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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of a fashion store’s visual complexity on consumers’ behaviour. Considering environmental order and individuals’ sensation-seeking tendencies, the authors examine the effect of visually complex fashion stores on consumers in a more conclusive way to address the inconsistent effect found in the previous literature.

This study features a 3 (visual complexity level: low, medium, high) × 2 (environmental order condition: low, high) between subjects design, with individual sensation-seeking tendency included as a moderator. Using this design, an online survey was administered to 188 participants in South Korea.

The results indicate that there is a three-way interaction, where the interaction effect of visual complexity and environmental order is moderated by individuals’ sensation-seeking tendency. The effect of visual complexity on approach behaviours had an inverted U-shape in the low-order condition, while had a positive linear shape in the high-order condition, and the interaction effect was significant only for high-sensation seekers.

The findings assist practitioners in establishing strategies for visual merchandising and store design within fashion stores. It is suggested that retailers consider environmental order when organising a large amount of varied merchandise in a complex environment. Store managers must adjust the complexity and environmental order to meet the optimal stimulation level of their target consumers.

This study strengthens the literature on visual complexity by applying the concept to the retail environment. The results provide a significant contribution to the literature because they show how individual-level and store-level variables interact to influence consumer behaviour.

This paper aims to introduce a novel 4D hyperchaotic fractional-order system which can produce one-to-four-wing hyperchaotic attractors. In the study of chaotic systems with variable-wing attractors, although some chaotic systems can generate one-to-four-wing attractors, none of them are hyperchaotic attractors, which is incomplete for the dynamic characteristics of chaotic systems.

A novel 4D fractional-order hyperchaotic system is proposed based on the classical three-dimensional Lü system. The complex and abundant dynamic behaviors of the fractional-order system are analyzed by phase diagrams, bifurcation diagrams and the corresponding Lyapunov exponents. In addition, SE and C₀ algorithms are used to analyze the complexity of the fractional-order system. Then, the influence of order q on the system is also investigated. Finally, the circuit is implemented using physical components.

The most particular interest is that the system can generate one-to-four-wing hyperchaotic attractors with only one parameter variation. Then, the hardware circuit experimental results tally with the numerical simulations, which proves the validity and feasibility of the fractional-order hyperchaotic system. Besides, under different initial conditions, coexisting attractors can be obtained by changing the parameter d or the order q. Then, the complexity analysis of the system shows that the fractional-order chaotic system has higher complexity than the corresponding integer-order chaotic system.

The circuit structure of the fractional-order hyperchaotic system is simple and easy to implement, and one-to-four-wing hyperchaotic attractors can be observed in the circuit. To the best of the knowledge, this unique phenomenon has not been reported in any literature. It is of great reference value to analysis and circuit realization of fractional-order chaotic systems.

Existing literature acknowledges information systems development (ISD) to be a complex activity. This complexity is magnified by the continuous changes in user requirements due to changing organizational needs in changing external competitive environments. Research findings show that, if this increasing complexity is not managed appropriately, information systems fail. The paper thus aims to portray the sources of complexity related to ISD and to suggest the use of complexity theory as a frame of reference, analyzing its implications on information system design and development to deal with the emergent nature of IS.

Conceptual analysis and review of relevant literature.

This article provides a conceptual model explaining how top‐down “official” and bottom‐up “emergent” co‐evolutionary adaptations of information systems design with changing user requirements will result in more effective system design and operation. At the heart of this model are seven first principles of adaptive success drawn from foundational biological and social science theory: adaptive tension, requisite complexity, change rate, modular design, positive feedback, causal intricacy, and coordination rhythm. These principles, translated into the ISD context, outline how IS professionals can use them to better enable the co‐evolutionary adaptation of ISD projects to changing stakeholder interests and broader environmental changes.

This paper considers and recognizes the different sources of complexity related to ISD before suggesting how they could be better dealt with. It develops a framework for change to deal with the emergent nature of ISD and enable more expeditious co‐evolutionary adaptation.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate process complexity as an object of analysis within effective quality management (QM).

This paper systematically analyzes different conceptions of complexity theory and characterizes process complexity from a QM perspective producing new insights how to address process complexity for continuous improvement.

The authors identified and specified four complexity characteristics, which we integrated in a holistic process complexity model (PCM). The author further developed the idea of internal and external process complexity and demonstrated that internal complexity needs to balance external complexity. Based on the PCM, internal process complexity can be analyzed and suitable management approaches can be selected, while conventional QM practices showed to be inefficient or even contra-productive when applied in the context of process complexity.

This research is adapted to fit the needs of production processes. The PCM is designed from a QM perspective.

The developed model allows companies to specify and characterize process complexity in order to reflect on the appropriateness of their process management approaches. Furthermore, it gives an additional perspective on process analysis for tapping the full potential of process improvement programs.

This paper combines complexity theory with QM.

Product design is an important marketing variable. Most literature about consumer preference for product design focuses on aesthetic product value. However, the appearance of a product also influences consumer perception of functionalities, quality, and ease of use. This paper therefore, seeks to assess how preference for visual complexity and symmetry depends on the type of product value that is important to people.

In a conjoint study the utility of visual complexity and symmetry in determining preference for eight VCR pictures are assessed (n=422). These utilities are used as dependent variables in regression analyses with the different product values (aesthetic, functionalities, quality, and ease of use) as independent variables.

The effects of visual complexity and symmetry on consumers' preferences depend on the product value to which consumers paid attention.

