Strategic capability architecture: The role of network capability

A firm's network capability refers to its ability to build, handle and exploit relationships. These capabilities are interwoven in a complex configuration with the other capabilities and competencies of the firm and in practice, are very difficult to separate from them. Rather than assuming that firms inherently possess network capability, our aim is to discover if the shared managerial logic of top management teams confirms its presence. In order to understand how managers perceive, process and interpret network capability, we guided the management teams of five industrial suppliers through a novel five-step process of introducing, identifying, critically screening, challenging and verifying the capabilities of the firm. The paper introduces a framework for strategic capability architecture and investigates how network capability emerges from among the configuration of other capabilities in industrial firms. We found that network capabilities are central to the formation of customer capabilities. Network capabilities also play an important role as assets contributing to the formation of other capability sets. Furthermore, we found that the networking capabilities act in unison with other capabilities through three different strategic logics termed partnering, value streaming, and horizontal allying.