When Reflection Hurts: The Effect of Cognitive Processing Types on Organizational Adaptation to Discontinuous Change

Technological breakthroughs, institutional disruptions, and natural disasters often alter the course of organizations and entire industries. Such discontinuous changes threaten organizations’ survival by affecting the value of the knowledge accumulated in routines and capabilities. Although it is widely acknowledged that managerial cognition is a critical antecedent of organizational responses to discontinuous change, the role of type 1 (intuitive) and type 2 (reflective) processing in the adaptation of shared patterns of behavior, that is, routines, remains understudied. Drawing on dual-process theory, we propose that particular features of type 1 processing render this approach superior to type 2 processing, especially in highly ambiguous environments in which information is limited and difficult to verify. We tested our hypotheses in a longitudinal experiment linking individual-level factors with organizational-level practices of routine adaptation. Experienced managers, paired in 80 groups, developed routines in a first round of a simulation game; in a second round, we then introduced a discontinuous change making previous routines obsolete in order to observe how they adapted. The data show that priming type 1 processing facilitates organizational adaptation more than type 2 processing by providing faster, more routinized, efficiently coordinated, and optimal responses. In addition, type 1 appears to be more functional in highly ambiguous environments, whereas type 1 and type 2 processes yield similar levels of performance under low levels of ambiguity. Overall, our study advances the understanding of the nondeliberative dimension of organizational adaptation to discontinuous change.

Observing black holes through superconductors

We propose a way to observe the photon ring of the asymptotically anti-de Sitter black hole dual to a superconductor on the two-dimensional sphere. We consider the electric current of the superconductor under the localized time-periodic external electromagnetic field. On the gravity side, the bulk Maxwell field is sent from the AdS boundary and then diffracted by the black hole. We construct the image of the black hole from the asymptotic data of the bulk Maxwell field that corresponds to the electric current on the field theory side. We decompose the electric current into the dissipative and non-dissipative parts and take the dissipative part for the imaging of the black hole. We investigate the effect of the charged scalar condensate on the image. We obtain the bulk images that indicate the discontinuous change of the size of the photon ring.

Discontinuous Change in Organizations and Fields

In 1990 Alan Meyer, Geoffrey Brooks, and James Goes published a 2x2 framework for categorizing theories of change used by scholars in management and organization studies. This framework distinguished modes of change (continuous vs. discontinuous change), and levels of analysis (organization-level vs. field-level change). This chapter (1) summarizes, evaluates, and extends the framework in light of subsequent work, (2) identifies new social mechanisms that have been posited as causal mechanisms driving discontinuous change within organizations and organizational fields, and (3) proposes fruitful constructs, methodologies, and directions for future research on change in and around organizations.

Holographic Rényi relative divergence in JT gravity

We holographically compute the Rényi relative divergence Dα(ρ+||ρ−) between two density matrices ρ+, ρ− prepared by path integrals with constant background fields λ± coupled to a marginal operator in JT gravity. Our calculation is non-perturbative in the difference between two sources λ+− λ−. When this difference is large, the bulk geometry becomes a black hole with the maximal temperature allowed by the Rényi index α. In this limit, we find an analytical expression of the Rényi relative divergence, which is given by the on shell action of the back reacted black hole plus the contribution coming from the discontinuous change of the background field.

Intergenerational hybrid products in periods of discontinuous change

PurposeThis study examines the role of hybrid products employed in companies' innovation strategy within three American industrial sectors: tires, typewriters and photography cameras.Design/methodology/approachThe authors selected historical cases that enabled us to present the role of hybrid products in periods of discontinuous change. Different sources are employed in this study: papers, books, cases, working papers, videos, manuals and product catalogues, companies' annual reports, company websites, advertising, collectors' websites and museums, in addition to press and other media reports.FindingsThe authors’ historical case analysis points to two forms of hybrid products. (1) Exploitation-hybrid, which incorporates significant elements from the existing dominant design and aims at extending the revenue-generating opportunities of the existing products. (2) Exploration-hybrid, which works as an offensive strategy, as the firm uses the exploration-hybrid to promote a gradual and controlled adoption of new technology by reducing risks and the cost of change for the customer.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors’ proposed definitions strengthen the idea that hybrids are not only a reflection of organizational inertia (exploitation-hybrid). Hybrids can also mean a more proactive stance in the strategy of developing and adopting new technology (exploration-hybrid).Originality/valueThis study acknowledged hybrid products as a learning instrument that materialized the organizational ambidexterity, favoring at the same time exploitation, generally attributed to organizational inertia, and the exploration of new segments of customers or the use of new technologies.

Finance and economic evolution

The final chapter of Part II highlights Schumpeter's seminal theory of economic development as a deliberate monetary conception and its genuine account of the nexus between finance and the real economy. Innovation and creative destruction critically depend on the creation and reallocation of purchasing power through finance. The chapter offers a brief reconstruction, which assimilates Schumpeter's further elaborations on selected themes in his later publications along several basic premises, such as open opportunity sets, entrepreneurship and innovation, temporary monopoly profits, or discontinuous change. Furthermore, venture investors must trust the entrepreneurs' vision and provide them with the purchasing power needed to control the means of production in advance. Successful innovations induce imitation and their progressive diffusion annihilates the temporary monopoly surplus, thereby decreasing prices, raising demand and fostering the overall growth of real income. Moreover, innovations do not occur independently, but are clustered, generating overlapping waves of business fluctuations.

Topological metals and finite-momentum superconductors

We show that the Zeeman field can induce a topological transition in two-dimensional spin–orbit-coupled metals and, concomitantly, a first-order phase transition in the superconducting state involving a discontinuous change of Cooper pair momentum. Depending on the spin–orbit coupling strength, we find different phase diagrams of two-dimensional (2D) superconductors under in-plane magnetic field.

Сравнение спектров поглощения ионов Nd-=SUP=-3+-=/SUP=- в кристаллах NdFe-=SUB=-3-=/SUB=-(BO-=SUB=-3-=/SUB=-)-=SUB=-4-=/SUB=-, Nd-=SUB=-0.5-=/SUB=-Gd-=SUB=-0.5-=/SUB=-Fe-=SUB=-3-=/SUB=-(BO-=SUB=-3-=/SUB=-)-=SUB=-4-=/SUB=- и Ho-=SUB=-0.75-=/SUB=-Nd-=SUB=-0.25-=/SUB=-Fe-=SUB=-3-=/SUB=-(BO-=SUB=-3-=/SUB=-)-=SUB=-4-=/SUB=-

Polarized optical absorption spectra in the range of some f-f transitions of Nd3+ ions in Ho0.75Nd0.25Fe3(BO3)4, Nd0.5Gd0.5Fe3(BO3)4 and NdFe3(BO3)4 crystals were compared at 90 K. Spectral features related to difference of local environment of Nd3+ ions in the mentioned crystals were revealed. In the range of 4I9/2 → 4G5/2 + 2G7/2 transition of Nd3+ ions in Ho0.75Nd0.25Fe3(BO3)4 crystal the appearance of some absorption lines owing to the change of the local symmetry during structural transition R32 → P3121 at ~ 200 K was revealed. Their intensity increases smoothly, when the temperature decreases from the transition point. Temperature dependences of lattice parameters of Ho0.75Nd0.25Fe3(BO3)4 crystal were measured. It was found that at the transition temperature there is a discontinuous change of the lattice parameter a, which indicates a phase transition of the first order. Lattice parameter c changes smoothly.