Kamal Munir - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Kamal Munir
This article locates the reorganization of work relations in the apparel sector in Pakistan, afte... more This article locates the reorganization of work relations in the apparel sector in Pakistan, after the end of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) quota regime, within the context of a global production network (GPN). We examine the role of a network of corporate, state, multilateral and civil society actors who serve as intermediaries in GPN governance. These intermediaries transmit and translate competitive pressures and invoke varied, sometimes contradictory, imaginaries in their efforts to realign and stabilize the GPN. We analyse the post-MFA restructuring of Pakistan's apparel sector, which dramatically increased price competition and precipitated a contested adjustment process among Pakistani and global actors with divergent priorities and
International Labor and Working-Class History, 2015
This paper examines the role of social rules and the routinisation of social activity in the adop... more This paper examines the role of social rules and the routinisation of social activity in the adoption of new technology. Drawing on recent realist social theory, we provide a detailed account of social rules, routines and their interconnection; incorporate within this account a theory of technological objects based on writings of the philosopher John Searle; and derive a conception of
Organization Studies, 2004
... Lastly, looking to the field of the sociology of science and technology (MacKenzie and Wajcma... more ... Lastly, looking to the field of the sociology of science and technology (MacKenzie and Wajcman ... For example, since organizational interests as well as task requirements are seen to be ... SMT's interest in the emergence and development of social movements gives it a particular ...
Journal of Management Inquiry
Institutional theory has made tremendous gains in recent years. However, while it has borrowed co... more Institutional theory has made tremendous gains in recent years. However, while it has borrowed concepts and insights from more critical perspectives, it has resisted the import of a more critical outlook. This has meant that institutional theory has shied away from identifying and examining more problematic uses of power. Consequently, institutional understandings of how power operates continue to fall short of the theory’s full potential.
International Labor and Working-Class History
Academy of Management Proceedings, 2014
Institutional theory has made tremendous gains in recent years. However, while it has borrowed co... more Institutional theory has made tremendous gains in recent years. However, while it has borrowed concepts and insights from more critical perspectives, it has resisted the import of a more critical outlook. This has meant that institutional theory has shied away from identifying and examining more problematic uses of power. Consequently, institutional understandings of how power operates continue to fall short of the theory's full potential.
Organization Studies, 2007
Institutional entrepreneurship is typically portrayed in a positive light in the institutional th... more Institutional entrepreneurship is typically portrayed in a positive light in the institutional theory literature, frequently symbolizing ideals of progress and innovation. In this paper, we explore a 'darker' side of institutional entrepreneurship by considering how the long-standing institutional practice of child labour was eliminated from the world's largest soccer ball manufacturing cluster in Sialkot, Pakistan. Our focus is upon the operation of power rather than the agency of the coalition of entrepreneurs. We show how power operated hegemonically in solving and reporting the issue of child labour in a way that deflected attention from 'darker' problematic aspects of this seemingly progressive and benign institutional reform. Consideration of these dynamics presents a challenge to conventional representations of institutional entrepreneurship and suggests the relevance of developing a more critical perspective when studying instances of institutional work.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Institutional entrepreneurship is typically portrayed in a positive light in the institutional th... more Institutional entrepreneurship is typically portrayed in a positive light in the institutional theory literature, frequently symbolizing ideals of progress and innovation. In this paper, we explore a 'darker' side of institutional entrepreneurship by considering how the long-standing institutional practice of child labour was eliminated from the world's largest soccer ball manufacturing cluster in Sialkot, Pakistan. Our focus is upon the operation of power rather than the agency of the coalition of entrepreneurs. We show how power operated hegemonically in solving and reporting the issue of child labour in a way that deflected attention from 'darker' problematic aspects of this seemingly progressive and benign institutional reform. Consideration of these dynamics presents a challenge to conventional representations of institutional entrepreneurship and suggests the relevance of developing a more critical perspective when studying instances of institutional work.
Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 2010
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
How resources assume value is a contentious issue within the Resource-based View (RBV). In this p... more How resources assume value is a contentious issue within the Resource-based View (RBV). In this paper, we take advantage of a natural experiment in the form of 3G-spectrum license bidding in the United Kingdom, to examine how the value of a resource is determined through competitive and collaborative interaction. We find that competitive and collaborative dynamics affect the value of a resource by influencing a) the price at which the resource is acquired, b) the availability of particular complementary assets that are necessary for the acquirer to realize the value of the resource, and c) the context in which the resource is valued. Our study serves to further existing understanding of how resources assume or shed value both ex-ante and expost.
The Journal of High Technology Management Research, 2003
Following radical technological discontinuities, several equally plausible designs are often seen... more Following radical technological discontinuities, several equally plausible designs are often seen competing for dominance in a particular industry. How the industry comes to evolve along one of the many possible trajectories is a question that has puzzled researchers for some time. This article addresses the question: How do some designs and technologies attain dominance, even when they are considered 'inferior' in many respects, and become the basis for a sustainable competitive advantage for their proponents? Using examples from practice, we build on existing knowledge of technology evolution to provide a conceptual framework that explains this evolutionary process. We argue that during the era of ferment, competing designs represent mere claims. Each design or claim is mired in numerous controversies. As firms strategize to provide closure to these controversies, their particular design is gradually 'factualized'. Finally, firms are able to retain control over their designs and hence, make it a basis for a sustainable competitive advantage only when the design is positioned as an obligatory passage point. We believe that managers equipped with a better understanding of this process would be in a position to make more informed decisions regarding choice of technologies, adoption of particular standards, or selection of alliance-partners. D
The Journal of High Technology Management Research, 2002
In the strategic management literature,
Research Policy, 2008
Innovation in a product's design can have significant implications for the organization of compet... more Innovation in a product's design can have significant implications for the organization of competencies across a production network. Currently, discussions on product designs and the distribution of competencies across production networks are based on transaction costs considerations. However, such a view does not consider the transformation costs that arise when competencies across a production network are reorganized because of design changes. We explore the nature of these costs by examining the dynamics associated with Polaroid Corporation's greatest innovation, the SX-70 camera. Our longitudinal study suggests that it is not costless to redraw the boundaries of a firm. In the SX-70 camera case, Polaroid's relationships with its important stakeholders were adversely affected resulting in a deterioration of its competitive position. From this study, we suggest that it is critical to consider the transformation costs involved with radical innovations in order to gain a more complete picture of change in systemic industries.
Organization Studies, 2005
2
Journal of Management Inquiry, 2011
This article is a reflection on why the 2007-2009 financial crisis was largely ignored by organiz... more This article is a reflection on why the 2007-2009 financial crisis was largely ignored by organization theorists, in particular, institutional theorists. The general lack of engagement with the events that transpired in this period of turmoil is surprising given their potential to inform the ongoing inquiries into the dynamics of organizations, markets, communities, and society in general. Given corporate excesses that led to the crisis, it is difficult to imagine how life could go on as usual for organization theorists. Losing the forest for the trees is no longer an option. Nor is continuing to act as a cheerleader for big business. Who knows, the time may even have come to turn prescriptive!
Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 2000
We map out the systems of sensemaking people use to link market and technology knowledge into new... more We map out the systems of sensemaking people use to link market and technology knowledge into new products, in innovative versus non-innovative organizations. Systems of sensemaking are organized "webs of meaning" that govern the knowledge people make sense of, and the sense they make. Innovative sensemaking systems link more knowledge because they: (1) frame linking as hands-on practices of value creation; and (2) loosely couple three tensions between tacit and articulated knowledge across organizational levels to draw in, exploit, and recreate knowledge for innovation. We contrast sensemaking systems in innovative versus non-innovative organizations, and draw implications for theory and practice.
