| This study applies the lens of comparative political economy to patterns of strategic decision making and economic performance in individual companies. The concept of "comparative institutional advantage" is developed to argue that national institutional patterns influence the decision routines that firms will rely upon to adjust to changes in their industry environment. The study shows how the macro national institutional context influenced the management styles of companies through the varying role and discretion of top management vis a vis lower levels of the managerial hierarchy.;The comparative institutional lens is applied to the European airline industry in a period of deregulation and rapid technological change. The ascendancy of British Airways in the 1980s contrasts with the relative decline of Lufthansa in that decade (and its turnaround in the 1990s) and with the disaster of Air France. Cross-border differences in corporate governance and managerial hierarchies help explain the different ways these companies adjusted to transformations in their industry, with British Airways building a 5-10 year lead in a series of important commercial innovations. Two institutional factors in particular are highlighted: the degree of unilateral CEO control and the mobility of middle managers. Data collection drew on a wide variety of sources: company documents, industry studies, and extensive interviewing with airline managers, industry experts, and civil servants.;The top management of these companies, influenced by differing constellations of institutional resources and constraints, was found to develop widely varying styles in the way they orchestrated organizational processes to adjust to industry developments, with significant ramifications for performance and competitive advantage. The distinctive contribution of this research is in highlighting national sources of competitive advantage that reside not in characteristics of individuals, organizations, or industries, but in the institutionalized rules governing the relationship between social groups and roles within the complex business enterprise. |
