Sub-theme 24:
Journeys of creative entrepreneurs: Interaction among individuals, organizations and institutions in creative industries

Convenors:

 Call for papers

A primary destination for Mozart's journeys, and later for his permanent residency, Vienna is a superb stage for a sub-theme on creative industries. Convened previously at the EGOS colloquia in Barcelona, Copenhagen, Ljubljana, Berlin and forthcoming in Bergen, our sub-theme has become a home to a vibrant and growing international community of scholars seeking to advance the understanding of process and paradoxes in creative sectors.

Creative industries weave together individual genius and inspiration with collective efforts and organizational (infra)structures and resources. Overtime the balance of what roles and rules guide the dance among collaborators and organizations has changed. For example, in American film the film studios and central producers played a critical role during the golden age of Hollywood, which changed with the demise of the studio system and rise of the director as auteur, who guides the vision of a film. The relationship between individuals, organizations and institutions have been sparked by changes in institutional rules such as the Paramount decree which required vertical disaggregation of film studios. Our sub-theme seeks explorations of the journeys of creative entrepreneurs, focusing on the interaction among individuals, organizations and institutions in creative industries.

For the 2007 EGOS Colloquium in Vienna we seek papers on the following areas:

(1) How have changes in institutions and institutional rules around creative products and endeavors, such as intellectual property, creative roles or national and legal policy shaped who and how develops and delivers them? How are meaningful trajectories achieved within (and outside of) the boundaries of institutional rules and the competitive dynamics in creative industries?

(2) What creative leaders have had a profound impact on their creative industry? How did they alter practices, rules of collaboration or understanding of creative products? What strategies did they pursue? How were these strategies in turn influenced by institutional logics and supported by organizational structures?

(3) How does the social embeddedness of creative industries influence what kinds and how creative products are enacted? How do institutionalized logics, regimes and gatekeepers stifle or facilitate entrepreneurial initiatives in creative industries? How do the networks of relationships provide the connectivity needed for novel ideas to emerge and thrive, as well as for mainstream output to persist?

About the convenors

Silviya Svejenova: Assistant Professor, Business Policy Department, ESADE Business School (Spain). Formerly Lecturer at Cranfield School of Management (UK), she continues teaching Organization Theory to PhDs/DBAs there. Silviya’s research is published in journals, books and book chapters. Her most recent work is on growth and distinctiveness in creative sectors and power sharing at the top. Member of the EGOS Board.

Candace Jones: Associate Professor, Organization Studies Dept, Boston College (USA). Her work has been published in a variety of journals and book chapters and focuses on networks, institutional and dominant logics and careers in creative industries. In 2005, she co-edited the special issues on creative industries for the Journal of Management Studies and Research in the Sociology of Organizations. She is currently co-editing a special issue on that topic for the Journal of Organizational Behavior Journal.

Jesper Strandgaard Pedersen: Associate Professor in Organization Theory at Copenhagen Business School (Denmark). Director of "imagine", the CBS Centre on Creative Industries Research. His research has concerned cultural transformation processes in high-tech firms, occupational subcultures, mergers and acquisitions, institutionalization processes regarding creating, diffusing and legitimating managerial ideas and practices. Recent publications have focused on changes in the media and business press field and on strategies for organizing and managing creative enterprises.