Financial service industry mismanagement : Institutionalization and conformist strategy

States that the financial services industry application of mainstream strategy literature gives ample consideration to an organization’s task and technical environment. Points out, however, that this level of analysis does not deal explicitly with the larger “institutional” context, within which an organization is embedded. Using the Canadian banking industry as an exemplar of a highly institutionalized financial services industry, demonstrates the utility of institutional theory in understanding the origins, nature and dynamics of powerful institutional pressures of conformity. Calls this conformist strategy “mismanagement”.