Mechanisms of Technology Re-Emergence and Identity Change in a Mature Field: Swiss Watchmaking, 1970-2008

I examine the processes and mechanisms whereby market demand for a "dying" technology re-emerges at a later date. In 1983, fourteen years after the introduction of the first quartz watch, mechanical watches, along with the Swiss Jura community of watchmakers who built them, were thought to be "dead" (Landes, 1983). Unexpectedly, however, by 2008 the Swiss mechanical watchmaking industry had re-emerged as the world’s leading exporter (in monetary value) of watches. Using qualitative and quantitative analysis, which I apply to a wealth of data, I show how changes in product, organizational, and community identities associated with a legacy technology can be reconstituted to reconfigure a field. My findings highlight that three mechanisms – identity claims, leadership, and framing (i.e., temporal, linguistic, value) – are core to explaining field re-emergence. Although new or discontinuous technologies tend to displace older ones, legacy technologies that are seemingly "dead" can re-emerge, thrive, and even co-exist with newer technologies. Building on these results, I draw out theoretical and empirical implications that focus on the interface between technological shifts and identity change at multiple levels

Identity and Institutional Change in a Mature Field: The Re-emergence of the Swiss Watchmaking Industry, 1970-2008

Thesis advisor: Mary Ann GlynnThis dissertation examines the decline and re-emergence of the Swiss mechanical watch industry from 1970-2008, exploring how, when, and why market demand for legacy technologies resurrect and reshape a mature field. Extending existing research on technology emergence and death, I reveal the dynamics of technology and field re-emergence. I focus on the mechanisms of identity and institutional change associated with re-emergence, as well as how institutional leaders and guardians serve as agents of change who simultaneously preserve and reframe the values and product conceptions associated with a legacy technology. Additionally, I advance the notion of identity ambidexterity by examining how organizations explore and exploit multiple elements of their identity simultaneously during such periods of instability. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, I analyze a wide range of interview, archival, historical, and observational data at the levels of the industry and the organization. More broadly, I seek to demonstrate how the reclamation of legacy identities reshapes the institutional environment of a mature field, and how incumbent firms re-define their organizational identities after a technological innovation threatens to destroy their dominant market position.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013.Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management.Discipline: Management and Organization

Antecedents and Outcomes of United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals Implementation in Luxury Fashion Companies

Rising awareness about sustainability and sustainable development has been widely discussed in many contexts. Recently companies around the world have paid more attention to this concept. Many companies started reporting on their sustainability activities by reflecting the values of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moreover, harmful activities of companies in the luxury fashion sector have been a topic of discussion by stakeholders. Previous literature has discussed the different notions of sustainability reporting. However, a lack of research has been detected on the antecedents and outcomes of implementing SDGs in the corporate activities of luxury fashion companies. This study intends first to investigate the antecedents of implementing SDGs by luxury fashion companies and, second, to understand the possible outcomes of SDG implementation on the corporate performance of these companies. The methods used in this study was Quantitative Content Analysis. The results of this research indicate the board size of luxury fashion companies as an antecedent for SDG implementation. This means the higher the board size of the companies, the more probable they report on the SDGs. Furthermore, another result suggests statistically significant effects of SDG implementation on companies' ESG scores and Governance Pillar scores. However, no effects have been detected on the Financial performance of companies in the luxury fashion sector.Rising awareness about sustainability and sustainable development has been widely discussed in many contexts. Recently companies around the world have paid more attention to this concept. Many companies started reporting on their sustainability activities by reflecting the values of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moreover, harmful activities of companies in the luxury fashion sector have been a topic of discussion by stakeholders. Previous literature has discussed the different notions of sustainability reporting. However, a lack of research has been detected on the antecedents and outcomes of implementing SDGs in the corporate activities of luxury fashion companies. This study intends first to investigate the antecedents of implementing SDGs by luxury fashion companies and, second, to understand the possible outcomes of SDG implementation on the corporate performance of these companies. The methods used in this study was Quantitative Content Analysis. The results of this research indicate the board size of luxury fashion companies as an antecedent for SDG implementation. This means the higher the board size of the companies, the more probable they report on the SDGs. Furthermore, another result suggests statistically significant effects of SDG implementation on companies' ESG scores and Governance Pillar scores. However, no effects have been detected on the Financial performance of companies in the luxury fashion sector

