Blackwell Reference Online

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Interorganizational evolution is the process of cumulative change in social structures composed of or affecting multiple organizations. Theory of interorganizational evolution specifies mutual and path dependent influences between organizations and their environment so that small differences in initial conditions can lead to large differences in the subsequent evolutionary path. Interorganizational evolution takes place at the level of the interorganizational field ( DiMaggio and Powell, 1983 ), population ( Hannan and Freeman, 1977 ), or community ( Astley, 1985 ). Interorganizational structures and behaviors are found in many arenas of organizational activity, and evolutionary arguments have been made in several areas of interorganizational inquiry. The work is joined by a common interest in the evolution of procedures and structures that define the organization's relation with other actors (ecological structures); see Baum and Singh (1994) . I will give a brief description of the main theoretical components of evolutionary arguments before turning to applications. I will review evolutionary work on the origin and change of market structures ( Haveman and Rao, 1997 ), policy arenas ( Frank, 1997 ; Hoffman, 1999 ), industrial districts ( Carroll and Harrison, 1994 ; Saxenian, 1994 ), and cross-national differences in management and governance ( Orrú et al., 1991 ; Guillén, ... log in or subscribe to read full text