Institutional entrepreneurship in the sponsorship of common technological standards: The case of Sun Microsystems and Java Article

Garud, R, Jain, S, Kumaraswamy, A. (2002). Institutional entrepreneurship in the sponsorship of common technological standards: The case of Sun Microsystems and Java . ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, 45(1), 196-214. 10.2307/3069292

cited authors

  • Garud, R; Jain, S; Kumaraswamy, A

authors

abstract

  • The institutional entrepreneurship implicit in a firm's sponsorship of its technology as a common standard is beset by several challenges. These challenges arise from a standard's property to enable and constrain even as potential competitors agree to cooperate on its creation. Our exploration of Sun Microsystems's sponsorship of its Java technology suggests that standards in the making generate seeds of self-destruction. Our study also identifies the social and political skills that a sponsor deploys to address these challenges.

publication date

  • January 1, 2002

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 196

end page

  • 214

volume

  • 45

issue

  • 1