Category Viability: Balanced Levels of Coherence and Distinctiveness

Lo, Jade; Fiss, Peer C.; Rhee, Eunice Yunjin; Kennedy, Mark

doi:10.5465/amr.2017.0011

Cited by 34 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 109 publications

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“…Considerable research has discussed how entrepreneurs construct new market categories. This research shows that entrepreneurs deploy value-laden (Glynn and Navis, 2010;David, Sine, and Haveman, 2013) and coherent accounts that define distinctions with incumbent categories to give meaning to their own (Wry, Lounsbury, and Glynn, 2011;Lo et al, 2020). As Verhaal, Khessina, andDobrev (2015: 1466) explained, new market categories may coalesce around ''producers who define themselves as categorically opposed to the dominant market logic employed by incumbent firms in existing product space.''…”

Section: Umbrella Categories and Goal-derived Categorizationmentioning

confidence: 87%

Under the Umbrella: Goal-Derived Category Construction and Product Category Nesting

Boghossian

David

2021

Administrative Science Quarterly

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Categories are organized vertically, with product categories nested under larger umbrella categories. Meaning flows from umbrella categories to the categories beneath them, such that the construction of a new umbrella category can significantly reshape the categorical landscape. This paper explores the construction of a new umbrella category and the nesting beneath it of a product category. Specifically, we study the construction of the Quebec terroir products umbrella category and the nesting of the Quebec artisanal cheese product category under this umbrella. Our analysis shows that the construction of umbrella categories can unfold entirely separately from that of product categories and can follow a distinct categorization process. Whereas the construction of product categories may be led by entrepreneurs who make salient distinctive product attributes, the construction of umbrella categories may be led by “macro actors” removed from the market. We found that these macro actors followed a goal-derived categorization process: they first defined abstract goals and ideals for the umbrella category and only subsequently sought to populate it with product categories. Among the macro actors involved, the state played a central role in defining the meaning of the Quebec terroir category and mobilizing other macro actors into the collective project, a finding that suggests an expanded role of the state in category construction. We also found that market intermediaries are important in the nesting of product categories beneath new umbrella categories, notably by projecting identities onto producers consistent with the goals of the umbrella category. We draw on these findings to develop a process model of umbrella category construction and product category nesting.

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Section: Umbrella Categories and Goal-derived Categorizationmentioning

confidence: 87%

Under the Umbrella: Goal-Derived Category Construction and Product Category Nesting

Boghossian

David

2021

Administrative Science Quarterly

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“…What actor groups are critical to category processes in different places? Are categories in some places more stable or long lasting than others (Kennedy and Fiss, 2013; Lo et al, 2019)? Easier or harder to establish?…”

Section: The List Below Is Not Exhaustive But Promising Topics and Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Special Issue of Strategic Organization: “Categories and Place: Materiality, Identities, and Movements”

2020

Strategic Organization

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Categories are social constructions that differentiate among entities, such as products, people, and organizations (Lamont and Molnár, 2002). Established categories reflect a shared understanding about the inclusion of objects into groups and thereby locate entities within a broader system of meaning or classification (Durand and Boulongne, 2017: 647). At the intersection of the fields of strategic management and organization theory, considerable research on categories has focused on established category systems and the antecedents and consequences of an entity's positioning within these systems, such as studies of category spanning or straddling (Zuckerman, 1999;

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“…This is because these actions are aided by internal forces-they involve prior members of the oppositional category (i.e., insiders)-and can endanger the distinctiveness of the oppositional identity. Maintaining a distinctive collective identity vis-à-vis the incumbent category is critical to prevent confusion among audiences and thus to protect the durability of the oppositional category (Lo, Fiss, Rhee, & Kennedy, 2020). However, we lack theoretical insights into how oppositional category members respond as (former) members defect by joining the incumbent category they challenge and ideologically oppose.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selling your soul to the devil? The importance of independent ownership to identity distinctiveness for oppositional categories

Mathias

Huyghe

Williams

2020

Strategic Management Journal

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Category Viability: Balanced Levels of Coherence and Distinctiveness

Cited by 34 publications

References 109 publications

Under the Umbrella: Goal-Derived Category Construction and Product Category Nesting

Under the Umbrella: Goal-Derived Category Construction and Product Category Nesting

Special Issue of Strategic Organization: “Categories and Place: Materiality, Identities, and Movements”

Selling your soul to the devil? The importance of independent ownership to identity distinctiveness for oppositional categories

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