Why do organizational populations die? : evidence from the Belgian motorcycle industry, 1900-1993

Extinctions represent a potential outcome of the evolutionary processes of organizational populations. Nevertheless, scant effort, if none, has been dedicated to investigate this issue. This paper proposes three alternative hypotheses that may account for extinction events. They are drawn from very different literatures: economic geography, economic sociology, and evolutionary biology/paleontology. In particular, two of them rely on exogenous determinants, while one is focused on an endogenous reasoning. The theory presented is tested analyzing the entries of motorcycle producers in Belgium, a population that ceased to exist in 1981. The findings of this research provide evidence to support the internal causation of the event. The implications stemming from the present work are related to the literatures of population ecology and industrial economics.

Different trajectories of industrial evolution : demographical turnover in the European motorcycle industry, 1885-1993

Technological innovation is widely considered as one of the most influential determinants of industry evolution. Along this line of inquiry, the seminal work of Tushman and Anderson (1986) presents one of the most compelling theoretical argumentations. Yet, the empirical support for their theory has been relatively weak, and an academic agreement is still lacking about the long-term consequences of technological innovation for the demographic composition of industries. This paper uses the information collected on 1,906 manufacturers during the period 1895 and 1993, to investigate the influence of technological innovation on the evolution of four different organizational populations - i.e. Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy. The findings of this research only partially agree with the theory. Our results show that, while innovations promoted entries, incumbent firms survived to environmental changes. The implications of this work are related to the literatures of strategic management and population ecology.

Why do organizational populations die?:evidence from the Belgian motorcycle industry, 1900-1993

Extinctions represent a potential outcome of the evolutionary processes of organizational populations. Nevertheless, scant effort, if none, has been dedicated to investigate this issue. This paper proposes three alternative hypotheses that may account for extinction events. They are drawn from very different literatures: economic geography, economic sociology, and evolutionary biology/paleontology. In particular, two of them rely on exogenous determinants, while one is focused on an endogenous reasoning. The theory presented is tested analyzing the entries of motorcycle producers in Belgium, a population that ceased to exist in 1981. The findings of this research provide evidence to support the internal causation of the event. The implications stemming from the present work are related to the literatures of population ecology and industrial economics

The organization enacts the environment and the environment feeds back : mortality rates in the UK motorcycle industry, 1895-1993

This paper uses the information on 648 manufacturers during the period included between 1895 and 1993 to explore the interaction of different levels of analysis in developing of the United Kingdom motorcycle industry. It provides three general results. First, it demonstrates how long term changes of the organizational environment can be related to the microevolution of firms’ strategies. Second, it sheds light on the fact that organizations and population act in the opposite way in determining the survival of firms. On the one hand, organizations diversify their production in order to obtain economic advantages of scale and superior profits. On the other, the evolution of the population constrains organizational expansion by increasing the level of competition. These two contrasting forces drive the coevolution of niches of generalist and specialist producers within the population. Third, while the increasing age of a population’s members tend to reduce the level of competition, ages’ heterogeneity represents a powerful selective force acting within an organizational population. The implications stemming from this work are related to both the literatures of business strategy and of population ecology.