Spatial and Temporal Heterogeneity in Founding Patterns

A growing body of literature suggests that populations of organizations are not homogeneous, but instead comprise distinct subentities. Firms are highly dependent on their immediate institutional and competitive environments. The present paper further explores this issue by focusing on the spatial and temporal sources of industry heterogeneity. Our goal is threefold. First, we explore founding rates as a function of spatial density, arguing that density-dependent processes occur along a geographic gradient ranging from proximate, to neighboring, to more distant contexts. Second, we show how multiple, local evolutionary clocks shape such entrepreneurial activity. Third, we provide evidence on how diffusion processes are directly affected by social contagion, with new organizational forms spreading through movements of individuals. Results from data on the Dutch accounting industry corroborate these patterns of heterogeneity.

[1]  Joel A. C. Baum,et al.  HITS AND MISSES: MANAGERS’ (MIS)CATEGORIZATION OF COMPETITORS IN THE MANHATTAN HOTEL INDUSTRY , 2003 .

[2]  P. Hedström.  Contagious Collectivities: On the Spatial Diffusion of Swedish Trade Unions, 1890-1940 , 1994, American Journal of Sociology.

[3]  Jesper B. Sørensen.  Executive Migration and Interorganizational Competition , 1999 .

[4]  G. Cattani,et al.  Organizational turnover as endogenous precursor of industry dynamics and organizational dissolution , 2002 .

[5]  Alessandro Lomi,et al.  The organizational advantage of nations: An ecological perspective on the evolution of the motorcycle industry in Belgium, Italy and Japan, 1894-1993 , 2003 .

[6]  Paula E. Stephan,et al.  Company-Scientist Locational Links: The Case of Biotechnology , 1996 .

[7]  Glenn R. Carroll,et al.  On Using Institutional Theory in Studying Organizational Populations , 1989 .

[8]  C. P. Goodman,et al.  The Tacit Dimension , 2003 .

[9]  G. PITT-RIVERS.  Human Ecology , 1936, Nature.

[10]  Alexander Grey,et al.  The Mathematical Theory of Infectious Diseases and Its Applications , 1977 .

[11]  Organizations , 1992, Restoration & Management Notes.

[12]  Simon A. Levin,et al.  Challenges in the development of a theory of community and ecosystem structure and function , 1989 .

[13]  Paul D. Allison,et al.  Logistic Regression Using the SAS System : Theory and Application , 1999 .

[14]  P. Geroski.  Models of technology diffusion , 2000 .

[15]  P. Romer.  Increasing Returns and Long-Run Growth , 1986, Journal of Political Economy.

[16]  A. Chandler,et al.  Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128 , 1994 .

[17]  M. Shubik,et al.  A Behavioral Theory of the Firm. , 1964 .

[18]  Joel A. C. Baum,et al.  Localized Competition and Organizational Failure in the Manhattan Hotel Industry, 1898-1990 , 1992 .

[19]  S. Winter.  Knowledge and Competence as Strategic Assets , 1987 .

[20]  L. Festinger.  Informal social communication. , 1950, Psychological review.

[21]  D. Maister.  Managing the Professional Service Firm , 1997 .

[22]  Glenn R. Carroll,et al.  Custom Service: Application and Tests of Resource-Partitioning Theory among Dutch Auditing Firms from 1896 to 1992 , 2000 .

[23]  Glenn R. Carroll,et al.  Review Essay: Density Dependence Theory-Current Issues, Future Promise1 , 1993 .

[24]  F. Wezel.  Why do organizational populations die , 2002 .

[25]  E. Smigel,et al.  The Wall Street lawyer : professional organization man? , 1964 .

[26]  D. Strang,et al.  Spatial and Temporal Heterogeneity in Diffusion , 1993, American Journal of Sociology.

[27]  Hayagreeva Rao,et al.  Types of Variation in Organizational Populations: The Speciation of New Organizational Forms , 1999 .

[28]  George J. Benston,et al.  The market for public accounting services: Demand, supply and regulation , 1985 .

[29]  Damon J. Phillips.  A Genealogical Approach to Organizational Life Chances: The Parent-Progeny Transfer among Silicon Valley Law Firms, 1946–1996 , 2002 .

[30]  Arjen van Witteloostuijn,et al.  Human capital, social capital, and firm dissolution , 1998 .

