2023 Volume 12 Issue 1 Pages 50-64
In this paper, we analyzed, in detail, the process and mechanism of how a manufacturing company’s identity, which is its self-recognition as an organization, is formed and changed—while under material influence—through its interactions with the society and market as mediated by a product. To this end, the entry of the tillage blade business of Taiyo Co., Ltd., into the Indian market was chosen as a case study. Based on organizational self-theory, we analyzed this organization’s semantic interpretation and response as the agent of material action. In this analysis, we expressed the organization’s self as an “interaction between organizational identity and organizational learning,” regarded the product as an important symbol that mediates social interaction, and considered materials such as nature and artifacts as markets and societies. As a result, while viewing the product as the interface between the organization and the environment, it became possible to analyze the organization’s semantic interpretation and response to material influences from society and markets. This analysis, in turn, allowed us to provide a concrete explanation of the process and mechanism through which the organization has changed its identity as the targeted self and transformed not only itself but also the market and society.
