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Organizational research has historically been dominated by a focus on those factors associated with organizational growth and survival. Yet, in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of organizations, researchers must also examine an alternative outcome-organizational failure. Filing for bankruptcy protection provides an explicit case of formal organizational failure; consequently, bankruptcy offers what may be the definitive organizational performance indicator. Unlike alternative performance measures which are more readily manipulated by management, a bankruptcy filing is a discrete event. This paper explores the contributions of the behavioral, environmental, financiallaccounting, and legal approaches to bankruptcy. The challenge currently facing organizational researchers is the integration of these diverse perspectives, particularly as they apply to strategic studies. The reason why firms succeed or fail is perhaps the central question in strategy.-Porter, 1991, p. 95 Survival may be the predominate goal of organizations (e.g., Donaldson
Catherine M. Daily (Sat,) studied this question.