Management consulting firms as institutional agents:strategies for creating and sustaining institutional capital

Abstract

We classify the strategies by which management consultancies can create and sustain the institutional capital that makes it possible for them to extract competitive resources from their institutional context. Using examples from the German consulting industry, we show how localized competitive actions can enhance both individual firms’ positions, and also strengthen the collective institutional capital of the consulting industry thus legitimizing consulting services in broader sectors of society and facilitating access to requisite resources. Our findings counter the image of institutional entrepreneurship as individualistic, “heroic” action. We demonstrate how distributed, embedded actors can collectively shape the institutional context from within to enhance their institutional capital.

Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Economics, Finance & Entrepreneurship
College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School
Uncontrolled Keywords: institutional capital,institutional strategy,consulting,embedded agency,neoinstitutionalism
Publication ISSN: 1439-2917
Last Modified: 30 Sep 2024 10:06
Date Deposited: 27 Nov 2012 14:12
Full Text Link: http://www.sbr- ... nt/2010_07.html
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PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2010
Authors: Reihlen, Markus
Smets, Michael
Veit, Andreas

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