From goat shows to guilds: How U.S. cheesemakers built a culture of collaboration
研究美国手工奶酪行业（1975-2018）中竞争者之间协作如何制度化，提出四阶段启发式框架，结合定量网络分析和定性访谈，揭示协作通过习惯、身份认同和道德承诺得以持续。
Abstract Why does collaboration among competitors persist as industries mature? Standard models predict it will fade with formal governance and rivalry, yet in some sectors, it becomes a stable norm. Using a Veblenian Original Institutional Economics (OIE) lens, this paper develops a four-stage heuristic linking evolving uncertainty (radical, relational, coordination, durability) to distinct coordination logics. A mixed-methods study of the U.S. artisanal cheese industry (1975–2018) shows that collaboration became institutionalised through habituated practice, identity alignment, and moral commitment, later layered with formal supports. The framework clarifies how OIE best explains norm emergence and reproduction, while New Institutional Economics (NIE) helps account for codifying and scaling already-institutionalised norms. Quantitatively, peer networks shifted toward higher clustering and greater geographic localisation; qualitatively, mentorship and open exchange sedimented into professional expectations. Collaboration endures because it is morally meaningful, identity-affirming, and institutionally reproduced. Efficiency benefits may follow, but they do not explain its origin or persistence.