Institutional theory : a study based on the regionalisation of food manufacturing and related industries.

• Main Authors: Khoo, Wi-Fhong., Lim, Lay Keng., Ong, Hui Han.
• Other Authors: Nanyang Business School
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::Accounting
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/51150
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Organisations interact continuously with their environment and eventually become isomorphic with them. This phenomenon has been studied by sociologists and has led to the emergence of the institutional theory. This theory proposes that organisations need to abide by institutional rules set by powerful organisations in order to be given legitimacy. The purpose of this research is to ascertain if institutional theory is valid when applied against the behaviour of companies in the food manufacturing and related sectors. Since 1991, the Singapore government has been steadily encouraging local companies to sprout a second wing abroad, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. One noticeable channel through which many companies indicate their responses is their description of foreign activities in their annual reports. I Content Analysis' is chosen to analyse the annual reports of these companies because of its virtues over other research methods. Hypothesis testing is then carried out to determine whether the institutional theory is applicable to our local context and the extent of its application. Our key finding is that the behaviour of the food manufacturing and other related companies is a reflection of the institutional theory.