Working on the routine. On the relational fit between organizational routines and their territorial environment

The paper discusses different approaches and conceptualisations of organisational routines. It evaluates their potential connectivity to recently debated arguments in economic geography, which focus on the relation of organisations to their (institutional) environment. The widespread conceptualisation of organisational routines by Nelson and Winter (1982) seems to have particular weaknesses concerning the analysis of internal dynamics of routines and their diffusion. These weaknesses can be overcome by integrating an alternative concept of routines into a relational understanding of organisations. By opening the 'black box' of organisational routines this paper proposes a conceptual framework for the analysis of diffusion processes and territorial influences on change and stability in organisations. Abstract printed by permission of Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany