Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2019.1679215
Adaptation of the boundary system in growing firms: an agent-based computational study on the role of complexity and search strategy
Friederike Wall
Sažetak
The boundary system of a firm is intended to set constraints to
the behaviour of organisational participants and, by this, to affect
decision-making in the direction of the firm’s overall objective. In
growing firms, the boundary system is subject to a particular tension:
balancing the search for new opportunities and innovation
with behavioural constraints to deal with increasing size and
intra-organisational complexity. Against this background, the
paper studies the adaptation of the boundary system in growing
firms. For this, an agent-based simulation based on the framework
of NK fitness landscapes is employed which is a rather new
approach in the domain of management control systems. The
study controls for different levels of task complexity and for different
styles in firms’ search for new opportunities in terms of
exploitative, explorative or ambidextrous search strategies. The
results suggest that the level of task complexity subtly interferes
with the search strategy employed in respect of the emerging
boundaries. In particular, results support the conjecture that
growing task complexity leads to more coordination via hierarchy.
However, the search strategy employed shapes the predominance
of boundaries compared to less constraining modes of coordination
granting higher levels of autonomy to subordinates
Ključne riječi
Agent-based modelling; complexity; coordination; growth; management control; search
Hrčak ID:
254667
URI
Datum izdavanja:
9.2.2021.
Posjeta: 432 *