the institution-based view, (b) articulate its two core propositions, and (c) outline how this view contributes to the four fundamental questions in strategy. Ov...

This essay considers the nature and evolution of both the old and the new institutional economics and considers the possibility of dialogue or even convergence between these schools. It also considers shifts of thinking inside and outside mainstream economics that have altered the conception of the economic agent, even within mainstream theory. In particular, the stipulation of endogenous prefe...