This paper investigates how information uncertainty, measured through variation in the informativeness of the public information environment, shapes the organizational design choices of firms. I posit that, when faced with higher uncertainty about demand and supply, managers are more likely to establish links to customer/supplier industries through high-level hiring decisions and vertical integration, thereby facilitating access to information about these industries. Consistent with this hypothesis, I find that firms modify their hiring and, to a lesser extent, vertical integration decisions in response to variation in the informativeness of the public information environment about demand and supply, measured with two distinct empirical approaches. Further, I observe that these organizational design choices correlate with the efficiency of inventory management and investment sensitivity to growth opportunities; this finding is consistent with organizational design facilitating access to information otherwise unavailable to managers through public sources.

本文研究了通过公共信息环境信息量的变化来衡量的信息不确定性如何影响公司的组织设计选择。我认为，当面临更高的供需不确定性时，管理者更有可能通过高级招聘决策和垂直整合与客户/供应商行业建立联系，从而促进获取有关这些行业的信息。与这个假设一致，我发现公司会根据公共信息环境中关于供需的信息量的变化来调整他们的招聘，并在较小程度上调整垂直整合决策，这是用两种不同的经验方法衡量的。更远，我观察到这些组织设计选择与库存管理效率和投资对增长机会的敏感性相关；这一发现与便于管理人员通过公共资源获取信息的组织设计相一致。