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Initial Conditions

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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management
FormalPara Definition

Initial conditions refer to the social and economic conditions present at the establishment of a new firm or organization.

By initial conditions, we refer to the social and economic conditions present at the establishment of a new firm or organization. Research demonstrates that both internal and external initial conditions can pattern themselves in the organization’s structure, and these conditions often exert effects throughout much of the firm’s lifetime (Carroll and Hannan 2000). Strategic decisions about the firm are driven by these patterns as well as constrained by them.

Internal Initial Conditions

The teams assembled by entrepreneurs at the time of a company’s founding typically do not reflect rational staffing models formed on the basis of skills or functional backgrounds. Rather, personal relationships with the entrepreneur often prove the norm for inclusion in the team, resulting in relatively homogeneous initial compositions, especially in terms of...

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Correspondence to Glenn R. Carroll .

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Carroll, G.R., Fassiotto, M.A. (2018). Initial Conditions. In: Augier, M., Teece, D.J. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-00772-8_786

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