From goat shows to guilds: How U.S. cheesemakers built a culture of collaboration

Why does collaboration among competitors persist as industries mature? Standard models predict it will fade with formal governance and rivalry, yet in some sectors, it becomes a stable norm. Using a Veblenian Original Institutional Economics (OIE) lens, this paper develops a four-stage heuristic linking evolving uncertainty (radical, relational, coordination, durability) to distinct coordination logics. A mixed-methods study of the U.S. artisanal cheese industry (1975–2018) shows that collaboration became institutionalised through habituated practice, identity alignment, and moral commitment, later layered with formal supports. The framework clarifies how OIE best explains norm emergence and reproduction, while New Institutional Economics (NIE) helps account for codifying and scaling already-institutionalised norms. Quantitatively, peer networks shifted toward higher clustering and greater geographic localisation; qualitatively, mentorship and open exchange sedimented into professional expectations. Collaboration endures because it is morally meaningful, identity-affirming, and institutionally reproduced. Efficiency benefits may follow, but they do not explain its origin or persistence.