Systemic Risk Assessment in Complex Network Structures

Considering the assessment of systemic risk in complex network structures, information technology (IT) is, in metaphorical terms, a man wearing two hats (cf. Figure 1). On the one hand, today's large and complex IT project portfolios (ITPP) are subject to systemic risk (Zhang 2016; Wolf 2015; Ellinas et al. 2016), which turns IT (projects) into a challenge for organizations. On the other hand, organizations that handle the challenges of IT can profit from IT solutions in the assessment of systemic risk of their underlying systems (in Research Paper 3, their supply chain network). It should be noted that Fridgen (2010) introduced a similar approach and regarded two different roles of IT in his work. The work of Fridgen (2010) accounts for IT as an enabler of risk/return management and also assesses the associated risk of IT outsourcing projects (see also Buhl et al. (2009), Fridgen (2009), Fridgen and Müller (2009), and Buhl and Fridgen (2011)). However, he did not account for systemic risk and did not provide solutions for the assessment of systemic risk. This doctoral thesis especially regards the assessment of systemic risk in complex network structures and accounts for the role of IT, alongside.