Strategy and state intervention in the colombian steel mill: considerations from institutionalism

Abstract

The steel sector shows in its origin and historical development the typical characteristics of isomorphism behavior within the framework of institutional analysis which highlights two realities of the sector. On one side, the change of the role of the State that has gone from being a direct comptroller and promoter to being a mediator in the competition conditions of steel companies against the international market. On another side, the analysis of institutionalized conditions of the steel sector reveals the limited possibilities of strategic decision that steel companies can design against the complexity of external pressures they face, which increases the degree of isomorphism, passing from a regulatory emphasis to a normative and cognitive. Although some tendencies are presented of the sector’s institutionalized change, at the world level we delve into the situation of the Colombia steel sector since its origin with the ironworks of the 19th century to its current composition of mergers and acquisitions with foreign investment from the groups: Votorantim and Gerdau of Brazil. The reflection wishes to show the possibilities offered by the institutional approach to analyze strategic change in the historical evolution of an industrial sector.