Institutional Pressures and Organizational Identity: The Case of Deutsche Werkstatten Hellerau in the GDR and Beyond, 1945-1996

This article explores the case of Deutsche Werkstatten Hellerau (DWH)-a furniture and interior manufacturer founded in 1898-through state socialism after 1945 and reprivatization in the 1990s. Our analysis suggests that the firm's survival through multiple systemic disruptions was partly due to the preservation of a unique identity despite heavy institutional pressures for conformity. DWH adopted a " mixed conformity" strategy that attempted to pitch multiple concerns (cultural-aesthetic, ideological, economic) of political authorities against one another to buffer sociopolitical pressures, thus ultimately conforming to some (identity-consistent) demands, while violating other (identity-threatening) ones. This allowed DWH to successfully navigate tensions between sociopolitical expectations and the need to preserve a collective sense of distinctiveness and continuity over time.