Prolegomena on Coevolution: A Framework for Research on Strategy and New Organizational Forms

Abstract

We advance arguments for why and how a coevolutionary perspective and framework of analysis can provide a new lens and new directions for research in strategic management and organization studies. We identify the distinguishing properties of coevolution in an attempt to define coevolutionary research from other evolutionary research in social sciences. We also outline and discuss the empirical challenges and requirements for undertaking research within coevolutionary inquiry systems. In particular we stress the relevance of specifying coevolutionary models for reframing the selection adaptation standoff when applied to research on organization change over time, in general, and specifically to the mutation and emergence of new organizational forms. Furthermore, a coevolutionary framework has the potential to bridge and reintegrate strategy and organization theory teaching and research within a holistic framework. In our view such a reintegration is the sine qua non for studying organizational change over time and parallels the world of management practice where organization adaptations and strategy are intertwined and interdependent processes.