A Longitudinal Exploration of Strategic Isomorphism: The Case of the National Football League

摘要

Within any given industry, firms are faced with the pressure to strive for increased uniqueness. The purpose of the current study is to explore a phenomenon known as strategic isomorphism (or increased homogeneity among firms as a result of deliberate strategic choice). To this end, this research used seven different statistical techniques, to examine performance data within the National Football League (NFL) across fifty-three NFL seasons in an effort to determine if the NFL had isomorphic characteristics (as measured by competitive balance). In testing for presence of competitive balance in the NFL, we found a low standard deviation in winning percentage across teams in the seasons 1960-2012, indicating that the NFL has been a league of teams of nearly equal strength. From a longitudinal perspective we found that the NFL has not been dominated by a few strong teams nor has any single NFL team has been able to maintain dominance across multiple seasons. The current study is one of very few longitudinal studies that examine strategic isomorphism within a competitive context. Its results provide evidence that under certain competitive conditions, striving for increased similarity among competitors may be appropriate strategic choice.