Chandlerian growth in a ‘taboo market’? The American deathcare industry since the early 20th century
研究了美国殡葬业长期由小企业主导、直到1980年代后才出现大型连锁企业的现象，分析了文化敏感行业对钱德勒增长模型的挑战，以及企业如何通过合法性策略实现扩张。
Deathcare is ‘big business’, yet U.S. funeral markets have long been fragmented and dominated by small independent firms. Until the 1980s, the deathcare industry largely defied Chandlerian growth dynamics based on increased efficiency achieved by economies of scale and scope and professionalised management. To understand this phenomenon, this article first asks about challenges around legitimacy to firm growth in culturally sensitive ‘taboo markets’ which allowed small firms to dominate the market. Secondly, it considers the recent growth of corporate funeral chains, asking about factors contributing to their success. What strategies allowed the new corporations to overcome the cultural challenges to organisational growth? What was the impact of government (de)regulation and consumer advocacy? Demonstrating the limitations of Chandlerian growth models in culturally sensitive industries, the article argues that an adapted framework needs to consider legitimacy along with efficiencies in analysing organisational development in socially and historically contextualised industries and ‘taboo markets.’