The Red Queen Among Organizations represents outstanding scholarship in the organisational theory field but is sufficiently rooted in the real world to be of benefit to business strategists and particularly to MBA and doctoral students in the field of corporate strategy. [I]t is a serious attempt to understand organisational behaviour, and it does it exceptionally well.
Cary L. ... Read moreCooper, Times Higher Education The main strength of the book is in highlighting the importance of competition in market-based economies for building viable, adaptive organizations.
Jason Potts, Kate Morrison, The Business Economist Barnett presents an excellent theoretical account of the evolution of competitiveness, supported by empirical evidence... This ecological theory provides an excellent complement and contrast to many existing theoretical frameworks in strategic management.
J.J. Bailey, Choice The most ambitious and important new book is The Red Queen among Organizations, by William P. Barnett... [I]t is the best strategy book of the year because of its main insights: Competition concerns relative performance, not absolute performance; a company's competitiveness is context specific, and contexts can change, giving rise to the competency trap; learning comes from competing, not isolation from competition; and differentiation is desirable as a way to secure rents, but must be pursued in the context of competition, not in the vain hopes of avoiding it.
Phil Rosenzweig, Stratgey & Business Barnett's presentation of the Red Queen theory is a well-crafted, nuanced, and thoughtful contribution to the voluminous literature on organizational population change.
David Knoke, American Journal of Sociology Show Less