Co-evolution Of Institutions Research Articles

Coworking Spaces and Mid‐Sized Cities in Peripheral Contexts: Conceptualising Development Trajectories

AbstractCoworking spaces and the creative industries represent a rapidly growing but highly diverse shared economy sector. The paper outlines the types of incremental or radical forms of change developed that lead to industrial–institutional coevolution based on evidence from selected cities in Central and Eastern Europe. The results suggest that CS in peripheral areas are contributing primarily to the path upgrading through local embeddedness of stakeholders. These spaces contribute to refocusing local creative ecosystems by enhancing competitiveness of microclusters. Results suggest that CS in peripheral areas are contributing primarily to the path upgrading through local embeddedness of stakeholders through remote workers and digital nomads These cases underline replicative entrepreneurship, where local stakeholders gather momentum for a subsequent period characterised by new internal structures and services in the urban setting. Considering the form of change, our results emphasise the importance of reproductive agency based on diverse services to digital nomads and remote workers.

Insulina i upadek wieży z kości słoniowej. Rzecz o zmieniających się uwarunkowaniach innowacyjności

Insulin and a fall of the ivory tower. On the changing determinants of innovation The centennial of the discovery of insulin and the fortieth anniversary of the introduction of human insulin into the American market provide a good opportunity to reflect on the circumstances surrounding innovation in high technology branches of industry. The subject of that reflection is the possibility of applying the model of technical, organisational and institutional co-evolution, formulated by Johan Peter Murmann in relation to the artificial dyes industry in nineteenth-century Germany, United Kingdom and United States, to the history of the pharmaceutical industry. An analysis of the evolution of relations between scientists and physicians on the one hand and the pharmaceutical industry on the other leads to the conclusion that the Murmann model must be supplemented with reflection on changes in the role of medical codes of ethics and on the understanding of the social role of science. The achievement of the current status quo in the cooperation between the medical profession and the industry has been possible thanks to the liberalisation of the principles of ethical codes, which have been transformed from a set of strict standards into just a set of guidelines to help physicians in their everyday practice. On the other hand, the industry has gradually adapted its marketing strategies to the requirements of physicians by divulging the composition of medicines, abandoning direct advertising to patients and introducing a new strategy known as scientific marketing. As far as scientists are concerned, the consent to the commercialisation of research results was the consequence of a change in the understanding of the social role of science. In the twentieth century science became one of the many professions pursued to earn a living and scientists no longer came to regard themselves as a special group selflessly explaining the rules of the natural world. It is unfair to blame biotechnology for this shift, as the processes of “disenchantment” of science were well under way before biotechnology was born in the mid-1970s.

Digital Revolution, Institutional Coevolution, and Legal Innovations

The digital transformation “revolutionizes” entire economies and societies in a Schumpeterian sense. This paper analyzes three current policy debates with respect to the question, whether and to what extent also radical legal innovations might be necessary for ensuring a proper coevolution of the legal and regulatory framework with respect to the disruptive technological and economic change on digital markets. These discussions encompass (1) the new challenges for competition policy through the large tech firms with far-reaching reforms, e.g., the EU Digital Markets Act, (2) the new huge threats to privacy, and the serious concerns whether the data protection law instrument of “consent” can deal with this problem effectively, and (3) entirely new questions about the governance of data (data access/sharing etc.) with the development of a new (so far not existing) field of data law. In all three of these policy fields traditional legal and regulatory concepts do not seem to be sufficient any more, leading to the conclusion of the need for developing new concepts and policy approaches for ensuring a proper coevolution of the institutional framework for the economy and society. Digitisation, digital platforms, Big Tech, market power, competition, privacy, data protection, data governance, legal innovation, legal evolution

Playing the political game: the coevolution of institutions with group size and political inequality.

All societies need to form institutional rules to regulate their social interactions. These specify what actions individuals should take in particular situations, and what sanctions will apply if individuals violate these rules. However, forming these institutional rules involves playing a political game-a process of negotiation between individuals that is costly and time-consuming. Intuitively, this cost should be expected to increase as a group becomes larger, which could then select for a transition to hierarchy to keep the cost of playing the political game down as group size increases. However, previous work has lacked a mechanistic yet general model of political games that could formalize this argument and test the conditions under which it holds. We address this by formalizing the political game using a standard consensus formation model. We show that the increasing cost of forming a consensus over institutional rules selects for a transition from egalitarian to hierarchical organization over a wide range of conditions. Playing a political game to form institutional rules in this way captures and unites a previously disparate set of voluntary theories for hierarchy formation, and can explain why the increasing group size in the Neolithic would lead to strong political inequality. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolutionary ecology of inequality'.

