EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS OF INTERFIRM NETWORKS: A COMPLEX SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE

This chapter aims to identify the main determinants that define the architectural properties of network emergence and significantly influence the dynamics underlying network evolution in time. The identification and analysis of these determinants, as well as the dynamic processes tied to them, allows to appreciate the competitive bases and consequences of network morphology. To this purpose, using a complex systems perspective as an integrative conceptual approach, we represent networks as complex dynamic systems of knowledge and capabilities. We perform a comparative in-depth analysis of the processes underlying the emergence and evolution of STMicroelectronic's global network and of Toyota's supplier network in the US so as to allow an elucidatory empirical assessment of the theoretical representation elaborated in the article. © 2008 Emerald Group Publishing Limited.This chapter aims to identify the main determinants that define the architectural properties of network emergence and significantly influence the dynamics underlying network evolution in time. The identification and analysis of these determinants, as well as the dynamic processes tied to them, allows to appreciate the competitive bases and consequences of network morphology. To this purpose, using a complex systems perspective as an integrative conceptual approach, we represent networks as complex dynamic systems of knowledge and capabilities.We perform a comparative in-depth analysis of the processes underlying the emergence and evolution of STMicroelectronic’s global network and of Toyota’s supplier network in the US so as to allow an elucidatory empirical assessment of the theoretical representation elaborated in the article

The origin of strong ties: the role of weak ties in the evolution of alliance networks

Studies on the structure of alliance networks have explained how the formation, maintenance, and decay of local within cluster ties and shortcuts with semi-distant and distant organizations drive the emergence and evolution of small world architecture in such networks. Interorganizational ties are distinguished into strong and weak on the basis of their strength. Nonetheless, by focusing mainly on strong alliances ties, previous research has fallen short to explain the role of weak ties among organizations for the evolution of alliance networks. With the aim of scrutinizing the role of weak ties in the establishment, maintaining, and transforming of alliance ties, we develop a conceptual framework that looks at networks of interorganizational weak ties as conduits for the dissemination of information about knowledge sets that supports the processes of opportunity discovery and/or creation. The exploitation of the discovered or created opportunities leads to the activation of strong alliance ties and, hence, feeds into the evolution of alliance networks\u2019 structure

Structural Dynamics and Intentional Governance in Strategic Interorganizational Network Evolution: A multilevel approach

This article aims to shed light on the drivers underlying the role and scope of intentional governance of the structural dynamics of whole interorganizational networks. Prior research has distinguished networks that are emergent from networks that are orchestrated. While empirical studies have shown situations in which the role and scope of intentional governance of whole interorganizational networks has changed in time, and there is a growing interest regarding the endogenous drivers of network dynamics, the dimensions that influence intentional governance of network structure dynamics and the way this is carried out remain still to be elucidated. In order to pinpoint these drivers, we leverage the models of network structure dynamics elaborated within studies conducted at the intersection between network research and complexity science to propose a multilevel interpretive framework that clarifies the role and scope of intentional agency at different structural levels of interorganizational networks. Our framework advances a twofold conceptual contribution: on one hand, we tackle the change in the role and scope of intentional governance of network structures in both the early stages and the later stages of network evolution. On the other, we interpret the network of formal ties as resembling the accelerating network model, with the network of informal ties being akin to the scale-free (or truncated scale-free) network model of complex networks theory

The origin of strong ties: The role of weak ties in the emergence and evolution of alliance networks

Interorganizational ties are distinguished into strong and weak on the basis of their strength. By focusing mainly on strong alliances ties, previous research has fallen short to explain the role of weak ties among organizations for the evolution of alliance networks. With the aim of scrutinizing the role of weak ties in the establishment, maintaining, and transforming of alliance ties, we develop a conceptual framework that looks at networks of interorganizational weak ties as conduits for the dissemination of information about (valuable) knowledge sets that supports the processes of opportunity discovery and/or creation. The exploitation of the discovered or created opportunities leads to the activation of strong alliance ties and, hence, feeds into the evolution of alliance networks\u2019 structure

Network interimpresa ed opportunità imprenditoriali: il ruolo dei legami deboli e forti nella formazione e nello sfruttamento delle opportunità imprenditoriali

L'obiettivo del lavoro è indagare il ruolo dei legami deboli tra imprese nel processo di identificazione del set di potenziali partner di valore tra i quali scegliere con chi attivare legami forti, formalizzati in alleanze, che consentano di sfruttare opportunità imprenditoriali scoperte o create. Numerosi studi manageriali si sono soffermati ad analizzare l'emersione e le dinamiche evolutive della struttura dei network di alleanze ed hanno, complessivamente, individuato le differenti finalità e le logiche di formazione che contraddistinguono due categorie di legami forti: i legami locali che si formano all'interno di cluster appartenenti al network; i bridging ties, che creano ponti tra partner collocati in zone distanti del network o all'esterno del network. Le dinamiche che caratterizzano tali due tipologie di legami guidano l'evoluzione dei network di alleanze e promuovono, rispettivamente, tendenze inerziali e spinte al cambiamento. Focalizzandosi sulle tematiche appena descritte, gli studi precedenti hanno chiarito le logiche che guidano la scelta, allrinterno di un set di imprese potenzialmente di valore, dei partner con i quali attivare le alleanze. Contemporaneamente, essi non esplorano invero il processo di identificazione dei partner potenzialmente di valore da includere nel set. Conseguentemente, il presente lavoro si propone di approfondire tale processo di identificazione dei partner potenzialmente di valore e, in particolare come esso sia influenzato dal substrato di legami deboli (e sovente informali) nel quale è immersa lrimpresa, come pure dallroperare in contesti di opportunity discovery o opportunity creation

NETWORKS, KNOWLEDGE AND COMPLEXITY : an Inquiry into the Architectural Dynamics of Strategic Networks

The purpose of the book is to provide an interpretative framework helping to understand the emergence and development of strategic networks and their multilevel architectures. Drawing on three complementary theoretical approaches (strategic network theory, the knowledge-based theory of the firms, and complexity theory), the book considers strategic networks as complex dynamic networks of knowledge, resources, and capabilities. This view is able to shed new light on the multilevel architecture epitomizing strategic networks and the specific processes of knowledge, resource, and capability transfer, sharing, and creation that occur within and between network levels. Accordingly, the volume clarifies the competitive ground and consequence of strategic networks' multilevel architecture and provides an in-depth investigation of the emergence and development of two strategic networks operating in different competitive and knowledge domains; i.e., STMicroelectronics and Toyota. The volume also scrutinizes the forces guiding network architecture dynamics. Agency and emergence are two forces underlying network dynamics, however the role and scope of each varies in relation to the evolutionary phase of the network and the architectural level of the strategic network taken into consideration. The volume delves into the theoretical background and the empirical relevance of the different forces underlying multilevel network evolution