Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
A version of this paper was presented at the Academy of Management meetings, August 1976. The author thanks his colleagues David Lewin, Noel Tichy, and Michael Ginzberg, and an anonymous reviewer forASQ for their helpful comments and criticism. This work was supported by grants from the Center for Research in Career Development at Columbia University and from the Shell Companies Foundation.
Michael L. Tushman (Thu,) studied this question.