Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2019.1625796

Does complexity belong inside the firm, or out?

Fred Phillips orcid.org/0000-0002-1409-6889 ; University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA; b Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Beijing, China

Abstract

This theoretical article presents evidence that companies choose to impose complexity on their customers, rather than comprehend system complexity internally. It argues that externalising complexity in this manner is fundamentally different from the externalisation of costs and risks as usually described in the literature, because its impact is on the customer’s attention, rather than (just) on the customer’s wallet or health. Attention is a limited resource. Thus, exporting complexity should reduce the buyer base, leaving only the buyer segment that will tolerate the drain on their attention. It does not seem to be a tactic that is viable for the long run.

Keywords

complexity; consumer psychology; externalities; marketing

Hrčak ID:

229789

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/229789

Publication date:

9.2.2021.

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