To increase insight into the relationship between design and consumer product preference, the impact of a design on consumer perception of all types of product value – not only aesthetic value – should be taken into account.

This research has direct implications for managers overseeing aspects of product development relating to aligning the design effort with target customers and determining specific product design executions.

The purpose of this exploratory paper is to examine the lack of reliability of traditional neo-classical models and to argue that it is due to the hidden complexity and non-linearity that may operate at times in residential housing markets. As a result, market efficiency may be a special case, rather than the prevailing rule. An alternative framework that incorporates the higher order concepts of complexity – based on the non-linear, emergent behavior of multiple agents – is required to model discontinuities and imbalances in the housing markets.

The paper examines the building block concepts required to model the complexity of the housing market and analyzes their implications. These implications can be counter-intuitive and help explain the failure of policy makers to model the recent bust in global housing markets.

The paper finds that policy makers need to adopt an analytical framework that incorporates non-linearity, emergence and other building blocks of complexity in order to construct representative financial models that help understand systemic imbalances that may afflict residential housing markets.

This is the first paper to one's knowledge that argues that policy makers should adopt an alternative theoretical framework based on complexity concepts in order to create more effective financial models; such models should include indicators that provide early warning signals of potential discontinuities in housing markets.

The purpose of this paper is to propose that the effectiveness of organizational design-manufacturing integration (ODMI) practices is contingent upon the degree of complexity of the manufacturing environment. The paper submits that the level of use of ODMI ought to match the level of complexity of the manufacturing environment. The paper puts forward the hypothesis that when a misfit occurs between ODMI and complexity (high use of ODMI practices in low complexity environments or low use of ODMI practices in high complexity environments) manufacturing operational performance declines.

The paper tests the hypothesis based on a survey database of 725 manufacturers from 21 countries. The measurement model was assessed with confirmatory factor analysis and the hypothesis was tested with linear regression.

A misfit between the level of ODMI use (job rotation and co-location) and manufacturing complexity (product and process complexity) has a negative effect on manufacturing operational performance dimensions of quality, delivery and flexibility. Post hoc analyses also suggest that firms that operate in different environments in what concerns the rate of change in process technologies suffer differentiated negative impacts of ODMI-complexity misfit.

Future studies could extend this research to other dimensions of design-manufacturing integration, such as technological practices.

Manufacturers with high levels of complexity should invest strongly in ODMI practices. However, manufacturers with low levels of complexity should invest in these practices with caution since the expected payoffs may not outweigh the effort.

The study assesses fit as a simultaneous set of contingency factors, applying profile-deviation analysis to ODMI and operational performance relationships. By focusing on plant-level manufacturing complexity, this study complements existing studies of product development complexity which tend to focus on project-level complexity.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that explains how new product development and supply chain variables are related to one another and how they affect performance.

The insights from literature and an exploratory case study are combined to develop an alignment framework, which is then tested using a multiple case study design.

Variety, modularity, and innovativeness are the product features that are taken into account when studying alignment. From the supply chain viewpoint, configuration, collaboration, and coordination complexities are the variables that matter. Innovativeness is found to have a stronger effect than variety on supply chain complexity. In addition, there is evidence that matching product features with supply chains improves performance.

The paper provides empirical support to the relationships among the variables within the alignment framework. There is evidence that product innovativeness, a variable so far neglected in the alignment literature, can have a critical impact on the supply chain. Furthermore, supply chain complexity must be adequately adapted, depending on the product features.

The article seeks to enrich the body of research on store atmospherics by identifying how storefront window design impacts store entry decisions. An innovative multimodal design approach is presented, considering both visual and verbal constituents.

Study 1 draws on a corpus of high-end storefront windows to create a categorization regarding different levels of verbo-visual complexity. The survey in Study 2 (n = 234) serves two purposes: first, to confirm these levels of complexity and second, to investigate the relation between the complexity of window design and store entry decisions.

Study 2 confirms the order of complexity established in Study 1. The results reveal an inverted-U relationship between window complexity and store entry propensity. Windows of medium level of complexity produce shoppers' relatively highest store entry propensity.

The findings suggest that retailers would benefit from adopting verbo-visual window designs of medium complexity, as this combination optimizes the likeliness of consumers to enter stores.

Research on store atmospherics has until recently primarily focused on in-store cues. Studies on store windows remain vastly underrepresented in extant scholarship. The article not only fills this gap but also incorporates an original interdisciplinary angle on multimodality, which offers new methodological perspectives for research in retail and distribution scholarship.

We present an algorithm for contact resolution that is valid for a wide variety of polygonal two dimensional shapes and is of linear computational complexity. The algorithm is designed for use in discrete element analysis of granular and multibody systems exhibiting discontinuous behaviour. Contact detection usually consists of a spatial sorting phase and a contact resolution phase. The spatial sorting phase seeks to avoid an all‐to‐all body comparison by culling the number of objects which are potential contactors of a given object. The contact resolution phase resolves the details of the contact between two given objects. The algorithm presented here (called DFR) addresses the contact resolution phase and is applicable to convex geometries and to a restricted set of concave geometries. Examination of the algorithm establishes an upper bound linear computational complexity, of order O(N), with respect to the number of points (N) used to define the object boundary. The DFR algorithm is combined with a modified heapsort algorithm for spatial sorting of M bodies which has complexity O(M log M) and is applied to a baseline granular simulation problem to test its efficiency.