This article locates the reorganization of work relations in the apparel sector in Pakistan, afte... more This article locates the reorganization of work relations in the apparel sector in Pakistan, after the end of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) quota regime, within the context of a global production network (GPN). We examine the role of a network of corporate, state, multilateral and civil society actors who serve as intermediaries in GPN governance. These intermediaries transmit and translate competitive pressures and invoke varied, sometimes contradictory, imaginaries in their efforts to realign and stabilize the GPN. We analyse the post-MFA restructuring of Pakistan's apparel sector, which dramatically increased price competition and precipitated a contested adjustment process among Pakistani and global actors with divergent priorities and
International Labor and Working-Class History, 2015
This paper examines the role of social rules and the routinisation of social activity in the adop... more This paper examines the role of social rules and the routinisation of social activity in the adoption of new technology. Drawing on recent realist social theory, we provide a detailed account of social rules, routines and their interconnection; incorporate within this account a theory of technological objects based on writings of the philosopher John Searle; and derive a conception of
Organization Studies, 2004
... Lastly, looking to the field of the sociology of science and technology (MacKenzie and Wajcma... more ... Lastly, looking to the field of the sociology of science and technology (MacKenzie and Wajcman ... For example, since organizational interests as well as task requirements are seen to be ... SMT's interest in the emergence and development of social movements gives it a particular ...
Journal of Management Inquiry
Institutional theory has made tremendous gains in recent years. However, while it has borrowed co... more Institutional theory has made tremendous gains in recent years. However, while it has borrowed concepts and insights from more critical perspectives, it has resisted the import of a more critical outlook. This has meant that institutional theory has shied away from identifying and examining more problematic uses of power. Consequently, institutional understandings of how power operates continue to fall short of the theory’s full potential.
International Labor and Working-Class History
Academy of Management Proceedings, 2014
Institutional theory has made tremendous gains in recent years. However, while it has borrowed co... more Institutional theory has made tremendous gains in recent years. However, while it has borrowed concepts and insights from more critical perspectives, it has resisted the import of a more critical outlook. This has meant that institutional theory has shied away from identifying and examining more problematic uses of power. Consequently, institutional understandings of how power operates continue to fall short of the theory's full potential.
Organization Studies, 2007
Institutional entrepreneurship is typically portrayed in a positive light in the institutional th... more Institutional entrepreneurship is typically portrayed in a positive light in the institutional theory literature, frequently symbolizing ideals of progress and innovation. In this paper, we explore a 'darker' side of institutional entrepreneurship by considering how the long-standing institutional practice of child labour was eliminated from the world's largest soccer ball manufacturing cluster in Sialkot, Pakistan. Our focus is upon the operation of power rather than the agency of the coalition of entrepreneurs. We show how power operated hegemonically in solving and reporting the issue of child labour in a way that deflected attention from 'darker' problematic aspects of this seemingly progressive and benign institutional reform. Consideration of these dynamics presents a challenge to conventional representations of institutional entrepreneurship and suggests the relevance of developing a more critical perspective when studying instances of institutional work.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Institutional entrepreneurship is typically portrayed in a positive light in the institutional th... more Institutional entrepreneurship is typically portrayed in a positive light in the institutional theory literature, frequently symbolizing ideals of progress and innovation. In this paper, we explore a 'darker' side of institutional entrepreneurship by considering how the long-standing institutional practice of child labour was eliminated from the world's largest soccer ball manufacturing cluster in Sialkot, Pakistan. Our focus is upon the operation of power rather than the agency of the coalition of entrepreneurs. We show how power operated hegemonically in solving and reporting the issue of child labour in a way that deflected attention from 'darker' problematic aspects of this seemingly progressive and benign institutional reform. Consideration of these dynamics presents a challenge to conventional representations of institutional entrepreneurship and suggests the relevance of developing a more critical perspective when studying instances of institutional work.
Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 2010
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
How resources assume value is a contentious issue within the Resource-based View (RBV). In this p... more How resources assume value is a contentious issue within the Resource-based View (RBV). In this paper, we take advantage of a natural experiment in the form of 3G-spectrum license bidding in the United Kingdom, to examine how the value of a resource is determined through competitive and collaborative interaction. We find that competitive and collaborative dynamics affect the value of a resource by influencing a) the price at which the resource is acquired, b) the availability of particular complementary assets that are necessary for the acquirer to realize the value of the resource, and c) the context in which the resource is valued. Our study serves to further existing understanding of how resources assume or shed value both ex-ante and expost.
The Journal of High Technology Management Research, 2003
Following radical technological discontinuities, several equally plausible designs are often seen... more Following radical technological discontinuities, several equally plausible designs are often seen competing for dominance in a particular industry. How the industry comes to evolve along one of the many possible trajectories is a question that has puzzled researchers for some time. This article addresses the question: How do some designs and technologies attain dominance, even when they are considered 'inferior' in many respects, and become the basis for a sustainable competitive advantage for their proponents? Using examples from practice, we build on existing knowledge of technology evolution to provide a conceptual framework that explains this evolutionary process. We argue that during the era of ferment, competing designs represent mere claims. Each design or claim is mired in numerous controversies. As firms strategize to provide closure to these controversies, their particular design is gradually 'factualized'. Finally, firms are able to retain control over their designs and hence, make it a basis for a sustainable competitive advantage only when the design is positioned as an obligatory passage point. We believe that managers equipped with a better understanding of this process would be in a position to make more informed decisions regarding choice of technologies, adoption of particular standards, or selection of alliance-partners. D
The Journal of High Technology Management Research, 2002
In the strategic management literature,
Research Policy, 2008
Innovation in a product's design can have significant implications for the organization of compet... more Innovation in a product's design can have significant implications for the organization of competencies across a production network. Currently, discussions on product designs and the distribution of competencies across production networks are based on transaction costs considerations. However, such a view does not consider the transformation costs that arise when competencies across a production network are reorganized because of design changes. We explore the nature of these costs by examining the dynamics associated with Polaroid Corporation's greatest innovation, the SX-70 camera. Our longitudinal study suggests that it is not costless to redraw the boundaries of a firm. In the SX-70 camera case, Polaroid's relationships with its important stakeholders were adversely affected resulting in a deterioration of its competitive position. From this study, we suggest that it is critical to consider the transformation costs involved with radical innovations in order to gain a more complete picture of change in systemic industries.
Organization Studies, 2005
2
Journal of Management Inquiry, 2011
This article is a reflection on why the 2007-2009 financial crisis was largely ignored by organiz... more This article is a reflection on why the 2007-2009 financial crisis was largely ignored by organization theorists, in particular, institutional theorists. The general lack of engagement with the events that transpired in this period of turmoil is surprising given their potential to inform the ongoing inquiries into the dynamics of organizations, markets, communities, and society in general. Given corporate excesses that led to the crisis, it is difficult to imagine how life could go on as usual for organization theorists. Losing the forest for the trees is no longer an option. Nor is continuing to act as a cheerleader for big business. Who knows, the time may even have come to turn prescriptive!
Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 2000
We map out the systems of sensemaking people use to link market and technology knowledge into new... more We map out the systems of sensemaking people use to link market and technology knowledge into new products, in innovative versus non-innovative organizations. Systems of sensemaking are organized "webs of meaning" that govern the knowledge people make sense of, and the sense they make. Innovative sensemaking systems link more knowledge because they: (1) frame linking as hands-on practices of value creation; and (2) loosely couple three tensions between tacit and articulated knowledge across organizational levels to draw in, exploit, and recreate knowledge for innovation. We contrast sensemaking systems in innovative versus non-innovative organizations, and draw implications for theory and practice.