Organizational ecology / Michael T. Hannan, John Freeman.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 343-358) and indexes.

Print version record.

Contents -- Preface -- Part I Theory -- 1 Organizations and Social Structure -- Organizational Diversity -- Perspectives on Organizational Change -- The Demography and Ecology of Organizations -- Population Thinking -- Evolution of Organizational Forms -- Dynamic and Comparative Analysis -- 2 Theoretical Background -- Organization Theory and Sociology: Missing Connections -- Comparison of Contemporary Approaches -- Controversies and Misunderstandings -- Managerial Implications and Applications -- 3 Boundaries of Forms and Populations

Approaches to Defining FormsA Focus on Boundaries -- Boundary Dynamics and Diversity -- Implications for Research -- 4 Structural Inertia and Organizational Change -- Structural Inertia -- A Hierarchy of Inertial Forces -- Variations in Strength of Inertia -- 5 Competition and the Niche -- The Principle of Isomorphism -- The Niche -- Classical Competition Theory -- Niche Overlap and Competition -- 6 Modeling the Dynamics of Organizational Populations -- Variations in Intrinsic Founding Rates -- Effects of Environments on Carrying Capacities

Conceptualizing the Size of PopulationsCarrying Capacities and Density Dependence -- Rate Dependence and Diversity Dependence -- Dynamics of Selection -- Part II Methods -- 7 Designs of Empirical Studies -- Defining Events -- National Labor Unions -- Semiconductor Merchant Producers -- Newspaper Publishers in San Francisco -- Comparison of Data Sets -- 8 Models and Methods of Analysis -- Describing Organizational Histories -- Models for Transition Rates -- Counting Process Models -- Estimation and Testing -- Part III Empirical Findings

9 The Population Ecology of Founding and EntryCore Questions -- Founding Rates of Labor Unions -- Entry Rates of Semiconductor Manufacturing Firms -- Founding Rates of Newspaper Firms -- Comparisons and Contrasts -- 10 Age Dependence in Failure Rates -- The Liability of Newness -- National Labor Unions -- Exits of Semiconductor Manufacturing Firms -- 11 The Population Ecology of Organizational Mortality -- Disbanding Rates of Labor Unions -- Exit Rates of Semiconductor Firms -- Failure Rates of Newspaper Firms -- Comparisons and Contrasts

12 Dynamics of Niche Width and MortalityNiche Width and Mortality of Restaurants -- Niche Width and Exit Rates of Semiconductor Firms -- Comparisons and Contrasts -- 13 Conclusions -- Implications of the Research -- Problems for Analysis -- References -- Name Index -- Subject Index

Hannan and Freeman examine the ecology of organizations by exploring the competition for resources and by trying to account for rates of entry and exit and for the diversity of organizational forms. They show that the destinies of organizations are determined more by impersonal forces than by the intervention of individuals.

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