[31]  Choonwoo Lee,et al.  Internal capabilities, external linkages, and performance. A study on technology-based ventures , 2001 .

[32]  James B. Wade,et al.  Density dependence in the organizational evolution of the American brewing industry across different levels of analysis , 1991 .

[33]  Hayagreeva Rao,et al.  Overcoming Resource Constraints on Product Innovation by Recruiting Talent From Rivals: A Study of the Mutual Fund Industry, 1986–1994 , 2002 .

[34]  Alessandro Lomi,et al.  Interacting Locally and Evolving Globally: A Computational Approach to the Dynamics of Organizational Populations , 1996 .

[35]  Stanislav D. Dobrev,et al.  Dynamics of Niche Width and Resource Partitioning1 , 2001, American Journal of Sociology.

[36]  Some Econometrics of the Huk Rebellion , 1969 .

[37]  E. Rogers,et al.  Diffusion of innovations , 1964, Encyclopedia of Sport Management.

[38]  A. Witteloostuijn,et al.  AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF THE RESOURCE-BASED THEORY: STRATEGIC REGULATION IN THE DUTCH AUDIT INDUSTRY , 1996 .

[39]  Lynne G. Zucker,et al.  Combining Institutional Theory and Population Ecology: No Legitimacy, No History , 1989 .

[40]  Henrich R. Greve,et al.  An Ecological Theory of Spatial Evolution: Local Density Dependence in Tokyo Banking, 1894-1936 , 2002 .

[41]  Anand Swaminathan,et al.  Normative and Resource Flow Consequences of Local Regulations in the American Brewing Industry, 1845-1918 , 1998 .

[42]  Glenn R. Carroll,et al.  Concentration and Specialization: Dynamics of Niche Width in Populations of Organizations , 1985, American Journal of Sociology.

[43]  O. Sorenson.  The Effect of Population Level Learning on Market Entry : The American Automobile Industry , 1998 .

[44]  Anne S. Miner.  Dynamics of Organizational Populations: Density, Legitimation, and Competition , 1993 .

[45]  R. Putnam.  The strange disappearance of civic America , 1996 .

[46]  Glenn R. Carroll,et al.  Legitimation, Geographical Scale, and Organizational Density: Regional Patterns of Foundings of American Automobile Producers, 1885–1981 , 1997 .

[47]  Z. Griliches,et al.  Econometric Models for Count Data with an Application to the Patents-R&D Relationship , 1984 .

[48]  P. Lazarsfeld,et al.  Friendship as Social process: a substantive and methodological analysis , 1964 .

[49]  Walter W. Powell,et al.  Cultivating an institutional ecology of organizations: comment on Hannan, Carroll, Dundon, and Torres , 1995 .

[50]  Alessandro Lomi,et al.  The Population Ecology of Organizational Founding: Location Dependence and Unobserved Heterogeneity , 1995 .

[51]  H. Rao,et al.  The Demography of Corporations and Industries , 1999 .

[52]  Everett M. Rogers,et al.  Innovation Diffusion As a Spatial Process , 1967 .

[53]  Alessandro Lomi,et al.  Density Dependence and Spatial Duality in Organizational Founding Rates: Danish Commercial Banks, 1846-1989 , 2000 .

[54]  Glenn R. Carroll,et al.  Organizational Mortality in European and American Automobile Industries Part II: Coupled Clocks , 1998 .

[55]  Peter Hedström,et al.  Mesolevel Networks and the Diffusion of Social Movements: The Case of the Swedish Social Democratic Party1 , 2000, American Journal of Sociology.

[56]  Insurgent Identities: Class, Community, and Protest in Paris from 1848 to the Commune. , 1996 .

[57]  Toby E. Stuart,et al.  Syndication Networks and the Spatial Distribution of Venture Capital Investments1 , 1999, American Journal of Sociology.

[58]  T. Schelling.  Micromotives and Macrobehavior , 1978 .

[59]  Glenn R. Carroll,et al.  Organizational evolution in a multinational context: entries of automobile manufacturers in Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy , 1995 .

[60]  Amos H. Hawley,et al.  Human Ecology: A Theory of Community Structure , 1950 .

[61]  G. Turner.  The Ecology of Adaptive Radiation , 2001, Heredity.