We would like to invite submissions to “Creating Symbolic Value through
the Manipulation of Meanings and Symbols” (track 32) at the 25th EGOS
colloquium, July 2-4th in Barcelona, Spain.
Submission deadline: January 11, 2009
We invite papers that investigate issues related to the idea that
organizations also create economic value through symbols, where material
resources are combined to evoke and signify particular cultural
categories, trends, or identities (Rindova and Fombrun, 1999).
Specifically, we wish to attend to symbolic value creation—the
purposeful attempt to imbue objects with meaning through the
manipulation of material signs (e.g., designs, visual communication,
retail environment, etc.). By calling attention to the production
processes underlying the symbolic level of goods, we aim to open up a
novel and exciting area of research on innovation and creativity.
In this track, then, we invite papers that investigate how products
operate as material symbols as well as papers that investigate how firms
create products that can be interpreted as the material symbols that
define and clarify social roles. Areas of inquiry might include, among
others:
• How are these processes similar to or different from processes of
technological innovation? Are the codes / knowledge / conventions that
guide firms who engage in symbolic value creation different from or
similar to those of firms pursuing technological innovation?
• Are processes that occur in creative industries useful for
understanding processes for symbolic value creation?
• Which social actors or individual agents trigger symbolic value
creation? Is this lead by particular advocates within firms? Do
industries have firms that lead such processes within an industry? To
what extent is this a process of co-creation / co-evolution among
producers and consumers?
• Is symbolic value creation a supply- or demand-side phenomenon? Do
firms push symbolic consumption by offering products with high symbolic
value or do consumers pull symbolic production by creating a demand for
such products?
• What are the institutional logics that characterize industries and
firms that create symbolic value? How are they similar to or different
from than the institutional logics of more traditional industries?
• What is the resource base for creating symbolic value?
For additional details about this track see:
http://www.egosnet.org/conferences/collo25/sub_32.shtml
Please find full instructions for submitting an extended abstract of
3,000 words at:
http://www.egosnet.org/conferences/collo25/colloquium_2009.shtml
Questions or information? Ask the organizers
Micki Eisenman (Baruch College),
micki.eisenman@baruch.cuny.edu
Davide Ravasi (Bocconi University),
davide.ravasi@unibocconi.it
Pablo Martin de Holan (IE Business School / INCAE)
pmdeh@ie.edu