Organizational Populations

Scott defines this as "aggregates of organizations that are alike in some respect" (Scott p. 127). It the level of analysis for population ecology. Since it's hard to define "alikeness", Hannan and Freeman look for similar "blueprints of organization action). Another defines it as "elements of dominant competence" or comps (similar to techical core).

More recently Hannan and Freeman (1989) define populations as composed of organizations having a "unitary character" and a common dependence on the environment.

A niche "is simply a particular combination of resources required to support a given type of population" (Scott p. 127). Strangely, niches define forms and forms define niches. Hannan & Freeman state that you can either define populations based on common-sense notions (like labor unions or newspapers) or through some analytical scheme.