Using an Ecological Perspective to Study Organizational Founding Rates

Abstract

Moving away from a “traits” approach to a “rates” approach, using an ecological perspective, highlights the salience of organizations as the key component of environments. Foundings of new organizations are highly dependent upon the experiences of already existing organizations, both in a particular population and in the larger community of populations. Intra-population processes—prior foundings, dissolutions, density, and factors associated with density—structure the environment into which foundings are born. Inter-population processes—the nature of relations between populations, whether competing or cooperating, and actions by dominant organizations—affect the distribution of resources in the environment and the terms on which they are available to entrepreneurs. Institutional factors—government policies, political events, cultural norms, and so on—shape the macro-context within which other processes occur.