Balancing Act: Learning from Organizing Practices in Cultural Industries

Joseph Lampel (), Theresa Lant () and Jamal Shamsie ()
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Joseph Lampel: The Business School, University of Nottingham, Jubilee Campus, Wollaton Road, Nottingham NG8 1BB, United Kingdom
Theresa Lant: Management Department, Stern School of Business, New York University, 44 West 4th Street, New York, New York 10012-1126
Jamal Shamsie: Anderson School of Business, University of California at Los Angeles, 110 Westwood Plaza, Suite D508, Los Angeles, California 90095-1481

Organization Science, 2000, vol. 11, issue 3, 263-269

Abstract: The dilemmas experienced by managers in cultural industries are also to be found in a growing number of other industries where knowledge and creativity are key to sustaining competitive advantage. Firms that compete in cultural industries must deal with a combination of ambiguity and dynamism, both of which are intrinsic to goods that serve an aesthetic or expressive rather than a utilitarian purpose. Managers involved with the creation, production, marketing, and distribution of cultural goods must navigate tensions that arise from opposing imperatives that result from these industry characteristics. In this paper we outline five polarities that are shaping organizational practices in cultural industries. First, managers must reconcile expression of artistic values with the economics of mass entertainment. Second, they must seek novelty that differentiates their products without making them fundamentally different in nature from others in the same category. Third, they must analyse and address existing demand while at the same time using their imagination to extend and transform the market. Fourth, they must balance the advantages of vertically integrating diverse activities under one roof against the need to maintain creative vitality through flexible specialization. And finally, they must build creative systems to support and market cultural products but not allow the system to suppress individual inspiration, which is ultimately at the root of creating value in cultural industries.

Keywords: Cultural Goods; Art; Entertainment Industries; Creativity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (89)

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