Darwinism, probability and complexity : market-based organizational transformation and change explained through the theories of evolution

The study of transformation and change is one of the most important areas of social science research. This paper synthesizes and critically reviews the emerging traditions in the study of change dynamics. Three mainstream theories of evolution are introduced to explain change: the Darwinian concept of survival of the fittest, the Probability model and the Complexity approach. The literature review provides a basis for development of research questions that search for a more comprehensive understanding of organizational change. The paper concludes by arguing for the development of a complementary research tradition, which combines an evolutionary and organizational analysis of transformation and change

Search Pathways to Innovation

Organizational search processes is an important source of firm level heterogeneity in evolutionary - behavioural theory. Combining insights from established and recent evolutionary-behavioural theory we propose that R&D and managerial perceptions constitute two distinct search pathways to innovation. R&D is in this context a measure of institutionalized routine based search, while managerial perception of problems captures situational and cognitive search. Using a new survey of industrial enterprises we find that these search pathways are related to product, process, organizational and market innovation at the firm level, although in a diverse way.

The development of river-based intermodal transport: the case of Ukraine

It should be noted that the (inland waterway transport) IWT in Ukraine currently is in its infancy in comparison with other land based transport means (rail and road) and with other countries that possess navigable rivers. This paper is an extension of the research initiated by Grushevska and Notteboom (2015) where the concepts of intermediacy and centrality were introduced in order to assess the role of Ukraine in the global and regional transport networks. The list of key obstacles for Ukraine’s intermediacy function included IWT related barriers such as: (i) deficient inland waterway infrastructure, (ii) high IWT costs (fees for bridges, locks etc.) and (iii) pilotage charges. To date the transportation to/from ports is mainly fulfilled by road or by rail based multimodal transport solutions. We present the unutilized potential of Ukrainian IWT that needs to be efficiently exploited for the benefit of the national economy and national transport system. This study intends to enrich the limited academic research on IWT systems in a transition stage, as exemplified by the case of Ukraine

Untangling the Conceptual Isssues Raised in Reydon and Scholz’s Critique of Organizational Ecology and Darwinian Populations

Reydon and Scholz raise doubts about the Darwinian status of organizational ecology by arguing that Darwinian principles are not applicable to organizational populations. Although their critique of organizational ecology’s typological essentialism is correct, they go on to reject the Darwinian status of organizational populations. This paper claims that the distinction between replicators and interactors, raised in modern philosophy of biology but not discussed by Reydon and Scholz, points the way forward for organizational ecologists. It is possible to conceptualise evolving Darwinian populations providing the inheritance mechanism is appropriately specified. By this approach, adaptation and selection are no longer dichotomised, and the evolutionary significance of knowledge transmission is highlightedPeer reviewe

The Desirable Organizational Structure for Evolutionary Firms in Static Landscapes

In addition to the common analysis of the Kauffman NK model where the value of K and the structure of interaction is given, the aim of this paper is to study what would be the values of these two parameters if they were endogenized. Thus, a model is proposed where firms and business schools coordinate to search for high peaks in their respective landscapes using evolutionary algorithms. The main result coming out from the analysis of the model is that agents, using evolutionary algorithms, attempt to simplify the problems of coordination and this, over time, produces the existence in the economy of agents using many different strategies. (JEL-code: C61, C63, D21, D23

Darwinism and Organizational Ecology: A Reply to Reydon and Scholz

In an earlier article published in this journal I challenge Reydon and Scholz's (2009) claim that Organizational Ecology is a non-Darwinian program. In this replay to Reydon and Scholz's subsequent response, I clarify the difference between our two approaches denoted by an emphasis her on the careful application of core Darwinian principles and an insistence by Reydon and Scholz on direct biological analogies. On a substantive issue, they identify as being the principle problem for Organizational Ecology, namely, the inability to identify replicators and interactors "of the right sort" in the business domain; this is also shown to be easily addressed with reference to empirical studies of business populations.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Technology and the economy

Overview of economics of innovatio

Co-evolutionary IS-Alignment: A Complex Adaptive Systems Perspective

Many studies have investigated the effects of information technology (IT) in achieving organizational performance. However, despite substantial IT investments, organizations often fail to improve organi-zational performance using IT. This failure could be the result of a lack of Business-IT alignment. Re-cently, scholars and practitioners have adopted a complexity science approach to better address the many interwoven IT, organizational and environmental turbulence challenges. These efforts resulted in the emergence of the complexity-based concept of co-evolutionary IS/IT-alignment (COISA). COISA involves “the series of coevolutionary moves that makes IT aligned over time.” However, the notion of COISA remains conceptual, and further operationalization in preparation for more empirical evidence seems appropriate. Therefore, this study aims to provide further clarification on the conceptualization of COISA in turbulent environments. We conducted a structured literature review using a theoretical foundation of Complex Adaptive Systems theory. In this effort, we developed a COISA model composed of five continuous alignment processes characterized by co-evolutionary moves toward alignment, situated in two organizational contexts. This model provides a basis for further empirical re-search on COISA

The long and winding road: Routine creation and replication in multi-site organizations

Prior research on organizational routines in the ‘capabilities’ literature has either studied how new routines are created during an exploratory process of variation and selection or how existing routines are replicated during a phase of exploitation. Few studies have analyzed the life cycle of new routine creation and replication as an integrated process. In an in-depth case study of England’s Highways Agency, this paper shows that the creation and replication of a new routine across multiple sites involves four sequential steps: envisioning, experimenting, entrenching and enacting. We contribute to the capabilities research in two ways: first, by showing how different organizational levels, capabilities and logics (cognitive and behavioural) shape the development of new routines; and second, by identifying how distinct evolutionary cycles of variation and selective retention occur during each step in the process. In contrast with prior research on replication as an exact copy of a template or existing routine, our study focuses on the replication of an entirely new routine (based on novel principles) that is adapted to fit local operational conditions during its large-scale replication across multiple sites. We draw upon insights from adjacent ‘practice research’ and suggest how capabilities and practice studies may complement each other in future research on the evolution of routines

Outlining the distinguishing characteristics of an evolutionary theory of innovation

This paper discusses notions of theory in relation to evolutionary understandings of innovation. It starts by empirically demonstrating the relevance of evolutionary perspectives – broadly defined – for understanding the “basics of what’s going on” in the economic sphere when it comes to innovation. It continues to argue and show that appreciative evolutionary understandings of innovation are connected to the Darwinian processes of variation, selection and retention in the theoretical “high range”. Multilevel theorizing, where researchers move between different levels and degrees of abstraction is therefore a key feature of an evolutionary theory of innovation. The paper ends by identifying puzzles and research challenges that evolutionary reasoning with respect to innovation need to address.Innovation, evolutionary theory.