"In this important and readable book, Kaufman develops a theory of organizational survival and demise that could fundamentally alter traditional explanations of organizational persistence and systems maintenance. Kaufman views randomness rather than rationality as the key factor in organizational survival. Kaufman has lifted the discourse on organizational behavior to a new level."

– David H. Rosenbloom
American University

An Introduction I Hope You Will Read

Chapter 1.
Q. Why Do Organizations Die?
A. Because Their Engines Stop.
Indicia of "Organization"
Organizational "Death"
The "Engines" of Organizations

Chapter 2.
Q. Why Do Their Engines Stop?
A. Usually Because They Develop Resource Problems.

Chapter 3.
Q. Why Do They Develop Resource Problems?
A. Because Their Environment Is Volatile, and Adjusting to It Is Not Easy.
Why the Organizational Environment Is Volatile
Why Adjusting to the Volatile Environment Is Not Easy
A New Puzzle

Chapter 4.
Q. Then How Do Long-Lived Organizations Attain Old Age?
A. They're Lucky.
Why Chance Seems to Be the Answer
Why Skill Is Not the Answer
Why Organizational Flexibility Is Not the Answer
Are Stable Ecological Niches the Answer?
Organizational Biology?

Chapter 5.
Q. Does This Argument Equate Organizational Evolution with Biological Evolution?
A. No. Organizations Are Not Organisms.
Why Organisms and Organizations are Sometimes Equated
Why They Are Not Equatable
A Different Analogue: The Organizational Medium

Chapter 6.
Q. Then Do They Evolve Differently?
A. Yes, but Not in Different Directions.
The Trend Toward Complexity
The Explanation for Living Things
The Explanation for Organizations
Where Is the Trend Heading?

Chapter 7.
Q. Where Will the Organizational Trend End?
A. It Probably Won't.
Possible Steady States
Possible Changes of State
Possibilities Undreamed Of

Epilogue
Q. Of What Use Is the Hypothesis?
A. It May Help Us Get Our Bearings

Postscript
Q. How Can We Find Out if the Hypothesis is Right?
A. By Trying to Prove It Wrong.
The Threshold Test: Does the Organizational Medium "Thicken"?
The Road Beyond

Elucidations and Amplifications
Q. Didn't Reviewers and Other Commentators on the First Edition of This Book Point Out Anomalies That Negate the Hypothesis?
A. Actually, They Highlighted Ambiguities, Ellipses, and Omissions That I'll Now Try to Correct
The Approach
Chance and Survival
The Transmission of Organizational Traits
Methodology
Rates of Environmental and Organizational Change
Strategy and Survival

Select Bibliography
Name Index
Subject Index