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Strategic Categorization

From Categories to Categorization: Studies in Sociology, Organizations and Strategy at the Crossroads

ISBN: 978-1-78714-239-8, eISBN: 978-1-78714-238-1

Publication date: 17 March 2017

Abstract

This article suggests that both producers and analysts are strategic about categorization. Producers use categorization to maintain a balance of differentiation and legitimacy, whereas analysts seek to influence categorization and clarify boundaries. Ideas are explored for software producers and Gartner, the preeminent high-technology analyst. Findings show evidence of strategic categorization. Producers move to proximate market categories in response to competition. Gartner reports on large categories and those that receive investment and stops reporting on categories that have fuzzy boundaries. Compared to analysts, producers may be more influential in category creation than previous research has acknowledged.

Keywords

Citation

Pontikes, E.G. and Kim, R. (2017), "Strategic Categorization", From Categories to Categorization: Studies in Sociology, Organizations and Strategy at the Crossroads (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 51), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 71-111. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20170000051003

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017 Emerald Publishing Limited