TY  - CHAP
AB  - 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.
VL  - 51
SN  - 978-1-78714-238-1, 978-1-78714-239-8/0733-558X
DO  - 10.1108/S0733-558X20170000051003
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20170000051003
AU  - Pontikes Elizabeth G.
AU  - Kim Ruben
PY  - 2017
Y1  - 2017/01/01
TI  - Strategic Categorization
T2  - From Categories to Categorization: Studies in Sociology, Organizations and Strategy at the Crossroads
T3  - Research in the Sociology of Organizations
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 71
EP  - 111
Y2  - 2024/04/19
ER  -