A Multimodal Investigation of the Institutionalization of Aesthetic Design as a Dimension of Competition in the PC Industry
Multimodality, Meaning, and Institutions
ISBN: 978-1-78743-330-4, eISBN: 978-1-78743-329-8
Publication date: 30 November 2017
Abstract
The study applies a multimodal approach to position aesthetic innovation, i.e., the strategic use of aesthetic design attributes, such as color and shape, as an institutionalized aspect of competition, rather than as a firm-specific differentiation strategy, in settings that favor the symbolic meanings of products. Empirically, the study offers a detailed case study of the personal computer (PC) industry to examine the institutionalization of aesthetic innovation as a dimension of competition across industrial firms. The study examines the color and shape of PCs over the 1992–2003 period and situates changes to these attributes in the competitive conditions that characterized the industry, paying particular attention to the introduction of the Apple iMac in 1998. Furthermore, it examines the discursive manifestations of aesthetic innovation by content analysis of reviews of PCs and interviews with industry executives. Findings demonstrate that, in a period coinciding with a decline in demand for PCs and an overall mature market as well as with the introduction of the iMac, the majority of firms engaged in aesthetic innovation and used a greater number of aesthetic words in describing their PCs.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
I benefited from comments received by Eric Abrahamson, Gina Dokko, Gili Drori, Moshe Farjoun, Michal Frenkel, Sharon Gilad, Heather Haveman, Mary Kern, Ozgecan Kocak, Mike Moch, Joe Porac, Eshkol Rafaeli, Davide Ravasi, Limor Samimian-Darash, Sonali Shah, Alva Taylor, Daniel Tzabbar, Varda Wasserman, Geraldine Wu, Tamar Yogev, Tammar Zilber, and seminar participants at Technion, Israel, Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, Ben Gurion University, Bar Ilan University, Tilburg University, Boston College, City University of London, HEC, Imperial College Conversation on Innovation and Entrepreneurship 2016, AOM, and EGOS. I acknowledge the financial support I received from the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University, the PSC grants at City University of New York, and the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement number PIRG07-GA-2010-266617.
Citation
Eisenman, M. (2017), "A Multimodal Investigation of the Institutionalization of Aesthetic Design as a Dimension of Competition in the PC Industry", Höllerer, M.A., Daudigeos, T. and Jancsary, D. (Ed.) Multimodality, Meaning, and Institutions (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 54A), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 183-217. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X2017000054A007
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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