Changing forms of organising in regional intergovernmental cooperative network: the Asia Pacific economic cooperation

The organizational theory literature suggests that organisations should adapt to highly competitive business environments by strategically replacing or transforming the traditional with more innovative forms of organising. These innovative and more flexible forms of organizing are often portrayed as dichotomous and antithetical. Recent research by Pettigrew, Fenton, Palmer, DiMaggio and others discovered that one of the emergent themes in contemporary firms is that they engage in apparently contradictory practice, where the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ changes are practiced simultaneously. The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), one of the major regional intergovernmental cooperative networks in the Asia Pacific region is investigated as such a case. This paper concludes with a reflection on further directions for research in organizational dualism in cooperative networks.