LAS 5 FUERZAS DE PORTER

We have seen from the previous sections that Film-T demonstrates not only the crossing-level interrelatedness between the individual and the project level, but also a crossing-dimension flexibility from the internal to the external of the project organization, during the developing process of CIN. However, as Film-T is carried out in a company context, it also remains to be seen whether such network practices around the single production, over a period of time, has contributed to new properties taking shape at the firm-level of INDIE-Taiwan. In this regard, Holland’s analysis of ‘the laws of emergence’ as discussed in Chapter 3 provides analytical tools, as it indicates that certain mediating mechanisms or building blocks are important source for the cross-level emergence to happen and for facilitating the organizational process of evolving, adapting and transforming to the changing environment. In the following section, I will show that the 1) self-driven entrepreneurship and 2) director-centred practices are the two recurring themes that emerge in the empirical data, and these constitute mechanisms for channeling the emergence of the network across the lower individual level upward to the project organization and beyond the firm, during the constructing process of the system.

According to Holland, mechanisms are facilitating the dynamic construct of emergence by mediating between the structural constraints and the formal rules of the system. Yet the above findings show that the structural constraints of the case firm lie not in an interlocking and hierarchical environment, instead it is the lack

of structures that confine its network development. However, its internal weakness (the lack of formal / functional specializations) paradoxically also becomes a source of the firm’s networking strength. On the one hand, it is from the seeking of this external support for the project organization that the firm gains structure and agency; on the other, their rigorous seeking for external resources again encourages a more flexible and opportunistic approach of networking around the firm. As a result, as the case data also shows, the organizational limitation of the case firm has been altered by the individual agents’ actions, to gain supporting resources from the outside. In other words, it can be said that it is their awareness of their personal and the firm’s organizational weakness and self-driven entrepreneurship that guide the network agents through the structural constraints during the emergence of the CIN. This can be seen from the following extracts, from the interviews with the network agents, Producer, PR and Director.

In terms of funding difficulties, it’s because I am not close to the investors, and also because I don’t have the business language and market reputation in this respect so to speak, so I have been trying to find a way to reach them and let the investors know more about me and our project. (Interview V/ A14)

The Producer got me here because we were friends, and he needed someone to help with the marketing planning and media PR. Although I am new to film marketing, but we thought that together we could try something different and make something happen! (Interview X/ A1)

It’s me who recommended the sale agency to fill up our operational gaps in dealing with international sales, and the Producer agreed with me that although she is new to the film business, but she has the passion just as we do, that’s the most important, and we can fight together! (Interview IX/ A21)

In addition to self-driven entrepreneurship, the phrases of ‘the Director’s ideas’ or ‘the Director and I thought…’ are also frequently raised by the interviewees while talking about how they encounter decision-making in relation to CIN. It was

found that any adjustments they made, whether or not it involved internal tensions between the Producer and the Director, or weighing the trade-offs around the ‘bottom-line’, required the interviewees to refer to the Director’s creative considerations, which in turn could be found to become not only a ‘rule’ governing their decision, but also a foundation for new properties to grow. This may be illustrated by the following extracts from the interviews with the Producer and the PR:

Of course, over more than a one year period of production, there were times that I didn’t agree with the Director (silence)…But it was just a constant modification and adaptation between both of us. However, it was all because we wanted to make the film we really want, to realize the Director’s original ideas which I like very much as well, so I try not to hurt our relationship, and our partnership has been getting better and better. (Interview VII/ A 12)

I think what’s good about this production is that the Director is very keen to give his ideas, because he is the one who has more experience than me and the Producer, and we can know what the Director wants, it’s very important. For example it’s me who chose the writer for the script novel, but the most important thing was that the writer clicked with the Director immediately when they first met, that made my job much easier! (Interview X/A 17)

As noted earlier, the typical status of this relatively young firm does have an impact on the director-centred practices. Especially as the Director is relatively more experienced in the business side of production compared to the Producer and the PR, the decision-making therefore tends to center on the Director’s views. In fact, by interviewing the related business partners of the Film-T, it is found that while the interviewees share a highly common view in terms of their elusive criteria in justifying and assessing the collaboration with the Film-T, their judgments tend to be made according to the Director’s credibility and their interactions. It can, therefore, be argued that the two mechanisms: self-driven

entrepreneurship and director-centred practices embedded with the project of Film-T have in fact formed a firm-level asset. They have not only become a key to supporting the network agents to take action during the process, but they also opened up the doors to its current CIN partnerships, which has contributed to an emergent strategy in terms of branding the case company and gaining future business opportunities. The following extract from the last interview with the Producer, which comments retrospectively on the relationship with their biggest business partner- the telecom company, illustrates this point.

According to what they said, they can close the project now, everything has gone well, we fulfilled what they asked for. Especially, although the box-office hasn’t turned out as well as they expected, they are very pleased with our interactions. It’s a proof to them that we are actually trustworthy and not take-and-run independents. Actually we are in talks about future production deals... (Interview VIII/ A6)58