NEITHER STATE APPARATUS NOR MANAGERIAL TOOL: STATE-SPONSORED UNIONIZATION IN CHINA

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

The international competitiveness of the small European state in the 1980s: Denmark, Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland.

This thesis tests the hypothesis that the degree of international competitiveness of the small European state in the 1980s resulted from its unique internal process of interaction derived from its industrial culture, developed from state priorities and societal values. Small European states, because of their position as international price takers, controlling relatively few product markets, were forced to rely on various forms of domestic intervention, such as monetary, labour market, and industrial policies, to stimulate international competitiveness. A systematised dialogue and communication process among internal economic actors due to geographic proximity and consequent actor familiarity was the small European state's competitive advantage necessary to compete for world markets against larger states possessing both natural and human resource advantages. The more systematised the internal interactive process was, however, the more flexible the internationally vulnerable small European state would be to respond to changing global political and economic conditions. In cases such as Sweden and Switzerland, the small European state was able to fashion this process of interaction into a system, where peak associations were able to communicate effectively to preserve a flexible industrial environment and where the principal actor maintained a key role in directing the national economy. The economic success of Sweden throughout the 1980s was facilitated by the trade unions, while in Switzerland the economy was guided by its financial institutions. Because of these principal actors, both states were highly independent, having developed oligopolised, high technology oriented industrial structures that featured powerful multinational corporations. However, during the 1980s, in small European states such as Denmark and Ireland, with weak industrial structures, high levels of international dependence on the European Community, and poor economic performances, confused consultation processes bred incoherent policy-making that resulted in low levels of international competitiveness. In both states, the State as the principal actor attempted to facilitate industrial adjustment, aspiring to modernise their relatively weak indigenous industrial structures. The thesis examines actor relations and policy-making in three functional areas: finance-industry relations and monetary policies; trade union-industry relations and supportive labour market policies; and state-industry relations and industrial policies. Given the myriad of policies that small state policy-makers employed during the 1980s, the thesis argues and illustrates that small European state interventionism was both state-specific and necessary because of the pressures of the world market

Industrial heritage production in Taiwan: a creative economy approach

This thesis deals with Taiwan as a post-colonial nation, with an identity that remains somewhat ambiguous, from both internal and external perspectives. Specifically, in this thesis, the complexities of its Taiwan’s multicultural legacies are explored through the presentation in industrial heritage sites. Industrial heritage in Taiwan is mainly the product of the Japanese colonial period between 1895 and 1945, which spans the first half of the twentieth century. This fifty-year colonial industrialisation is arguably Taiwan’s most influential industrial heritage because it began a rapid process of modernisation that is continuing today. The key to this process is the industrialisation that led to the development of main parts of the island, catalysed new communities and social patterns and structured daily life. These industrial locations have now become heritage sites for tourism and creative development, Moreover, the interpretation of these sites highlights the re-contextualisation of the Taiwanese legacy from both political and economic perspectives. However, these sites also reveal some highly problematic place-related aspects of the colonial narrative. This thesis examines how this heritage is produced in a society that remains connected to Japanese culture, a society in which industrial heritage is influenced by the increasing convergence between cultural tourism, museumification and commercialisation Furthermore, new relationships are identified, which reflect the patterns and trends of wider economic, social and cultural changes. The thesis concludes by offering a deeper understanding of the valorisation of industrial heritage in Taiwan and its influence on broader Taiwanese narratives of geopolitics and global heritage agenda