UNSPECIFIED. (2005) Institutional legacies and firm dynamics: The growth and internationalization of UK and German law firms. ORGANIZATION STUDIES, 26 (12). pp. 1765-1785. ISSN 0170-8406

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Abstract

This article addresses the question of how economic actors (re)shape their organizational and institutional contexts as their activities internationalize. By focusing on law firms, we choose a professional activity that has been regarded as highly determined by the national distinctiveness of professional and legal systems and would lead us to expect strong institutional legacies on firm dynamics. The comparative study of the growth and internationalization of corporate law firms in the UK and Germany presented in this article, however, refutes this view. The results reveal that in both settings 'institutional pockets' of corporate lawyers existed whose entrepreneurial orientations and international reach were much stronger than among other subgroups of the profession. From the 1970s onwards, these lawyers and law firms engaged in redefining their organizational and institutional contexts with the aim of positioning themselves in ways that would allow them to seize upon the emerging international markets for legal services. They did so in different ways and at different times in each country. We conclude that internationalization of UK and German law firms bears traces of institutional legacies as well as signs of path-modification, and that international markets for legal services may be more differentiated and less dominated by Anglo-Saxon law firms and conceptions of law than has been so far recognized.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Journal or Publication Title:	ORGANIZATION STUDIES
Publisher:	SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
ISSN:	0170-8406
Date:	December 2005
Volume:	26
Number:	12
Number of Pages:	21
Page Range:	pp. 1765-1785
Identification Number:	10.1177/0170840605059156
Publication Status:	Published
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/34073

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