Shon R. Hiatt

From Pabst to Pepsi: The Deinstitutionalization of Social Practices and the Creation of Entrepreneurial Opportunities

In this paper, we examine the dual role that social movement organizations can play in altering organizational landscapes by undermining existing organizations and creating opportunities for the growth of new types of organizations. Empirically, we investigate the impact of a variety of tactics employed by the Womans Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), the leading organizational representative of the American temperance movement, on two sets of organizations: breweries and soft drink producers. By delegitimating alcohol consumption, altering attitudes and beliefs about drinking, and promoting temperance legislation, the WCTU contributed to brewery failures. These social changes, in turn, created opportunities for entrepreneurs to found organizations producing new kinds of beverages by creating demand for alternative beverages, providing rationales for entrepreneurial action, and increasing the availability of necessary resources.

Alleviating poverty through microfinance: Village banking outcomes in Central America

Abstract Our research reports on Brigham Young University (BYU) field studies carried out in Central America to assess the impacts of village banking on indigenous families. We first introduce the growing movement of microfinance institutions (MFIs), organizations that provide small loans as start-up capital for the unemployed poor in Central America. We briefly describe the native nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that allocate their financial resources. Our methods are described and the survey instrument we created is analyzed, as well as the process of data collection. Finally, we report our findings and interpret their conclusions and implications, as well as suggest further studies on poverty alleviation.

Evaluating impacts of microfinance institutions using Guatemalan data

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate microlending outcomes among Latin American non-governmental organizations (NGOs), specifically microfinance institutions (MFIs). While there is a growing movement of non-profit ventures channeling small loans to the poor worldwide, assessments of their impacts are lacking. Thus, field interviews with clients who had various degrees of involvement in the process of receiving microloans from MFIs were conducted over a summer in Guatemala. Design/methodology/approach - Using a dataset of 393 clients from Guatemalan MFIs, microfinance impacts from two dimensions are examined and impacts measured along financial and social dimensions by surveying new clients, current clients, and graduated clients of five MFIs in Guatemala. Findings - Applying univariate and multivariate analyses shows that for Guatemala, MFIs do produce a measure of improvement in the lives of microfinance clients. This improvement is concentrated along the social dimensions of housing, health, and client empowerment. Research limitations/implications - A limitation of this paper is that it focuses on only five of several dozen MFIs in Guatemala. What is needed is further use of the survey instruments to carry out subsequent studies throughout more of Latin America, and beyond. Practical implications - This research suggests that microfinance demonstrates promising results associated with social benefits to various client populations. As such, it holds a variety of implications for government and other policymakers as they consider innovative ways to reduce poverty and human suffering around the globe. Originality/value - It is anticipated that this field study will contribute to the furtherance of literature on the effects of lending among the poor.

Market Mediators and the Tradeoffs of Legitimacy-Seeking Behaviors in a Nascent Category

Although existing research has demonstrated the importance of attaining legitimacy for new market categories, few scholars have considered the tradeoffs associated with such actions. Using the U.S. organic food product category as a context, we explore how one standards-based certification organization — the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) — sought to balance efforts to legitimate a nascent market category with retaining a shared, distinctive identity among its members. Our findings suggest that legitimacy-seeking behaviors undertaken by the standards organization diluted the initial collective identity and founding ethos of its membership. However, by shifting the meaning of organic from the producer to the product, CCOF was able to strengthen the categorical boundary, thereby enhancing its legitimacy. By showing how the organization managed the associated tradeoffs, this study highlights the double-edged nature of legitimacy and offers important implications for the literatures on legitimacy and new market category formation.

Manu Militari: The Institutional Contingencies of Stakeholder Relationships on Entrepreneurial Performance

This study examines how ventures can leverage relationships with heterogeneous government stakeholders to enhance survival in different institutional environments. We consider how the distinct resources provided from venture ties to military and political actors represent complementary strategic assets that differentially influence performance in varying political and economic environments as well as under conditions of violence and political conflict. Empirically, we examine the effect of these respective stakeholder relationships on new venture survival across 10 countries over a 65-year period. By distinguishing between the resources obtained through relationships with different types of government stakeholders and showing how the value of these resources varies in different contexts, this study contributes to nonmarket strategy and stakeholder management research and highlights the need for studies to take a pluralistic view of government stakeholders. This paper also presents managerial insights to f...

The Shape of Things to Come: Institutions, Entrepreneurs, and the Case of Hedge Funds

Foundational work on institutional theory as a framework for studying organizations underscored its relevance to analyses of entrepreneurship, but entrepreneurship research has often ignored the insights provided by this theoretic approach. In this chapter, we illustrate the utility of institutional theory as a central framework for explaining entrepreneurial phenomena by discussing three primary questions for entrepreneurship researchers: Under what conditions are individuals likely to found new organizations? What are key influences on the kinds of organizations they found? And what factors determine the likelihood of the survival of new organizations? We describe the kinds of answers that an institutional perspective provides to these questions, illustrate some of our arguments by drawing on a recent field of entrepreneurial endeavor, hedge funds, and discuss the implications of our analysis for further work by entrepreneurship researchers.

Differential Effects of Collective Action on Firm Entry in the Emergent U.S. Biodiesel Sector

Strategy and entrepreneurship scholars have long been interested in factors that affect new market emergence and firm entry. However, existing literature provides few insights into the factors that...

The Influence of Local Communities on Entrepreneurship in a Globalized World

In recent decades organizational theorists focused studying geographically independent organizational fields because it seemed that technology and globalization rendered boundaries meaningless. However, social movements across the US, Europe, and developing world are rejecting the free flow of goods, investment, information, and people in favor of reasserting more local control over economy and society. The success of these social movements has led to calls for organizational theorists to renew research emphasizing the enduring influence of geographically bounded community on organizational behavior. Thus, in this symposium we bring together a group of scholars studying the influence of local community effects on entrepreneurship. By drawing on quantitative research from a range of countries (Mexico, U.S., and Egypt), we aim to better understand the impact of local community embeddedness, identity, stability, and economic equality on local entrepreneurship. Following the paper presentations, Phillip Ander...

State Agency Discretion and Entrepreneurship in Regulated Markets

Barriers to entry in regulated markets are frequently conceptualized as static features that must be removed or overcome if new entrants are to successfully enter a market. But government instituti...

Manu Militari : Differential Effects of Political and Military Ties on Venture Survival in Developing Economies

This study examines how ventures can leverage relationships with heterogeneous government stakeholders to enhance survival in different institutional environments. We consider how the distinct resources provided from venture ties to military and political actors represent complementary strategic assets that differentially influence performance in varying political and economic environments as well as under conditions of violence and political conflict. Empirically, we examine the effect of these respective stakeholder relationships on new venture survival across 10 countries over a 65-year period. By distinguishing between the resources obtained through relationships with different types of government stakeholders and showing how the value of these resources varies in different contexts, this study contributes to nonmarket strategy and stakeholder management research and highlights the need for studies to take a pluralistic view of government stakeholders. The paper also presents managerial insights to firms seeking to address the prevalent challenges associated with political, economic, and physical security issues in developing and underdeveloped economies.