"Exploring the Dynamics of Corporate Co-evolution: Yantian International Container Terminals [YICT] in the Chinese Environment"


Speaker


Abstract

The study of corporate co-evolution is concerned with the ways in which firms and their environments evolve together over time.  It draws attention to the dynamic confluence and interaction over time of forces stemming from an organization’s environment and the capacity of its leadership, for its part, to respond to these forces and indeed in some measure to shape the environment. A co-evolutionary perspective therefore has the potential to inform any research on organizations that spans levels of analysis and involves adaptation over time.
 
Despite this appeal, the co-evolutionary perspective continues to grapple with a number of problems. One concerns the meaning of ‘evolution’ and how (or whether) it should be informed by biological theories. Another is imprecision about the units of analysis and processes that are involved. There is a danger of treating the core units of analysis – ‘firm’ and ‘environment’ – in a monolithic manner which masks the fact that both domains are typically highly differentiated. If the notion of co-evolution is informed by the idea that firms and environments develop in some kind of relationship with one another, then the units and people that are involved in this process need to be specified.  Third, the processes involved in co-evolutionary dynamics warrant further attention.  There is a need to address the question of how firms and their environments co-evolve and to clarify what exactly ‘evolving together’ means.  Studies of corporate co-evolution have primarily thrown light on its outcomes rather than on how those outcomes have arisen, even through they may employ process-type constructs such as ‘reciprocal adjustment’.  It will be suggested that ‘power’, in the sense of influence processes, needs to be brought into the analysis.
 
These issues are addressed with reference to the case of how YICT co-evolved with its highly institutionalized environment over a period of 15 years, during which it developed from a start-up to become the largest container port in China.  Its development was related with several major changes in the institutional environment of the port sector in China.  The seminar will use the case to explore ways in which processes of mutual influence can create a co-evolutionary dynamic, and how these processes may be conceptualized.  In so doing, it is argued that the study of corporate co-evolution can benefit from attention to the bases of social power and an application of concepts from political science.
 
Contact information:
Patricia de Wilde-Mes
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