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Coordination versus organization: Diverging logics of firm cooperation in Denmark and Sweden

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  • Christian Lyhne Ibsen
  • Lisa Sezer
  • Virginia Doellgast

Abstract

Employers and their business associations have become increasingly important actors promoting market competition – even in once highly coordinated and regulated European economies. Based on a comparison of the Danish and Swedish telecommunications industries, we ask how differences in business association structures relate to the ways firms cooperate in competitive markets. In Denmark, fragmented, competing business associations encouraged a more unstable logic of coordination, with firms predominately focussed on pursuing particularistic interests in public policy lobbying and exit‐oriented strategies in employment relations. In contrast, the unified business association in Sweden encouraged a logic of organization, with firms predominately seeking collective good provision in public policy lobbying and engaging in mutual gains bargaining. Findings contribute to debates on the role of business associations in fostering firm cooperation and collective regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Lyhne Ibsen & Lisa Sezer & Virginia Doellgast, 2023. "Coordination versus organization: Diverging logics of firm cooperation in Denmark and Sweden," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(3), pages 526-549, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:61:y:2023:i:3:p:526-549
    DOI: 10.1111/bjir.12704
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    References listed on IDEAS

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