Organizational Complexity Attributes and Performance during Economic Shocks: An Activity System View

This study extends both complexity literature and research on exogenous shocks by examining how firms' ex-ante complexity attributes influence immediate and long-term performance in the presence of specific environmental stimuli and whether this effect varies according to type of stimulus. Taking a sample of publicly-traded U.S. bank hold-ing companies, and drawing on the activity systems view of the firm, we propose that three system-wide complexity attributes- (1) concentration, (2) task complexity, and (3) opacity of activities-influence performance outcomes after exogenous shocks. We propose that those effects differ by type of shock, i.e. whether the shock relaxes (deregulation) or tightens environmental constraints (market shock) and study the Gramm-Leach-Bliley-Act in 1999 and the financial crisis with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008 respectively. We find partial support for our hypotheses.