NOTE DE RECHERCHE: MANAGEMENT AND COMPLEX ADAPTATION: A RESEARCH NOTE

Abstract

Large US companies are increasingly interested in complexity theory, especially what complexity can offer as a new management paradigm. The key to this new approach is an understanding of complex adaptive systems (CAS), especially the superior performance that can be achieved when such systems operate on the edge of chaos. Pushing an organization to these limits enables it to achieve new rates of innovation and to continuously reinvent itself. Whereas conventional economic discussions of the firm focus on the search for an efficient allocation of resources, the CAS paradigm is concerned more with adoption and rapid change. Four lines of inquiry into the competitive advantage of possible through a CAS approach are suggested: 1. comparing evolutionary strategies among companies in sectors where knowledge if growing exponentially, 2. examining ecosystem density as a source of strategic advantage, 3. charting evolutionary landscapes to explain innovation performance in the pharmaceutical and IT sectors, and 4. examining the tensions between adaptability and intentionally over multiple dimensions within firms managing with CAS principles, to chart boundaries in relation to performance.