Reputation and Strength of Ties in Predicting Commercial Success and Artistic Merit of Independents in the Italian Feature Film Industry

• Published in: Journal of management studies 2005-07, Vol.42 (5), p.975-1002
• Main Authors: Delmestri, Giuseppe, Montanari, Fabrizio, Usai, Alessandro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Artists; Business strategies; Business studies; Economic models; Economic performance; Economic relations; Economics of culture; Film industry; Hypothesis testing; Italy; Management theory; Motion picture directors & producers; Motion picture industry; Organizational structure; Project evaluation; Reputations; Studies; Success; Success factors
• ISSN: 0022-2380; 1467-6486
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2005.00529.x

We investigate what factors are required in order to succeed in project‐based cultural industries. In particular, we focus on the effects of relational stability and reputation on two key dimensions of movies’ success: commercial success and artistic merit. We combine the two dimensions of films’ performance for a more accurate understanding of how authenticity and artistic merit are manufactured in the movie industry. We examine this question by analysing a sample of Italian films and focusing on the role of the film director. We argue that commercial success is favoured by a director's strong vertical ties (with producers and distributors) and economic reputation, while artistic merit is positively affected by a director's weak horizontal ties (with other creative partners) and artistic reputation. We propose an explanation in terms of varying degrees of task routineness and we use it to account for the divergence between our results and others in the cultural and organizational literature.