Resource partitioning and the evolution of specialist organizations: The role of location and identity in the US wine industry

Analyses of founding and mortality rates of specialist organizations in the U.S. wine industry over the period 1941-90 support Carroll's (1985) location-based resource-partitioning model-crowding of generalists in the market center creates opportunities for specialists. Further, specialists are adversely affected when they violate their organizational form's identity characteristics and also when generalists can assume a robust identity allowing them to operate in both specialist and generalist industry segments. The results suggest a prominent role for an organizational form's identity in resource partitioning.