Status Signals

by Podolny, Joel M.

• ISBN13: 9780691117003
• ISBN10: 0691117004
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-08-08
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Why are elite jewelers reluctant to sell turquoise, despite strong demand? Why did leading investment bankers shun junk bonds for years, despite potential profits?Status Signalsis the first major sociological examination of how concerns about status affect market competition. Starting from the basic premise that status pervades the ties producers form in the marketplace, Joel Podolny shows how anxieties about status influence whom a producer does (or does not) accept as a partner, the price a producer can charge, the ease with which a producer enters a market, how the producer's inventions are received, and, ultimately, the market segments the producer can (and should) enter. To achieve desired status, firms must offer more than strong past performance and product quality--they must also send out and manage social and cultural signals. Through detailed analyses of market competition across a broad array of industries--including investment banking, wine, semiconductors, shipping, and venture capital--Podolny demonstrates the pervasive impact of status. Along the way, he shows how corporate strategists, tempted by the profits of a market that would negatively affect their status, consider not only whether to enter the market but also whether they can alter the public's perception of the market. Podolny also examines the different ways in which a firm can have status. Wal-Mart, for example, has low status among the rich as a place to shop, but high status among the rich as a place to invest. Status Signalsprovides a systematic understanding of market dynamics that have--until now--not been fully appreciated.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
List of Tables	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction An Emergent Perspective from an Emergent Field	1	(9)
Status, Reputation, and Quality	10	(12)
The Matthew Effect (Un)bounded	22	(18)
Getting More for Less in the Investment Banking Industry	40	(36)
To Mingle or Not to Mingle with the Hoi Polloi: That Is the Question	76	(27)
The Medium, the Message, and the Signal	103	(29)
Status and Invention	132	(43)
Embeddedness and Entry	175	(24)
An Evolutionary Perspective on Status Segregation	199	(28)
Uncertainty Reconsidered	227	(22)
Conclusion	249	(18)
Bibliography	267	(12)
Credits	279	(2)
Index	281