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  • December 2010
  • Article
  • Academy of Management Journal

Building Sustainable Hybrid Organizations: The Case of Commercial Microfinance Organizations

By: Julie Battilana and Silvia Dorado
  • Format:Print
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Abstract

We explore how new types of hybrid organizations (organizations that combine institutional logics in unprecedented ways) can develop and maintain their hybrid nature in the absence of a "ready-to-wear" model for handling the tensions between the logics they combine. The results of our comparative study of two pioneering commercial microfinance organizations suggest that to be sustainable, new types of hybrid organizations need to create a common organizational identity that strikes a balance between the logics they combine. Our evidence further suggests that the crucial early levers for developing such an organizational identity among organizational members are hiring and socialization policies.

Keywords

Organizational Structure; Microfinance; Growth And Development Strategy; Identity; Commercialization; Balance And Stability; Policy; Recruitment; Business Model

Citation

Battilana, Julie, and Silvia Dorado. "Building Sustainable Hybrid Organizations: The Case of Commercial Microfinance Organizations." Academy of Management Journal 53, no. 6 (December 2010).
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About The Author

Julie Battilana

Organizational Behavior
→More Publications

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    Problem, Person, and Pathway: A Framework for Social Innovators

    By: Julie Battilana, Brittany Butler, Marissa Kimsey, Johanna Mair, Christopher Marquis and Christian Seelos
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    La poursuite conjointe d'objectifs sociaux et financiers dans les entreprises. L'entreprise sociale comme laboratoire d'étude des modes d'organisation hybrides

    By: Julie Battilana
More from the Authors
  • Terra Nova: A Social Business Trying to Unlock Land Rights for the Urban Poor in Brazil By: Julie Battilana, Ruth Costas, Marissa Kimsey and Priscilla Zogbi
  • Problem, Person, and Pathway: A Framework for Social Innovators By: Julie Battilana, Brittany Butler, Marissa Kimsey, Johanna Mair, Christopher Marquis and Christian Seelos
  • La poursuite conjointe d'objectifs sociaux et financiers dans les entreprises. L'entreprise sociale comme laboratoire d'étude des modes d'organisation hybrides By: Julie Battilana
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