Sociology 110, Fall 1998, Prof. Aldrich and Ms. Davis
December 1st 1998 Summary
REVIEW
Carrying Capacity: the number of organizations in a population that the environment can support
When or How can you determine the carrying capacity of a population?
You cannot really know….because…
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Why can’t we determine the carrying capacity of a population in advance? Because we cannot predict the following factors: |
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How the population will be received (legitimacy). |
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How large the demand will be for the product or service offered by the population. |
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How other populations will affect the population through cooperation or competition. |
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The availability of resources in a population. |
Strategies in a population
r-strategy: focuses on innovation and flexibility. The organization is effective but not necessarily efficient. Organizations that employ an r-strategy are common in new populations. They are able to succeed because they face little competitio n and therefore have room for flexibility and inefficiency.
K-strategy: emphasizes efficiency. These organizations are more common once a population has developed over time and routines and competencies are established.
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Specialists |
Generalists |
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r-strategy |
r-specialists |
Empty Set: organizations begin small. They do not have the knowledge or resources to become generalists in the beginning. |
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K-strategy |
K-specialists |
K-generalists |
Study question: How come generalists and specialists coexist?
As concentration occurs within a population, several generalists compete for dominance and one organization succeeds.
When there were several generalists, they effectively covered the entire population and left little room for specialists.
When one organization dominates, it cannot reach everyone, even though it would like to do so, because of costs. Example: If a newspaper wanted to have a section for every possible interest, the newspaper would be too expensive and too heavy. It wou ld lose readership.
Therefore, room is left in the population for specialists.
In addition, specialists benefit from generalists. Generalists often legitimize the specialists.
Example: Large beer companies spend a great deal of resources on supporting responsible drinking. Small breweries cannot pay for these types of campaigns, yet they gain benefits from them.
Community or Environment
A population’s fate can be linked to other populations. Communities are based around technology, norms and values, and legal and regulatory issues. There are seven possible relationships between populations.
Study Question: explain the role of entrepreneurs in the growth of electronic commerce on the Web.
Study Question: explain why NEW organizations in brand NEW populations may be able to enter an established community as K-specialists, rather than going through the first stage of r-specialist.