Path Dependence, Initial Conditions and Routines in Organizations: the Toyota Production System Re-examined

Abstract

The notion of path dependence was first explicitly used to explain prevailing technical standards (David 1985; Arthur 1989). It has also been discussed in recent decades as a useful way of analysing the development of a range of other subjects, including national innovation systems (Iammarino 2005), industrial districts (Kenney and von Burg 1999) and politics (Pierson 2004). For a long time, at the micro-level of individual organizations a much less elaborate use of the concept has been made (with the notable exception of David 1994) and it is only recently that interest in this field of application has expanded further (for example, Sydow et al. 2005). I argue that using path dependence for the historical analysis of organizational change can be very fruitful. To do so, however, the key elements of path dependence — sensitivity to initial conditions and lock-in mechanisms — need to be conceptualized more precisely and linked to one another.

With Hugo van Driel.