IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/respol/v40y2011i4p526-538.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Agency in national innovation systems: Institutional entrepreneurship and the professionalization of Taiwanese IT

Author

Listed:
  • Hung, Shih-Chang
  • Whittington, Richard

Abstract

This paper examines institutional entrepreneurship as a form of internal agency within national innovation systems. In particular, we consider the entrepreneurship of Taiwanese IT firms over 1980-2007 in creating a new professionalized organizational form markedly different from the traditional Taiwanese model of family business. We compare two successful sectors - personal computers and semiconductors - and one failure - hard disk drives. We emphasize how entrepreneurial firms used strategies of framing, aggregating and networking (F.A.N.) to build legitimacy, mobilize local resources and reach out beyond the limitations of their immediate contexts. We discuss how F.A.N. strategies may evolve from 'introversion' to 'extraversion' and develop implications for policy-makers and further research.

Suggested Citation

  • Hung, Shih-Chang & Whittington, Richard, 2011. "Agency in national innovation systems: Institutional entrepreneurship and the professionalization of Taiwanese IT," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 526-538, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:40:y:2011:i:4:p:526-538
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048-7333(11)00017-5
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dennis A. Gioia & Kumar Chittipeddi, 1991. "Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(6), pages 433-448, September.
    2. Richard Whittington, 1992. "Putting Giddens Into Action: Social Systems And Managerial Agency," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 693-712, November.
    3. Bengt-Åke Lundvall, 2007. "National Innovation Systems—Analytical Concept and Development Tool," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 95-119.
    4. Fligstein, Neil, 2001. "Social Skill and the Theory of Fields," Center for Culture, Organizations and Politics, Working Paper Series qt26m187b1, Center for Culture, Organizations and Politics of theInstitute for Research on Labor and Employment, UC Berkeley.
    5. David J. Teece, 2007. "Explicating dynamic capabilities: the nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(13), pages 1319-1350, December.
    6. Hiroatsu Nohara & Eric Verdier, 2001. "Sources Of Resilience In The Computer And Software Industries In France," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 201-220.
    7. Linsu Kim & James M. Utterback, 1983. "The Evolution of Organizational Structure and Technology in a Developing Country," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(10), pages 1185-1197, October.
    8. Rodolphe Durand & Hayagreeva Rao & Philippe Monin, 2003. "Institutional Change in Toque Ville: Nouvelle Cuisine as an Identity Movement in French Gastronomy," Post-Print hal-00480858, HAL.
    9. Landry, Rejean & Amara, Nabil, 1998. "The impact of transaction costs on the institutional structuration of collaborative academic research," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(9), pages 901-913, December.
    10. Anne Tempel & Peter Walgenbach, 2007. "Global Standardization of Organizational Forms and Management Practices? What New Institutionalism and the Business‐Systems Approach Can Learn from Each Other," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 1-24, January.
    11. Anchordoguy, Marie, 2000. "Japan's software industry: a failure of institutions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 391-408, March.
    12. Charles Edquist & Leif Hommen (ed.), 2008. "Small Country Innovation Systems," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3981.
    13. Charles W. L. Hill, 1995. "National Institutional Structures, Transaction Cost Economizing and Competitive Advantage: The Case of Japan," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(1), pages 119-131, February.
    14. Hiroatsu Nohara & Eric Verdier, 2001. "Sources Of Resilience In The Computer And Software Industries In France," Post-Print halshs-00484829, HAL.
    15. Storz, Cornelia, 2008. "Dynamics in innovation systems: Evidence from Japan's game software industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 1480-1491, October.
    16. Hayagreeva Rao & Philippe Monin & Rodolphe Durand, 2003. "Institutional change in toque ville : Nouvelle cuisine as an identity movement in French gastronomy," Post-Print hal-02311672, HAL.
    17. Schmitz, Hubert, 1999. "Global Competition and Local Cooperation: Success and Failure in the Sinos Valley, Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(9), pages 1627-1650, September.
    18. Po-Keung Ip, 2008. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Crony Capitalism in Taiwan," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 79(1), pages 167-177, April.
    19. Liu, Yunshi & Ahlstrom, David & Yeh, Kuang S., 2006. "The separation of ownership and management in Taiwan's public companies: An empirical study," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 415-435, August.
    20. Dodgson, Mark & Mathews, John & Kastelle, Tim & Hu, Mei-Chih, 2008. "The evolving nature of Taiwan's national innovation system: The case of biotechnology innovation networks," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 430-445, April.
