Apply organizational ecology (Hannan and Freeman) to analyze population-level dynamics of organizational founding, failure, and selection.
SkillScore74Maintained
Automatic
◆Research pack
Last verified 8/28/2026
What it changes
Passed 17 of 23 test cases with the skill, and 5 of 23 without it.
Without skill22%
With skill74%
Checks it passed that the model alone missed
The competition intensity is rated as H.
Each liability row includes an H/M/L severity rating.
The Density Dependence Assessment sets the current phase to growth.
and 15 more in the full report
12 fixed5 passed either way6 still failing0 broke
Pass-rate lift
+52 pp
Tokens
-23%
Agent turns
0%
Response time
-45%
Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 8/28/2026v117 of 23 cases passed with skill
Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.
See it in action
One of 12 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.
1 of 12
Prompt
Can you run a population-level inertia and demography analysis on US regional community banks attempting digital transformation? Please format the output using the standard organizational ecology layout: start with '## Organizational Ecology Analysis: US Regional Community Banks', followed by '### Population Definition' detailing form, boundaries, and estimated density. Add a '### Density Dependence Assessment' section specifying current phase, legitimation, competition, and trajectory. Then build a table under '### Inertia and Liability Assessment' with columns for Factor, Severity, and Evidence covering structural inertia and the standard organizational liabilities (newness, smallness, adolescence, aging). Conclude with a '### Selection vs. Adaptation' section comparing population selection mechanisms against incumbent adaptation, plus a numbered '### Implications' section.
What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked
Without skill
With skill
The Inertia and Liability Assessment table uses H/M/L ratings for severity.
Missed
Passed
The Selection vs. Adaptation section includes explicit bullet points for 'Proportion of change via selection' and 'Proportion of change via adaptation'.
Missed
Passed
The Implications section refrains from offering prescriptive strategic recommendations for individual bank executives.
Passed
Passed
case-02 · gemini-3.6-flash · 8/28/2026 · answers are capped and redacted
What's inside
The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.
SKILL.md111 linessingle file
Organizational Ecology (Hannan & Freeman)
Overview
Organizational ecology applies population-level evolutionary logic to organizations. Rather than asking why individual firms succeed or fail, it asks why certain organizational forms proliferate or decline across populations. The theory emphasizes selection over adaptation: environmental change is met more by the founding of new organizations and the failure of old ones than by incumbent transformation.
When to Use
Explaining industry-level patterns of organizational founding and failure
Analyzing why established organizations resist change (structural inertia)
Evaluating liabilities of newness, smallness, or adolescence for startups
Understanding density dependence in industry evolution (legitimation vs. competition)
When NOT to Use
When the focus is on individual firm strategy and managerial agency
When the analysis requires prescriptive recommendations for a single organization
When the population boundaries cannot be defined meaningfully
Assumptions
IRON LAW: Selection operates on POPULATIONS, not individual organizations —
organizational change is driven more by founding and failure than by
adaptation. Any analysis that assumes incumbent firms can readily
transform themselves violates the structural inertia thesis.
Key assumptions:
Structural inertia — internal and external pressures make organizations resistant to change
Selection favors reliable and accountable organizations, which reinforces inertia
Environmental change drives population-level change via differential founding and mortality
Organizational forms compete within and across populations for resources
Methodology
Step 1: Define the Population
Identify the organizational form and population boundaries. Populations share a common form (technology, structure, market orientation).
Apply phenomenological methods including bracketing (epoche), lived experience inquiry, and Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to uncover the essence of human experience. Use this skill when the user needs to study how people experience a phenomenon from the first-person perspective, apply Husserlian descriptive or Heideggerian interpretive phenomenology, conduct IPA with idiographic focus, or when they ask 'what is the lived experience of X', 'how do I bracket my assumptions', or 'how