Degrowth and the Global South? How Institutionalism can Complement a Timely Discourse on Ecologically Sustainable Development in an Unequal World

The goal of this article is twofold: first, it assesses the current state of collaboration between institutionalist economics and the academic degrowth discourse on the topic of global inequalities. Since a systematic literature review of the current degrowth discourse shows that the level of such collaboration is limited, the second goal of the article is to outline avenues through which institutionalist scholars could contribute to the current academic degrowth discourse. These include the provision of theories of institutional change, a methodological reflection of selected formal models, and substantive insights on the co-evolution of institutions and technological change.

Africa rising: Opportunities for advancing theory on people, institutions, and the nation state in international business.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41267-022-00581-z.

Bounded Entanglement: The Asymmetric Co-evolution of Institutions and Internationalization Research and Practice

ABSTRACT The institutional context of firm internationalization has become increasingly important to research and practice. Institutional influence and effects are well documented across diverse aspects of firm internationalization. However, less is known about the reciprocal interplay of relationships between institutions and internationalization, and how this may spur their asymmetric co-evolution over time – as differentially influenced by highly varying forces and factors. We contribute to the literature by unpacking these relationships, introducing a model with propositions to account for the simultaneous interactions of institutions and internationalization leading to asymmetric co-evolution over time, and by extending unique theoretical support for the co-evolution process.

Innovative Capitalism Needs Institutional Co-Evolution

The fact that innovative capitalism needs institutional co-evolution has widely been recognized with respect to pro-active institutional adaptations. Examples are the rearrangement and safeguarding of supply chains or the creation of public institutions providing indispensable systemic infrastructure. These adaptations facilitate the innovative expansion of capitalism. Less attention has been paid to the fact that institutional co-evolution is also necessary where the repercussions of major innovative breakthroughs trigger social tensions and environmental damages or ecological hazards. The present paper is therefore devoted to an investigation of the latter kind of institutional co-evolution. These adaptations are usually reactive ones because critical side effects of innovations often only turn out with a delay. The causal nexus between the dynamics of innovative capitalism and the emergence of critical situations that require re-active institutional adaptations will be discussed by means of two examples. One is the crisis of the global commons, most notable the global climate change. The other example is the recent mass migration crisis. Finally, the policy options regarding necessary institutional adaptations will briefly be outlined for the two examples.

Institutional barriers to integrated marine spatial planning on the island of Ireland

Achieving sustainability goals in shared marine ecosystems is often undermined by different nation state marine governance systems, conflict over jurisdictional boundaries, and geopolitical differences. Moreover, Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is politically charged in cross-border areas resulting in institutional fragmentation. Decision-making processes are embedded in different legislative approaches, cultures, fiscal, and administrative procedures which are unable to adequately consider the specificities of these areas. Greater integration is required to deliver sustainable outcomes. However, academic literature regarding integration in MSP fail to incorporate the co-evolution of institutions and this remains a wholly undeveloped area of MSP research. This paper contributes to the emerging MSP discourse by revisiting the understanding of institutional barriers to effective MSP implementation. The island of Ireland is selected as a case study to demonstrate how MSP legislation, policies and plans are emerging with limited coherence contrary to requirements under the EU MSP Directive 2014/89/EU and the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. Findings from series of interviews with key stakeholders on the island of Ireland are discussed. The analysis focuses on key barriers identified by utilising Ansong et al.’s ‘Wheel of Integration and Adaptation’ [1] under the themes of structural alignment, community and self-action, decision making, collaborative learning, leading structured intervention, and collaborative capacity. The paper concludes by presenting different intervention pathways to addressing the management and planning of contested marine areas.

Institutional innovation readiness for Industry 4.0 education: towards an inclusive model for the Kingdom of Bahrain

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to explore factors that contribute to institutional innovation readiness for Industry 4.0 education from the perspective of institutional experts and to develop a conceptual model for inclusive Industry 4.0 education. The study involves semi-structured interviews with 28 managers and strategists from various triple helix (i.e. educational, industrial and governmental) institutions in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Using thematic analysis and guided by a constructivist perspective, the study finds sets of themes for reform essentialities and value expectancies associated with institutional innovation for Industry 4.0 education. Reform essentialities pertain to educational system flexibility and funding, school curriculum revision and restructuring and high-performance talent and training. Similarly, value expectancy entails skills-focused programmes for lifelong and project-based learning, students-focused programmes for agile and responsive specialities, public-oriented programmes for empowering and transforming mind-sets and research-oriented programmes for developing and sustaining competencies. Managerially, this study stresses the need for multi-level (i.e. organisational-institutional-regional) strategic alignment that promotes and enhances co-evolution of institutions with technological advances. The study also highlights the practical role of programme-driven innovation for institutions to focus strategic foresight and readiness to cope with Industry 4.0 education demands through skills-focused, students-focused, public-oriented and research-oriented programmes.

