The behavior-based firm: Application of recent Al concepts to company management

Artificial Intelligence (Al) has a long tradition in developing technological means for the control of complex systems. This article reviews recent developments in the area of embodied AI and behavior-based robotics and formulates principles as they appear to be applicable in managerial problem domains. We compare these principles to new management concepts such as the horizontal organization and lean production, which exhibit definite similarities to proposals recently made by roboticists. An analysis of these similarities identifies the importance of a tight system-environment coupling. This connection is achieved by a rapid and precise evaluation of external observables from many internal processes. Another important factor is the process orientation of control that marks a clear departure from traditional approaches based on functional decomposition.