ABSTRACT
A changing society triggers rivalry: between groups and social movements within society, between different societies (states) and within specific groups. This chapter aims to identify the main features of rivalry with reference to important organizational and institutional characteristics of societies. Organizations that create and distribute value in society can have many characteristics as regards size, relative importance and performance. The debate on the most appropriate organizational forms in societies is biased towards so called ‘public’ companies-companies that are listed on stock exchanges. The bulk of (international) business studies concentrate on documenting the profitability, the innovativeness and the continuity of big companies such as General Electric, Microsoft, Siemens, Samsung, Wal-Mart, Nokia or Toyota. But the organizational forms found in societies are much more diverse. What to think of stateowned enterprises, are they the same as public companies and how important are they still? What is to be made of ‘family-owned’ firms, cooperatives and the non-profit and informal sector for economic success? Often, these organizational forms are treated with disdain-or ‘g are just ignored-because they do not belong to the organizational orthodoxy. By doing this, scholars overlook the largest part of societies and miss out on most of its actual dynamism.
