Magdalena Dobrajska
Copenhagen Business School

The organization of decisions within firms
Abstract
Why is the organization of decisions within firms important? How does the organizational structure of decision-making within a firm affect organizational performance? How do firms adapt their decision-making structures? The relationship between organizational structure and firm performance is a central, but under-researched question in strategic management. This workshop is dedicated to the recent empirical research on the allocation of decision-making authority to individual decision makers within a firm, which represents a key dimension of organizational structure. This line of research opens up the black box of a firm often conceptualized as a unitary actor. It studies how configurations of decision makers in firms come about and how these configurations affect performance, e.g. through committing type I and type II errors. Research on organization of decisions within firms draws on the behavioral theory of the firm, organizational economics and organizational theory.
