Framing From Afar: The Role Of External Agents In Category Construction

This paper explores how “framing from afar,” in other words, the construction of categories by external agents—policy makers, regulators, local governments, consulting firms and other actors—influences the establishment and subsequent evolution of a new industry. We use the case of the Japanese microbrewery industry to demonstrate how initial external category-setters shape the evolution of the industry by influencing the type of producers that...