The emergence and growth of an improbable laboratory in economics and management : the case of BETA

The aim of this contribution is to trace the process by which such an improbable research unit, the BETA at the University Louis Pasteur, has emerged and grown and to stress the interesting outcomes. The paper can be read as a case study on the emergence and development of a ‘knowledge creating community'. Such an analysis requires the understanding of the micro-dynamics of the complex co-evolution between four different elements in the production of research: small epistemic communities as active units of production of specialised knowledge in different domains of economics and management, the lab as a research institution, the University as the locus of collective representation, and key individuals as boundary spanners. In particular, the analysis of this evolution reveals the importance of the earliest stages of the collective effort that necessitates the interaction and coordination of dispersed actors. From these interactions progressively emerged a coherent unit of production of knowledge with shared codes, a common ‘code-book', and shared experiences. The real recognition of the lab as an institution came much later (recognition by the French CNRS - 1985). From this moment, the lab as an institution had to show its capability to sustain both cumulative progress and some turnover of personnel.