Organizational Identity and Firm Growth: Properties of Growth, Contextual Identities and Micro-Level Processes

231 Pages·2017·4.564 MB·English

by  Christoph Dörrenbächer, Matthias Tomenendal, Sarah Stanske (eds.)

Edited by
CHRISTOPH DÖRRENBÄCHER
MATTHIAS TOMENENDAL
SARAH STANSKE
ORGANIZATIONAL
IDENTITY AND
FIRM GROWTH
Properties of Growth,
Contextual Identities and
Micro-Level Processes
Organizational Identity and Firm Growth

Christoph Dörrenbächer • Matthias T omenendal
Sarah Stanske
Editors
Organizational
Identity and Firm
Growth
Properties of Growth, Contextual Identities
and Micro-Level Processes
Editors
Christoph Dörrenbächer Sarah Stanske
Berlin School of Economics and Law European University Viadrina, Frankfurt
Berlin , Germany (Oder), Germany
German Graduate School of Management
Matthias Tomenendal and Law, Heilbronn , Germany
Berlin School of Economics and Law
Berlin , Germany
ISBN 978-1-137-57723-8 ISBN 978-1-137-57724-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-57724-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016940664
© Th e Editor(s) (if applicable) and Th e Author(s) 2017
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Contents
1 Organizational Identity and Firm Growth: An
Introduction 1
Christoph Dörrenbächer , Matthias Tomenendal ,
and Sarah Stanske
2 Organizational Identity and Its Applications: A Direction
for Further Research 13
Sarah Stanske
3 Organizational Identity in Management Consulting
Firms: Professional Partnerships and Managed
Professional Businesses Compared 63
Sarah Stanske , Matthias Tomenendal ,
and Christoph Dörrenbächer
4 Tracing Gazelles: An Exploration into Identities
of Rapidly Growing Companies 107
Matthias Tomenendal and Christian Raff er
v
vi Contents
5 Th e Role of Shared Identity Projects in Fostering
Regional Innovation and Growth 137
Matthias Tomenendal and Christian Raff er
6 Organizational Identity and International Firm
Growth: Some Th eoretical Considerations 163
Christoph Dörrenbächer and Christin Lappe
7 Organizational Identity, Global Mindset and the
Internationalization of Small and Medium-Sized
Enterprises 183
Christin Lappe and Christoph Dörrenbächer
8 Concluding Remarks: Organizational Identity in
a Transforming World 209
Fiona Moore
Index 217
Notes on Contributors
Christoph Dörrenbächer i s Professor of Organizational Design and Behavior
in International Business at the Berlin School of Economics and Law
(Department of Business and Economics), Berlin/Germany. Previously he
worked as a consultant and research fellow at various organizations in Germany
and abroad, including the Social Science Research Centre, Berlin and the
University of Groningen, the Netherlands; and visiting appointments with the
United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations (New York), the Central
European University (Budapest), and Manchester Metropolitan University. He
holds a PhD from the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Free University, Berlin.
His current research focus is on management, labor relations and headquarters–
subsidiary relationships in multinational corporations. He has published widely
in renowned international academic journals including B ritish Journal of
Management , I nternational Business Review , I nternational Journal of Management
Reviews , J ournal of World Business , M anagement International Review , Journal of
International Management and Organization Studies. He currently serves as a
co-editor-i n-chief of Critical Perspectives on International Business and he is the
founding director of the Berlin Institute for International Business Studies.
Christin Lappe i s a junior business development manager in International
Licensing at Axel Springer Auto Verlag GmbH, in Hamburg, Germany. She
holds a master’s in International Business and Consulting from the Berlin School
of Economics and Law, Berlin, Germany. With her interest in the expansion of
companies her research eff orts have focused on the global mindset and organiza-
tional identity of internationally growing enterprises.
vii
viii Notes on Contributors
Fiona Moore i s Professor of Business Anthropology at Royal Holloway
University of London. She has worked with Tesco, BMW, DG Bank and Oxford
Analytica on various consultancy projects. Her research interests include inter-
national human resource management, cross-cultural management, gender and
diversity in multinational corporations, and anthropology and its applications
in business studies. She has published widely in journals such as Th e International
Journal of Human Resource Management , M anagement International Review ,
International Business Review , J ournal of International Business Studies and
Employee Relations .
Christian Raff er holds a bachelor’s in economics and is currently an economics
master student at Humboldt University Berlin (Faculty of Economics and
Business Administration). Previously, he worked as a student research assistant
for several economic research projects and consulted a leading institution in the
German development cooperation. He is a trained journalist who worked for
several years as editor for a German newspaper. His research interests are welfare
and labor economics, economic geography, and organizational identity. He has
recently published in the renowned academic journals S chmollers Jahrbuch
(SCHMJ) , J ournal of Contextual Economics , and ZfKME—Zeitschrift für KMU
und Entrepreneurship .
Sarah Stanske i s a doctoral candidate at the European University Viadrina in
Frankfurt (Oder) and the German Graduate School of Management and Law in
Heilbronn (both in Germany). She holds a bachelor’s in International Business
Management from the Berlin School of Economics and Law and a master’s in
International Business Administration from the European University Viadrina.
Her research focuses on organizational identity, institutional economics, and
strategic management.
Matthias Tomenendal is Professor of Management and Consulting at the
Berlin School of Economics and Law (Department of Business and Economics),
Berlin, Germany. Previously he worked as a strategy consultant for Th e Boston
Consulting Group. He holds a PhD from the University of Saarland, Saarbrücken,
Germany and an MBA from the University of Georgia, Athens, USA. His cur-
rent research focus is on innovation, identity, and networks. He has recently
published in renowned academic journals including C ompetition and Change ,
Critical Perspectives on International Business and ZfKME—Zeitschrift für KMU
und Entrepreneurship . He consults national and international organizations on
issues of leadership and strategic management. He currently serves as the Director
of the IMB Institute of Management Berlin and the Berlin Professional School.
List of Figures
Fig. 3.1 Th e construction of OI 67
Fig. 3.2 Overview of empirical approach 74
Fig. 3.3 Categories for content analysis of web pages and annual
reports 76
Fig. 3.4 Frequency of category terms mentioned on P2 corporate
web pages 81
Fig. 3.5 Frequency of category terms mentioned on MPB corporate
web pages 82
Fig. 3.6 Frequency of category terms mentioned in MPB annual
reports 82
Fig. 4.1 Structures, systems and structuration 113
Fig. 4.2 Th e process of structuration 113
Fig. 4.3 Sub and axial categories and their interrelatedness in the
structuration dimension “Signifi cation” 120
Fig. 4.4 Sub and axial categories and their interrelatedness in the
structuration dimension “Legitimation’” 124
Fig. 4.5 Sub and axial categories and their interrelatedness in the
structuration dimension “Domination” 126
Fig. 4.6 Axial categories, arranged according to Giddens’
structuration theory 128
Fig. 4.7 Th e growth model, restricted on those internal drivers
explicitly relevant for company growth 131
Fig. 5.1 Model for collaborative innovation in business networks 155
ix