Introduction Adherents of the deterministic school of thought believe that managerial strategic choice has little to do with organisational actions. They affirm that managers attribute strategic decisions to themselves if they succeed but are quick to distance themselves from them if they fail. Therefore, all determinists claim that organisational fit occurs due to external factors and not choice. Three key theories exist in the determinist school of thought, and they include population ecology, institutional theory, as well as resource dependency theory. It is essential to unravel how each of these theories contributes to an understanding of the notion of organisational fit outside of free choice. Population ecology The population ecology organisation theory came from Charles Darwin’s theory on natural selection. He affirmed that resources on earth were exhaustible, yet organisms had the potential to grow exponentially. Therefore, a force known as natural selection intervened in order to maintain the balance between resources and the species. In natural selection, organisms with desirable variations would survive while those with undesirable traits would die. Organisations also exhibit such characteristics. Hannan and Freeman (1977) explain that an organisational life cycle exists for all firms such that they can grow, change or die depending on certain external factors. Inertia and change is one of the sub theories of the population ecology theory. It hypothesises that change is the external factor that can either lead to an organisation’s survival or demise. During natural selection, highly reliable firms differentiate themselves from their competitors and increase their chances of survival. However, when change occurs, these leading organisations often exhibit high levels of inertia. As a result, a number of them will undergo mortality. The niche theory is also another subset of population ecology. Here, Hannan and Freeman (1977) explain that organisations can either specialise or generalise. The specialists exploit a market and expect fewer risks. Conversely, the generalists do not exploit their environment considerably but tend to embrace greater risks. In this sub-theory, the industrial environment determines how effective an organisation will be. If a specialist organisation operates in an uncertain environment, then it is likely to undergo mortality while its generalist competitors will possess favourable characteristics that will allow them to survive. Resource partitioning is a model of population ecology that defines the relationship between specialists and generalists in a concentrated market. It explains that specialist organisations do well at the margin of a concentrated market because of the profusion of resources. On the other hand, generalists flourish at the heart of the market. Those that do not consider these market forces will have to exit (Carroll 1987). The density dependence theory dwells on the rate of survival of organisations based on the density of a certain market. Companies must strike a balance between legitimacy and competition. Most firms have a low level of legitimacy during industry formation, (public recognition), but they also enjoy minimal