Midterm Answer Key - The following is a sketch of the key...

The following is a sketch of the key points that we were looking for in the exam questions. The
final judgment as to how this guide was to be applied to evaluate each exam was the readers’.
#1. Population ecology says that organizational populations tend toward isomorphism because
only one blueprint economizes on the scarce resources and/or other operating constraints of
the environment. This is essentially an efficiency argument. By contrast, institutionalist
theory says organizations look alike because they mimic those models that provide
legitimacy in an uncertain world. There is nothing necessarily efficient about these models—
indeed, they might be quite inefficient depending on your perspective.
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#2. The elements of the asymmetrical franchisor/franchisee relationship were discussed at length
in class and taken straight from Schlosser. Franchisors get riskless expansion; franchisees get
a business model, logistical support, and automatic advertising. It is asymmetrical in part
because franchisors rely on franchisees a lot less than franchisees rely on franchisors, as
illustrated by the phenomenon of encroachment.