Durkheim and Weber : methodological reflections for management and business studies

The central concern of management and business research is to understand why some strategies rise while others fall, why some firms outperform others and are more successful than their competitors (Barney and Clark, 2007; Rumelt, 1987). Management and business research has heavily drawn on Emile Durkheim's ideas about social milieu and identity and Max Weber's ideas about institutions to explain why and how certain strategies are optimal, or at least efficient; however, very little is known about their methodological contributions.