It's all in the name: failure-induced learning by multiunit chains.

We examine factors leading multiunit chains to adopt a common naming strategy, that is, naming components in a manner that identifies them with each other and the overall chain, rather than a local naming strategy that identifies a chain's components with their locations but not each other. Because chains' naming strategies have been shown to be critical to their success, we examine the effects of component failures on naming strategies. We advance organizational and interorganizational learning processes to explain chains' adoption of local naming strategies, which stress local adaptatio