ABSTRACT
Management scholars refer to coevolution as a meta-theory, an overarching theoretical umbrella that encompasses numerous, often contradictory, established management frameworks and theories. Ironically, whereas both the selection explanations and the adaptation explanations of organizational survival are logical and supported by quality research, they are divergent in nature. Population-ecology theory probably best epitomizes the selection side of the coevolutionary organization-environment relationship. Just as population-ecology theory best epitomizes the selection side of organization-environment coevolutionary processes, strategic choice theory best epitomizes the adaptation side of the equation. Resource-based theory asserts that firm survival is a function of heterogeneity rather than homogeneity. Organizational change theory is actually comprised of a wide array of behavioral science frameworks and techniques related to managing planned organizational change efforts. Stakeholder theory basically says that successful firm adaptation is a function of serving the varied, often conflicting needs of these multiple stakeholders.