Institutions and entrepreneurship in a non‐ergodic world

AbstractResearch SummaryThis special issue advances the global strategy and entrepreneurship fields by providing a better understanding of the linkage between institutions and entrepreneurship. We provide an overview of existing literature in three key research areas: (a) the impact of institutions (types and complexity) on entrepreneurship, (b) the effect of institutional evolution (overall evolution and interplay among institutions) on entrepreneurship, and (c) the coevolution of institutions and entrepreneurship. We introduce the eight articles appearing in this special issue, examine the relationship between institutions and entrepreneurship in a non‐ergodic world, and highlight meaningful and promising avenues for future research in each of the three key research areas in the domain of institutions and entrepreneurship.Managerial SummaryThis study clarifies the complex relationship between institutions (the rules and norms that govern economic transactions) and entrepreneurship. Our discussion of existing literature, special issue articles, institutions and entrepreneurship in a world of significant change, and several promising avenues for future research highlights to entrepreneurs and their stakeholders the critical role that institutions play in entrepreneurial strategies and actions in three ways. First, the types of institutions and their complexity in a location alter entrepreneurs' incentives and ability to create new ventures. Second, the continued changes in institutions ‐ some in favor of free‐market relationships and others restricting them ‐ alter entrepreneurs' behaviors. Third, the entrepreneurial spirit and the creation of new ventures can drive the transformation of institutions that govern future market transactions.

Digital Revolution, Institutional Coevolution, and Legal Innovations

Digital Revolution, Institutional Coevolution, and Legal Innovations

Emerging Market Institutional Co-Evolution, State-Owned Firm Globalization, and the Resource Curse

We explore the effects of the natural resource “curse” on co- evolutionary relationships between emerging economy institutions and the internationalization of their state-owned enterprises. We disc...

A South-South perspective on emerging economy companies and institutional coevolution: An empirical study of Chinese multinationals in Africa

In this paper, we show how international tenders act as defining moments in building asymmetric coevolution-based mechanisms between Chinese multinational enterprises and local institutions in developing African countries. We used a case study methodology to explore how three Chinese multinationals – Citic, Sinopec, and Chinalco – developed non-market relations with the institutions of three African countries, namely, Algeria, Gabon and the Republic of Guinea, both during and after the submission of international tenders, to win strategic contracts and securely embed the company in question within the target host country. We found that Chinese companies not only submit tenders, but also develop multiple kinds of alliances in order to influence local institutions over the long term, transplant new business practices and standards, and expand in an unparalleled way, with host-country institutions and Chinese MNEs acting as partners in the new ecosystem. Based on our findings, we propose a model which highlights the specific mechanisms through which successful coevolution processes emerge and prosper between Chinese multinationals and developing country institutions. This study contributes to the international management literature by extending the field of institutional theory to co-evolutionism in international business.

The co-evolution of institutions and entrepreneurship

This article examines the interrelations of institutions and entrepreneurship to illustrate how they co-evolve. It takes the government, the public, and entrepreneurs as the actors of formal and informal institutions and entrepreneurship respectively. Then, drawing on several related theories and an inductive study on China’s institutional transitions, it develops a three-phase framework to analyze both actions of the government, the public, and entrepreneurs and their interactions in the process of institutional transitions. It indicates that such three actors act and interact differently at different stages of the transitions. This article provides a more comprehensive, dynamic picture on the interactions of institutions and entrepreneurship. In addition, it not only helps the government better transform institutions and foster the supply and allocation of entrepreneurship, but also aids entrepreneurs in interacting with the government and the public to exploit institutional transitions.

How the East was Lost: Coevolution of Institutions and Culture in the 16th Century Portuguese Empire

