We situate the Special Research Forum on Organizational Ecology in the
program of ecological research on organizations. We begin with a broa
d description of organizational ecology's theoretical and empirical de
velopment based on the contents of prior collections of work in the fi
eld. We then highlight key issues facing ecological research, outline
how the articles in this special research forum are linked by common t
hreads, and discuss their contributions. We close with suggested direc
tions for future research.