From Pabst to Pepsi: The Deinstitutionalization of Social Practices and the Creation of Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the dual role that social movement organizations can play in altering organizational landscapes by undermining existing organizations and creating opportunities for the growth of new types of organizations. Empirically, we investigate the impact of a variety of tactics employed by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), the leading organizational representative of the American temperance movement, on two sets of organizations: breweries and soft drink producers. By delegitimating alcohol consumption, altering attitudes and beliefs about drinking, and promoting temperance legislation, the WCTU contributed to brewery failures. These social changes, in turn, created opportunities for entrepreneurs to found organizations producing new kinds of beverages by creating demand for alternative beverages, providing rationales for entrepreneurial action, and increasing the availability of necessary resources.

Lords of the Harvest: Third-Party Influence and Regulatory Approval of Genetically Modified Organisms

“…Neo-institutional theory, with its open-systems approach and strong focus on the environment, has been criticized for treating government agencies as an exogenous coercive force that constrains organizations merely to conform to formal institutions, thereby downplaying agency and intentionality on the part of the firm and the state (Skocpol, 1985;Hirsch & Lounsbury, 1997;Hiatt, Sine, & Tolbert, 2009;Marquis and Huang, 2009;; for an exception, see Edelman & Suchman, 1997). Our study offers a partial answer to this criticism by showing how the USDA has been relatively successful at preserving its autonomy and legitimacy in spite of various risks.…”

Power in Management and Organization Science

“…In an extensive longitudinal investigation of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) between 1870-1920, Hiatt et al (2009) reveal how the movement undermined the legitimacy of alcohol among consumers. Leveraging the virtues of sobriety and family values, the aggressive opposition to the longstanding practice of alcohol consumption was successful, leading to the vast closure of breweries.…”

“…Formal Authority (Weber, 1947) Bases of power (French and Raven, 1959) Control of sources of uncertainty (Crozier, 1964) Control over valuable resources (Pfeffer and Salanick, 1974) CEO control over scarce resources (Hambrick, 1981) Control over resources need by stakeholders (Elg and Johansson, 1997) Organization use of resources to fend off unwanted environmental pressure (Lamburg & Pajunen, 2005) Social movements mobilize valuable resources to pressure change in firms (McCarthy & Zald, 1997) Undermining existing resource flows (Hiatt et al, 2009) …”

Top management teams and the performance of entrepreneurial firms

“…Economics has long considered how industries emerge, evolve, and decline (e.g., Agarwal and Gort 2002). Similarly, sociology has long studied the entry and exit dynamics of populations of firms (e.g., Sine et al 2005;Hiatt et al 2009). In both of these disciplines, the emphasis is on the environment such as its competitiveness, geographical features, and institutional arrangements.…”