Niche width theory reappraised

Niche width theory is a part of organizational ecology, which predicts for given environmental conditions whether specialist or generalist organizations will do better. These predictions are based on a mathematical model, but the model itself does not match the verbal argument, which in turn is ambiguous. In an attempt to improve the theory, I formalize it into logic. As a result, implicit information becomes explicit, explanatory support for the conclusions is added, and the theory becomes more parsimonious. The key advantage of logic is its strict definition of logical inference, which makes possible thorough checks on soundness and on consistency.

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