From market logics to esthetic logics: interaction between de novos and de alios in the comics publishing industry

Abstract

The article contributes to a better understanding of the impact of the interaction between diverse organizations in the same creative industry on their logics and practices, by investigating the role of the origin of organizations–as a dimension of organizational diversity–in this process. The main distinction is that between two organizational categories: de novos, who are founded to function in a specific field, and de alios, who have their origin in another, earlier developed field. The interaction between both types is analyzed within a specific creative industry: Dutch language comics publishers. Using data on industry level that cover the period 1945–1994, and combining this with case studies of four individual publishers, I argue that when this industry gradually became dominated by de novos, de alio publishers who aspired to stay in the field, adapted their practices to those of de novos. If in a creative industry smaller, specialized companies (de novos) prevail, this may force much larger companies (de alios) in the same field to copy their practices. Thus, even in an originally mainly market-oriented industry such as that of comics publishing, within-field interaction can lead to a shift towards more esthetic logics.