Hierarchy and diffusion of organizational forms.

In this paper we first of all summarize and rationalize current typologies of organizational forms, arranging available classifications in a hierarchy of increasing generality. The ensuing structure parallels the classification of living beings into classes of increasing generality such as species, genus, family, order, and so on. Subsequently, we analyze the structure of communications that favored the diffusion of each organizational form.

Identifying Rivals Among Clustered and Isolated Firms: An Empirical Investigation and a Computational Model.

We carried out an empirical investigation among producers of packaging machines collecting information about their rivals, i.e., those few competitors which they closely monitor.

From Bounded Rationality to Collective Behavior.

Since the pioneering work of Herbert A. Simon, bounded rationality (BR) constitutes a viable alternative to utility maximization in settings characterized by uncertainty about the possible emergence of novel events, missing information, and limitations to human reasoning. Because of its realism, BR gained consensus in organization and management studies.