The Power of Standards

Graz, Jean‐Christophe

doi:10.1017/9781108759038

Cited by 29 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 205 publications

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“…(IPE) that conceptualises the authority of standards and technical specifications in transnational environmental governance, we assume that standards are not just technical, but also political instruments (Graz, 2019;Katz-Rosene & Paterson, 2018;Yates & Murphy, 2019). We argue that the development of standards for natural capital accounting is thus likely to shape the future by transforming power relations within and outside standard-setting arenas.…”

Section: The Standardisation Of Natural Capital Accounting Methodologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Standardisation of Natural Capital Accounting Methodologies

Maechler

Graz

2020

Shaping the Future Through Standardization

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The global ecological crisis has prompted the development of tools that try to redefine relations between business and nature, among them, natural capital accounting methodologies. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently set standards on which these methodologies are based. Other actors, including the Big Four audit and accounting firms, developed their own methodologies outside the scope of ISO. This chapter examines why and how ISO developed natural capital accounting standards that are likely to compete with other methodologies. From the assumption that standards are not just technical, but also political instruments, it argues that they shape the future by creating power relations between actors within and outside ISO. The chapter suggests that these ISO standards aims at competing with first-movers' methodologies, in particular on the power implications resulting from transparency. It builds the argument on international political economy approaches to emphasise the link between technical specifications and power relations in contemporary capitalism.

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Section: The Standardisation Of Natural Capital Accounting Methodologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Standardisation of Natural Capital Accounting Methodologies

Maechler

Graz

2020

Shaping the Future Through Standardization

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“…This section elucidates the ways in which data exchange standardization processes form the foundation of the inclusive insurance market, enabling it to expand via platforms, focusing on two dimensions: interoperability and security. These two dimensions refer to issues in the role standards play in market expansion (Graz, 2019).…”

Section: Data Exchange Standardizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, the rise of the Web 2.0 enabled web-based applications to be developed hinging on an interoperable technical architecture providing 'connectivity, programmability and data exchange' (Plantin and Punathambekar, 2019: 4). As for any insurance services, the expansion of markets for inclusive insurance relies on standardized formats of data exchange (Graz, 2019). One such aspect draws on devices and data interoperability.…”

Section: Data Exchange Standardizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As Yates and Murphy (2019: 292) have pointed out, API protocols are essential parts of the infrastructure of the global economy, creating a reliable and familiar playground available for all actors involved in market relations on the web. Therefore, institutional agreements standardizing platforms' relations in the inclusive insurance industry act as a precondition to design the security attributes to ensure economic transactions (Loconto and Busch, 2010;Graz, 2019). In sum, the intervention of international standards in regulating platforms sheds light on how practices are reformulated by public/private standards setting bodies guaranteeing an interoperable and safe international technical infrastructure.…”

Section: Data Exchange Standardizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Datanalysing the uninsured: The coloniality of inclusive insurance platforms

Perticone

Graz

Kunz

2022

Competition & Change

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This article explores the rise of digital platforms for insurance coverage related to the financial inclusion agenda in developing and emerging economies. The current literature focuses mostly on the emergence and implications of Superplatforms based in core capitalist economies. Combining insights from studies on platform capitalism with post/decolonial scholarship in international political economy, we argue that the rise of inclusive insurance supported by platforms relies on three dimensions of what we term datanalysing: (a) an interoperable and safe digital infrastructure legitimized by international standards; (b) the collection of racially hierarchized data; and (c) the appropriation of data by objectifying the targeted individuals. As datanalysing turns populations from the Global South into profitable resources from which extracting financial value, it sustains colonial practices censing and classifying subjugated populations. We illustrate our argument with the case of motor insurance coverage. Our analysis offers a wider empirical understanding of the global expansion of platform capitalism to previously unmarketable populations. We suggest that research should place greater emphasis on socio-historical dimensions to highlight the inconsistent and exploitative character of the inclusive insurance agenda.

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“…Researchers seem to be more interested in the competitive formulation of standards by organizations than the actual use of standards in organizations. Only three contributions have integrated the design and use mode perspectives (Devin & Richards, 2018;Graz, 2019;Shu & Lewin, 2017). When considering the range of standards investigated in the publications, accounting standards were clearly the most studied.…”

Section: Power-related Notions Of Standardizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relation of standards and power in management and organization research: Core notions and alternative avenues

Langer

2022

Int J Management Reviews

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This paper explores how management and organization research has shed light on the relation between standards and power. The narrative literature review intersects so far unconnected categorizations from standardization and power literatures to systematically map out the broad knowledge structure of the power‐related literature on standardization. As a result, the paper details six power‐related notions of standardization. Building on the review, the paper summarizes neglected issues and suggests new avenues for future research. The analysis reveals that research widely tends toward either/or conceptions in terms of the empowering or disempowering dynamics of standardization. To descend from this dichotomous perspective in future research, the paper finally recommends exploring the dialectics of standardization in more detail: first, by analyzing standards as a reflection of existing power structures and contestations; second, by investigating standards as subject to power logics and interests; and third, by scrutinizing standardization as the dynamic interplay of powerlessness and powerfulness.

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The Power of Standards

Cited by 29 publications

References 205 publications

The Standardisation of Natural Capital Accounting Methodologies

The Standardisation of Natural Capital Accounting Methodologies

Datanalysing the uninsured: The coloniality of inclusive insurance platforms

The relation of standards and power in management and organization research: Core notions and alternative avenues

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