Coordination vs. Organization: Diverging Logics of Firm Cooperation in Denmark and Sweden

Employers and their business associations have become increasingly important actors promoting market competition–even in once highly coordinated and regulated European economies. Based on a comparison of the Danish and Swedish telecommunications industries, we ask how differences in businessassociation structures relate to the ways firmscooperate in competitive markets. In Denmark,fragmented, competingbusiness associations encourageda more unstable logic of coordination, with firmspredominately focused onpursuingparticularistic interests in public policy lobbying andexit-oriented strategies inemployment relations. In contrast,the unified businessassociation in Swedenencouraged a logic of organization,with firmspredominatelyseeking collective good provisioninpublic policy lobbyingand engaging in mutual gains bargaining. Findings contribute to debates on the role of business associations in fostering firm cooperation and collective regulation.