RETHINKING BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH COMPLEXITY THEORY

摘要

Fairtlough (1995) concludes, "Our strategic thinking, and our organisational responses to changes in strategy, need the help of new mental models. ... that biology can be a fruitful source of mental models, of new conceptual schemes." Later on, Lissack (1997) proposes that complexity theory metaphors add value by allowing managers new ways of thinking and the use of a different language. He summarises, "complexity metaphors when accepted within the vocabulary of an organisation, can change both the way managers manage and the problems they choose to manage." Black (1962) explains metaphor is used, "to bring two separate domains into cognitive and emotional relation by using language directly appropriate to the one as a lens for seeing the other." The fact is that what we learnt from the industrial age could not help us to tackle the problem we encounter in the knowledge age. The classical economics theory cannot explain the phenomena. There is a new economy in the knowledge age. Arthur (1999) summaries that the new economy is created by the minds of its agents, namely, consumers, managers, and decision-makers. Instead of a physical economy, it is a cognitive one. Hence, we need a new mindset to meet the challenges ahead. In order to succeed in business strategy, we have to rethink the concept with complexity theory. Arthur (1996) concludes that, "strategy in the knowledge world requires CEOs to recognise that a different kind of economics is at work. CEOs needs to understand which positive and negative feedback mechanisms are at play in the market ecologies in which they compete." Berreby (1998) admits that, "the atmosphere of complexity work is of a construction site, not a completed building. ... No one can yet define complexity or say exactly how to manage a company in accordance with its principles." More researches on complexity theory is needed in future. However, complexity theory cannot tell us what to do in future. It can only help us to make a better sense of what is happening around us. Using a metaphor, we are all walking in the dark. Complexity theory is like a torch that can help us to have a better understanding around us so that we can find our way forward. However, it is only a tool. In the end, we still have to make our strategic decisions: Where are we? Where are we going? And, how can we get there?