In 1498 Portuguese explorers discovered the sea route to Asia and for nearly 100 years no other nation managed to follow suit. This monopoly allowed Portugal to establish a vast maritime empire that positioned it to dominate the intercontinental trade in spices and other valuable goods between Asia and Europe, until then the domain of caravans through the Levant. But despite their superior navigation technology and military power, the Portuguese failed to exploit their lead. Even before the British and Dutch finally managed to reach Asia by sea, a century later, the Portuguese enterprise in Asia was already in decline. The literature on the remarkable rise and fall of the Portuguese empire is divided between those that ascribe the decline to culture and others that point to institutional causes. The cultural explanations highlight a rigid medieval society in which elites aspire to be warriors and find commerce undignified. Institutional explanations focus on the excessive centralization of power in the absolutist monarch and the problems that result from the principal-agent relation between the monarch and those charged with running the enterprise in Asia. In this paper we argue that it is shortsighted to try to ascribe primacy to only one of these determining factors. Following a recent literature that highlights the inter-relatedness of culture and institutions in development we argue that the failure of the Portuguese enterprise in Asia must be understood in the context of the transition of a medieval society into the modern era, where new opportunities made possible by new technologies and circumstances put a strain on prevailing beliefs and institutions. These new opportunities required changes in culture and institutions in order to be fully taken advantage of, in particular the embrace of commerce as opposed to violence as the key organizing principle. We show how the Portuguese enterprise in Asia made some moves towards those changes, yet the transition was slow, imperfect and incomplete, leading to inefficiencies and the squandering of opportunities to capitalize on their monopoly. In contrast, the British and Dutch reached Asia with a culture that was more suited to commerce and institutions (e.g. joint-stock companies) that allowed them to very quickly usurp Portugal’s hegemony in the region.

Coevolution of institutions and residents toward sustainable glocal development: a case study on the Kuni Umi solar power project on Awaji Island

Establishing effective institutions to promote renewable energy (RE) is an urgent battle in the war against global warming. The RE program Kuni Umi Solar Power Plant with Resident Participation (KSPP) on Awaji Island in Japan has succeeded in large-scale RE deployment in the short term. This paper regards the KSPP as an example of institutional change and examines it from four perspectives—(1) path dependency and exogenous shock, (2) institutions as mediating micro- and macro-factors, (3) residents as micro-actors, and (4) macro- and micro-outcomes—and provides empirical research using a survey of residents. First, institutional change in Awaji has occurred with its rich social and natural capital resources and the crisis it has faced due to depopulation and a mega-earthquake as contrasting backdrops. Second, KSPP had an effective institutional design that integrates different actors—the feed-in-tariff (FIT) system at a national level, the NPO Kuni Umi Association that builds and manages the KSPP, and the Awaji residents who financed the project. Third, Awaji residents were key micro-actors in supporting the KSPP project. Our questionnaire survey shows that the initial period of living in Awaji significantly affects people’s willingness to invest in socially responsible investments, whether for environmental protection or regional activation, because of their attachment to the region. Finally, we show that KSPP is achieving RE deployment and local activation as macro-outcomes of institutional change. Further, the prefectural resident survey shows that residents’ attachments were significantly enhanced after the KSPP. From the case study, we conclude that a key to institutional change in achieving sustainable development goals is an institutional scheme that matches the specific conditions of a region, promotes cooperation among private and public actors, and integrates goals that bring a dynamic evolutionary process of micro-actors and macro-outcomes.

The co-evolution of institutions and stakeholders in creating new industries

We examine different government levels in China as institutional entrepreneurs that co-evolve with other stakeholders in the emerging ride-sharing and bike-sharing industries there. We find that various requirements and demands of the central government and other stakeholders help to mold institutions. Meanwhile, different types of governance models on a meso-level are identified by differentiating local governments’ attitudes and stakeholders’ feedback with respect to institutional formation and implementation. Overall, our study contributes to the literature on co-evolution and institutional entrepreneurship by presenting the local governments’ governance modes in helping to seed new industries.

Coevolution of policy sectors: A comparative analysis of healthcare and public health

This article analyses the institutional coevolution of policy sectors – in other words, the mutual influence and adaptation of the institutional connection between related policy areas. The article proposes a two‐dimensional analytical space ranging from separation to unity on one axis and from superiority/subaltern to equality on the other. The article argues that the overall governance framework behind the coevolving sectors affects the institutional relationship between the sectors. In its empirical part, the article focuses on the healthcare and public health sectors. Based on a comparative historical examination of three countries with different healthcare systems – Australia, Germany, and the United States – the article shows that healthcare and public health coevolve differently depending on the type of national healthcare system. Further research can transfer the concepts introduced in this article to the analysis of other policy challenges, such as immigration or environmental protection.

Co-evolution of institutions, culture and industrial organization in the film industry: the case of Shanghai in China

ABSTRACTResearch about the Chinese film industry is far behind the actual development of practice, especially considering its evolution and main influential factors. Furthermore, existing research on the film industry in economic geography is mostly conducted from the perspective of cluster theory, with lesser attention to institutions or culture. In this paper, the theory of co-evolution is used to tackle these two gaps. The role of institutions, culture and industrial organization as three fundamental elements of co-evolution is pointed out and discussed in the theoretical section. The phenomena of co-evolution in the Shanghai film industry as important examples of the Chinese film industry are analysed in the empirical part. We phase the development process in four periods and differentiate identified effects of co-evolution between institutions, culture and industrial organization based on the specific setting in each particular period.