The Sociology of a Market Analysis Tool: How Industry Analysts Sort Vendors and Organize Markets

47 Pages Posted: 26 Aug 2008

See all articles by Robin Williams

Robin Williams

University of Edinburgh - Institute for the Study of Science, Technology and Innovation

Neil Pollock

University of Edinburgh

Date Written: August, 26 2008

Abstract

The information technology (IT) marketplace is shaped by new kinds of specialist industry analysts that link technology supply and use through offering a commodified form of knowledge and advice. We focus on the work of one such organisation, the Gartner Group, and with how it produces a market analysis tool called the 'Magic Quadrant'. Widely circulated amongst the IT community, the device compares and sorts vendors according to a number of more or less intangible properties (such as vendor 'competence' and 'vision'). Given that potential adopters of IT systems are drawn to assess the reputation and likely behaviour of vendors, these tools play an important role in mediating choice during procurement. Our interest is in understanding how such objects are constructed and how they wield influence. We draw on the recent 'performativity' debate in Economic Sociology and the Sociology of Finance to show how Magic Quadrants are not simply describing but reshaping aspects of the IT arena. Importantly, in sketching this sociology of a market analysis tool, we also attend to the contested nature of the Magic Quadrant. Whilst Gartner attempt to establish this device as an 'impartial' and 'legitimate' arbiter of vendor performance, it is often viewed sceptically on the grounds that the industry analysts are not independent of those vendors they are assessing.

Keywords: Industry analysts, reputation, performativity, markets, calculation, community

Suggested Citation

Williams, Robin and Pollock, Neil, The Sociology of a Market Analysis Tool: How Industry Analysts Sort Vendors and Organize Markets (August, 26 2008). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1258936 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1258936

Robin Williams

University of Edinburgh - Institute for the Study of Science, Technology and Innovation ( email )

United Kingdom

Neil Pollock (Contact Author)

University of Edinburgh ( email )

Old College
South Bridge
Edinburgh, Scotland EH8 9JY
United Kingdom

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