To Örebro University

A common assumption in organizational literature is that the “rules” by which organizations compete in a market emerge from processes of mutual adjustment among competitors to the constraints posed by market structures and institutions. While this may often be the case, we point the analytical gaze to the arguably prevalent but understudied case where the rules for competing are decided, i.e. result from an attempt at organizing by an organizer, rather than by mutual adjustment among competitors. We explore the formation and change of a competitive logic among Swedish upper secondary schools, using archival and interview data from two municipalities. We find how a broad-sweeping reform initially failed to shape a competitive logic, i.e. schools did not think they were competing. Over time, however, the idea of competing for students took hold, resulting in the organization of two very different competitive logics. Our findings speak to literatures that deal with institutional, geographical, and structural perspectives on competition, adding the notion of organizers as central actors in processes where competition forms and changes.