How should firms configure organizational capabilities to achieve competitive advantage in complex digital environments? To answer this question, we investigate parsimonious configurations for high firm performance in digital environments characterized by organized complexity. We adopt a configurational perspective accompanied by a fuzzyset qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explicate complex nonlinear relationships among key digital and nondigital capabilities in the form of conjunctural, equifinal, and asymmetric causation. With this approach, we shift attention from individual capabilities to configurations of capabilities to develop a better understanding of the complex role of IT in the digital world. Our analyses, using a rare and unique dataset of 376 observations for organizations in healthcare, education, manufacturing, and service sectors in the United States, reveal three key findings. First, ITenabled information analytics capability alone is neither necessary nor sufficient in any configuration for high performance; however, it is an important component of the configurations in which it plays multifaceted roles varying from an enabling role in most contexts, to no role or a counterproductive role in other contexts. Second, we document a few parsimonious configurations emergent from complex nonlinear interactions among six organizational capabilities. Interestingly, these configurations often have an isomorphic structure that produces both high financial performance and high customer performance simultaneously. Third, the structures of configurations for high performance differ from those of not-high performance, suggesting an asymmetric view of causality that underpins organizational performance. Together, the findings provide implications for further research on complexity theory in digital business strategy, and for managers to view and redesign digital business strategy as configurations of IT and organizational capabilities.

中文翻译：

---

数字业务战略的组织复杂性：一种配置视角

公司应如何配置组织能力以在复杂的数字环境中获得竞争优势？为了回答这个问题，我们研究了以组织复杂性为特征的数字环境中高绩效公司的简约配置。我们采用配置观点，并结合模糊集定性比较分析（fsQCA），以结局，均等和不对称因果关系的形式来解释关键数字能力和非数字能力之间的复杂非线性关系。通过这种方法，我们将注意力从个人功能转移到功能配置，以更好地理解IT在数字世界中的复杂角色。我们的分析使用了罕见且独特的376个观测数据集，用于医疗，教育，制造业，美国的服务和服务部门揭示了三个主要发现。首先，仅IT支持的信息分析功能在任何配置中都是不必要的，也不足以实现高性能。但是，它是配置的重要组成部分，在其中它扮演着多方面的角色，从在大多数情况下的启用角色到在其他情况下的无作用或适得其反的角色。其次，我们记录了六个组织能力之间复杂的非线性相互作用产生的一些简约配置。有趣的是，这些配置通常具有同构结构，可以同时产生高财务绩效和高客户绩效。第三，高性能配置的结构与非高性能配置不同，暗示因果关系的不对称观点是组织绩效的基础。总之，这些发现为进一步研究数字业务战略中的复杂性理论提供了启示，也为管理人员将数字业务战略视为IT和组织能力的配置进行了重新设计。