Resumen
This article explores the way government has been managing the antagonism between institutional forces towards efficiency and those towards control in the international seaport of Lisbon. We conclude that the antagonism emerges in the presence of certain institutional forces, like economic downturns and political changes, that stimulate the adoption of new adequate templates. Governments have come to manage this antagonism through the separation between the strategic and operational structures, and by controlling strategic issues while giving operational autonomy. As such, organizational transformations have reflected this way to manage the antagonism. Given the emergence of new institutional templates (e.g. corporate governance) we also identify major challenges governments will face to integrate contradictory institutional forces.