Foie gras: animal cruelty or tasty delicacy? An exploration of firm responses to restrictive regulatory change

• Author: John Hildebrand,Kelly Weidner,Frederik Beuk
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1603
• Published date: 01 November 2016
• Date: 01 November 2016

■Academic Paper

Foie gras: animal cruelty or tasty delicacy?

An exploration of firm responses to

restrictive regulatory change

Kelly Weidner

1

*, Frederik Beuk

2

and John Hildebrand

3

1

Barowsky School of Business, Dominican University of California, San Rafael, California 94901, USA

2

Department of Marketing, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325-4804, USA

3

Department of Marketing, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, 60614, USA

The authors propose a conceptual framework that highlights the process firms pursue in response to externally

imposed changes in the regulatory environment. The study adapts three theories to better understand this phenom-

enon: sensemaking, the affect infusion model, and cognitive appraisal theory. Using the context of bans on the produc-

tion and sale of foie gras, the authors present a series of propositions that delineate the process through which firms

innovate in response to changes in their regulatory environment. The authors suggest that cognitive processes utilized

to make sense of restrictive regulation represent strategic responses, resulting in innovations that expand an existing

market, or create a new one. Alternatively, affectively infused reactions result in less innovative responses, or even

non-compliance. The authors present examples of firms’innovations as support for the conceptual model. Copyright

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

How organizations respond to changes in their

regulatory environment can greatly enhance or

diminish the chances of their success in the redefined

market. Not surprisingly, innovating within restric-

tive regulations is a great challenge to firms because

such changes typically occur outside the control of

the firm. However, a gap exists in the literature with

regard to understanding how changes in the

regulatory environment affect the sensemaking

and innovation processes for various stakeholders

throughout the value chain of a market or industry.

In this paper, we set out to better understand the

process of how firms innovatein response to changes

in the regulatory environment and these firms’

reactions to subsequent changes in stakeholder

perceptions. Changes in the regulatory environment

can disrupt the marketplace, putting competitors in

the position to recreate their organization, offer new

products to the market,and/or identify new markets

for their products. For example, in the case of a

mandatory product ban, all firms must comply with

it to stay within the confines of the law. However,

some firms may be more creative in offering substi-

tutes or replacements than others. Alternatively, as

our research shows, some firms may resist compli-

ance altogether.

Firms are frequently confronted with changes in

the regulatory environment. Prominent examples

include the ban of public smoking, the restrictions

on the use of partially hydrogenated oils or trans

fats in food products, and the introduction of higher

age restrictions for the use of alcohol in certain

European countries. To better illustrate the range

of innovative (or less innovative) responses to regu-

latory changes, we focus on the bans of foie gras

1

imposed by lawmakers in California and Chicago,

1

Foie gras refers to the enlarged fatty liver of a duck or goose. The

traditional method of production consists of force-feeding and

motion restricting the fowl for 4 to 5months.

*Correspondence to: Kelly Weidner, Dominican University of

California, 50 Acacia Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901, USA.

E-mail: kelly.weidner@dominican.edu

Journal of Public Affairs

Volume 16 Number 4 pp 406–414 (2016)

Published online 4 February 2016 in Wiley Online Library

(www.wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/pa.1603

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.