INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND STRATEGY: AN INSTITUTIONAL CRITIQUE

and the issues they raise for organizational theorists. We argue that the global regime of intellectual property rights (IPRs) now constitutes an “institution,” in its representation to the world as a “truth.” We uncover historical and theoretical ways in which such an institutional (and ideological) representation can be challenged. We argue that mainstream strategic management has become implicated in this institutionalization of IPRs, and offer a counter-theory.