    21. Sea-Jin Chang & Chi-Nien Chung & Ishtiaq P. Mahmood, 2006. "When and How Does Business Group Affiliation Promote Firm Innovation? A Tale of Two Emerging Economies," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(5), pages 637-656, October.
    22. Alice H. Amsden & Wan-wen Chu, 2003. "Beyond Late Development: Taiwan's Upgrading Policies," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262011980, April.
    23. Arie Y. Lewin & Chris P. Long & Timothy N. Carroll, 1999. "The Coevolution of New Organizational Forms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(5), pages 535-550, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dodgson, Mark & Hughes, Alan & Foster, John & Metcalfe, Stan, 2011. "Systems thinking, market failure, and the development of innovation policy: The case of Australia," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1145-1156.
    2. Jain, Sanjay, 2020. "Fumbling to the future? Socio-technical regime change in the recorded music industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    3. Maximilian Benner, 2022. "Legitimizing path development by interlinking institutional logics: The case of Israel's desert tourism," PEGIS geo-disc-2022_01, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    4. Brayden G. King & Teppo Felin & David A. Whetten, 2010. "Perspective---Finding the Organization in Organizational Theory: A Meta-Theory of the Organization as a Social Actor," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(1), pages 290-305, February.
    5. Kirchner, Stefan, 2010. "Organizational identities and institutions: Dynamics of the organizational core as a question of path dependence," MPIfG Working Paper 10/4, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    6. Hélène Peton & Antoine Blanc, 2011. "The interplay of agencies in institutional disruption: An explanation of the slow death of asbestos in France," Post-Print halshs-00672436, HAL.
    7. Greta Hsu & Özgecan Koçak & Balázs Kovács, 2018. "Co-Opt or Coexist? A Study of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries’ Identity-Based Responses to Recreational-Use Legalization in Colorado and Washington," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 172-190, February.
    8. Patrick Castel & Erhard Friedberg, 2010. "Institutional Change as an Interactive Process: The Case of the Modernization of the French Cancer Centers," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 311-330, April.
    9. Victoria Johnson & Walter W. Powell, 2017. "Organizational Poisedness and the Transformation of Civic Order in Nineteenth-Century New York City," NBER Chapters, in: Organizations, Civil Society, and the Roots of Development, pages 179-230, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Mollona, Edoardo & Pareschi, Luca, 2020. "A gramscian perspective on field dynamics. The case of the privatization of Italian steel industry," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).
    11. Mair, Johanna & Marti, Ignasi, 2009. "Entrepreneurship in and around institutional voids: A case study from Bangladesh," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 419-435, September.
    12. Lisa Qixun Siebers, 2017. "Hybridization practices as organizational responses to institutional demands: The development of Western retail TNCs in China," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(1), pages 1-29.
    13. Marie-Laure Salles-Djelic & Rodolphe Durand, 2010. "Strong in the Morning, Dead in the Evening," Post-Print hal-01891973, HAL.
    14. Stål, Herman I. & Bonnedahl, Karl J. & Eriksson, Jessica, 2014. "The challenge of introducing low-carbon industrial practices: Institutional entrepreneurship in the agri-food sector," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 203-215.
    15. Katherine C. Kellogg, 2012. "Making the Cut: Using Status-Based Countertactics to Block Social Movement Implementation and Microinstitutional Change in Surgery," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(6), pages 1546-1570, December.
    16. Desirée F. Pacheco & Jeffrey G. York & Timothy J. Hargrave, 2014. "The Coevolution of Industries, Social Movements, and Institutions: Wind Power in the United States," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(6), pages 1609-1632, December.
    17. Hu, Mei-Chih & Hung, Shih-Chang, 2014. "Taiwan's pharmaceuticals: A failure of the sectoral system of innovation?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 162-176.
    18. Kerice Doten-Snitker & Cara Margherio & Elizabeth Litzler & Ella Ingram & Julia Williams, 2021. "Developing a Shared Vision for Change: Moving toward Inclusive Empowerment," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 62(2), pages 206-229, March.
    19. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1q24hpq2919to8ct061g8p33kn is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Luis Alfonso Dau & Aya S. Chacar & Marjorie A. Lyles & Jiatao Li, 2022. "Informal institutions and international business: Toward an integrative research agenda," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(6), pages 985-1010, August.
    21. Calvin Morrill, 2008. "Culture and Organization Theory," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 619(1), pages 15-40, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:40:y:2011:i:4:p:526-538. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/respol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.