Inertia, Environments, and Strategic Choice: A Quasi-Experimental Design for Comparative-Longitudinal Research
提出一种准实验研究设计，用于比较管理者与外部环境对组织活动随时间变化的相对影响，通过惯性、外部控制和战略管理三种模型，并利用小型计算机产品类数据说明操作化方法。
This paper develops a research design for examining the relative influence of managers and environments on organizational activity over time. We outline three basic models of organization evolution: (1) an inertial model, which emphasizes constraints on evolution imposed by early patterns of exchange; (2) an external control model, which posits change in organizational activities that is guided by changes in environmental conditions over time; and (3) a strategic management model, which emphasizes the role of senior executives in choosing patterns and domains of competitive activity. Using the general logic of experimental design, we outline methods for comparing longitudinal patterns in change and persistence that will distinguish between these alternative perspectives. Specifically, we describe procedures for operationalizing two basic parameters of research design: (1) the organization population cohort, which imposes systematic restrictions on sampling; and (2) a generalized version of the product class life cycle, which helps isolate changes in environmental conditions for comparing organizational activity patterns over time. Data from an ongoing study of firms in the minicomputer product class are presented to illustrate these concepts.