Schreiter, K;
Ravasi, D;
(2018)
Institutional Pressures and Organizational Identity: The Case of Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau in the GDR and Beyond, 1945-1996.
Business History Review
, 92
(3)
pp. 453-481.
10.1017/S0007680518000776.
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Abstract
This article explores the case of Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau (DWH) - a furniture and interior manufacturer founded in 1898 - through state socialism after 1945 and reprivatization in the 1990s. Our analysis suggests that the firm's survival through multiple systemic disruptions was partly due to the preservation of a unique identity despite heavy institutional pressures for conformity. DWH adopted a "mixed conformity" strategy that attempted to pitch multiple concerns (cultural-aesthetic, ideological, economic) of political authorities against one another to buffer sociopolitical pressures, thus ultimately conforming to some (identity-consistent) demands, while violating other (identity-threatening) ones. This allowed DWH to successfully navigate tensions between sociopolitical expectations and the need to preserve a collective sense of distinctiveness and continuity over time.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Institutional Pressures and Organizational Identity: The Case of Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau in the GDR and Beyond, 1945-1996 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1017/S0007680518000776 |
| Publisher version: | http://doi.org/10.1017/S0007680518000776 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | organizational identity, institutional pressures, sociopolitical legitimacy, conformity, product design, planned economy, GDR, Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > UCL School of Management |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10062439 |
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