Path Dependence and the Stabilization of Strategic Premises: How the Funeral Industry Buries Itself

Wenzel, Matthias

doi:10.5465/ambpp.2014.15370abstract

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…This point of view is also shared by Zahra et al (2006, p. 928) when they propose that operative routines are difficult to change when they have been used repeatedly in a similar manner. In a contemporary case study, Wenzel (2015) shows that the funeral industry in Berlin (Germany) stabilized its strategic premises and action patterns (i.e., routines) even though the market changed radically. This environmental change was due to discount funeral homes entering the market and the rise of the internet that leveraged marketing capabilities of those discount funeral homes.…”

Section: Environmental Dynamism Reduces Fit Of Operative Routinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Entrepreneurial initiatives as a microfoundation of dynamic capabilities

Mahringer

Renzl

2018

JAOC

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Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to show how entrepreneurial initiatives in organizations serve as a microfoundation of dynamic capabilities and, thus, foster change in organizations. Design/methodology/approach-This paper revises and applies conceptual as well as empirical research on dynamic capabilities, their microfoundations and corporate entrepreneurship. In addition, it develops a model of how entrepreneurial initiatives, operative routines and capabilities interact. Findings-The paper develops a model of how entrepreneurial initiatives in organizations represent a microfoundation of dynamic capabilities. First, the model shows that environmental dynamism reduces fit of operative routines and capabilities. Second, the model states that entrepreneurial initiatives are triggered by operative routines and capabilities in respect of environmental dynamism. Third, the model suggests that entrepreneurial initiatives disrupt operative routines and capabilities and, thus, restore their fit in dynamic environments. The paper contributes to current research on dynamic capabilities, their microfoundations and corporate entrepreneurship. Originality/value-This paper addresses the tension between routinization and the entrepreneurial nature of dynamic capabilities. Considering entrepreneurial initiatives as a microfoundation shows that dynamic capabilities might be entrepreneurial, but still preserve their patterned nature enabling repeated execution. This approach provides a way to reconcile the two sub-streams in dynamic capability research and preserve their ontological assumptions. Moreover, this paper extends the literature on dynamic capabilities by ascertaining how individual and group level entrepreneurial initiatives operate within a broader context.

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Section: Environmental Dynamism Reduces Fit Of Operative Routinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Entrepreneurial initiatives as a microfoundation of dynamic capabilities

Mahringer

Renzl

2018

JAOC

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“…The final step leads researchers to reconstructing basic assumptions, that is, the underlying premises in which the actions and interpretations of organizational actors are embedded. In their distinctions between actions that they do and do not perform or discuss, organizational actors reflexively refer to such premises (Wenzel, 2015). Thus, reflections of organizational actors on the reasons why they follow or discuss certain courses of action and why they do not consider alternative courses of action essentially reflect these premises.…”

Section: Beyond Linear Cause-effect Relationships: Embracing the Messiness Of Organizational Changementioning

confidence: 99%

From entity to process: toward more process-based theorizing in the field of organizational change

Wenzel

Koch

2018

JAOC

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to make a case for more process-based theorizing in the field of organizational change. Design/methodology/approach To emphasize the importance of a process perspective on organizational change, this paper challenges the prevalent theorizing approach that treats organizational change as entity and argues that process-based theorizing can help researchers gain a better understanding of organizational change. Findings To direct future research toward more process-based theorizing, this paper proposes a systematic four-step procedure for the analysis of qualitative data that helps researchers theorize organizational change from a process perspective. Originality/value Overall, this paper contributes to theorizing efforts in the field of organizational change by offering a reflective account on the challenges that entity-based theorizing entails, strengthening the position of process-based theorizing in light of these challenges and providing an outlook on how scholars can develop theoretical insights on organizational change from a process perspective.

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“…Instead, the extant literature on strategic path dependence primarily focuses on describing and explaining the emergence of strategic paths before they are broken, and in so doing, it emphasizes and reinforces the formative role of selfreinforcing mechanisms in this process (Dobusch & Schüßler, 2013). Although technological, administrative, and structural changes can help break strategic paths (Rowe, 1994), the literature tends to emphasize the emergence of incumbents' strategic paths that are broken as the result of technological changes in the environment (Tripsas & Gavetti, 2000;Gilbert, 2005;Koch, 2008Koch, , 2011Schreyögg et al, 2011;Rothmann & Koch, 2014;Wenzel, 2015). For instance, in the newspaper industry, the strategic pattern of producing and selling news in paperbased formats and offering it to both advertising customers and readers emerged as part of the so-called advertising-circulation spiral in which news publishers subsidized their product by accepting payment for advertising, and readers thus paid for only a fraction of the costs of producing and distributing the newspaper.…”

Section: Strategic Path Dependencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A few studies have also shed light on the retention of strategic paths even after they have been broken by technological changes in the environment (Koch, 2011;Rothmann & Koch, 2014;Wenzel, 2015). For instance, when the newspaper industry was struck by increasing competitive pressure from digital news offerings and was suffering from a slump in the advertising market, news publishers transferred their ad-driven business model from the analog world into the digital sphere, which meant that they subsidized digital news by providing the content for free to extend their circulation and to render their news Web sites attractive to ad customers (Koch, 2011).…”

Section: Strategic Path Dependencementioning

confidence: 99%

The funeral industry and the Internet: on the historical emergence and destabilization of strategic paths

Wenzel

Wagner

Koch

2017

European Journal of Information Systems

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Although IS research acknowledges the importance of path dependence with the generalized response that ''history matters,'' this broad understanding does not substitute for a more systematic historical analysis of how paths emerge and how technological change breaks them. In this context, we draw on the theory of strategic path dependence from organization and management research to develop a more nuanced understanding of path dependence and then explore how technological change breaks these strategic paths. Based on a narrative analysis of the strategic development of incumbents in the funeral industry, we reconstruct the core components of strategic paths-strategic patterns and selfreinforcing mechanisms-and scrutinize the Internet's role in breaking these paths. We suggest that technological change helps break strategic paths by destabilizing the very self-reinforcing mechanisms that led to their emergence and reproduction in the first place. Furthermore, by showing that breaking strategic paths involves a subsequent critical event that destabilizes the strategic pattern, we advance a process understanding of how strategic paths are broken. This paper thus provides much-needed historical analyses of IS-related phenomena, offers a more precise and systematic understanding of path dependence in IS research, and yields insights into the process of how strategic paths are broken.

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Path Dependence and the Stabilization of Strategic Premises: How the Funeral Industry Buries Itself

Cited by 8 publications

References 21 publications

Entrepreneurial initiatives as a microfoundation of dynamic capabilities

Entrepreneurial initiatives as a microfoundation of dynamic capabilities

From entity to process: toward more process-based theorizing in the field of organizational change

The funeral industry and the Internet: on the historical emergence and destabilization of strategic paths

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