The Role of Alliance Network Redundancy in the Creation of Core and Non-core Technologies

This paper studies the effect of a focal firm, and its partners' local alliance actions, on the creation of technological innovations by the former. More specifically, we study how two types of redundancy in a focal firm's ego network affect its ability to create new technologies in its technology core areas (exploitation) and/or non-core areas (exploration). We analyse this empirically in three different industry settings: chemicals, motor vehicles, and pharmaceuticals. One of our key findings is that individual firms can indeed boost both types of innovative output by shaping the degree of redundancy in their local alliance network, but that the way in which this should be done differs between the creation of core and non-core technologies. Next, we find that it is very useful to unpack the rather abstract notion of redundancy into more specific types of redundancy in ego networks. Overall, these findings reflect an action-oriented view on the role of individual firms in collaborative networks, which may complement the dominant view in the alliance literature emphasizing the role of the overall network structure and firms' network position within it.     

The competitive advantage of cluster firms: the priority of regional network position over extra-regional networks – a study of a French high-tech cluster

This paper extends research on industry clusters by unbundling network from cluster effects and by analysing how network effects drive the performance of cluster firms. The results show that a firm's connectedness in a regional network is positively associated with firm performance. However, we found that for cluster firms, it is even more important to build strong network positions by developing rather exclusive alliance networks. In addition, a weak position within a cluster cannot be compensated for by strong extra-regional networking activities. From this perspective, cluster-specific advantages are firm-specific and the basis for competitive advantage. Regional competitiveness is therefore a non-substitutable pre-condition for the overall performance of cluster firms.     

Emergence of innovation networks from R&D cooperation with endogenous absorptive capacity

This paper extends the existing literature on strategic R&D alliances by presenting a model of innovation networks with endogenous absorptive capacity. The networks emerge as a result of dynamic cooperation between firms occupying different locations in the knowledge space. Partner selection is driven by absorptive capacity which is itself influenced by cognitive distance and R&D investment allocation. Under different knowledge regimes, we examine the structure of networks that emerge and how firms perform within such networks. We find networks that exhibit small world properties which are generally robust to changes in the knowledge regime. Certain network strategies such as occupying brokerage positions or maximising accessibility to potential partners pay off, especially in ‘young’ industries with limited involuntary but abundant voluntary spillovers. This particular result is driven by endogenous absorptive capacity.     

Competency rallying for technical innovation—The case of the Virtuelle Fabrik

Technology improves at an ever-increasing rate, but the speed at which firms can adapt their strategies and competencies to develop technological innovations and exploit market opportunities remains limited. While networks provide an option to increase agility through collaborative access to relevant external competencies, we know little about systematically managing such networks. This paper identifies a collaborative network process that we label competency rallying. We describe the set of inter-organizational routines involved in competency rallying in a case study of the interactions among the partners of the Virtuelle Fabrik, a case of an organized regional network in the manufacturing industry in Switzerland. We describe competency rallying as the (1) identification and development of competencies, (2) identification and facing of market opportunities, (3) marshalling of competencies, and (4) short-term cooperative effort for technological innovation and commercialization. The paper contributes a model that furthers the understanding of the organizational character of networks based on specific, learned network capabilities and which allows prediction of the likelihood of success of practical collaboration projects in networked organizations.     

Industry Event Participation and Network Brokerage among Entrepreneurial Ventures

Despite the recognition that network brokerage is beneficial for entrepreneurial ventures, little is known about its antecedents. This study examines how participation in industry events (e.g. conferences) relates to entrepreneurs' brokerage positions in informal industry networks and how these positions, in turn, impact new venture performance. Using a unique dataset of 45 events and subsequent network relations among entrepreneurs from 90 firms in the open source software industry, results indicate that: (1) entrepreneurs who participated in heterogeneous events or who bridged between events with few common participants were more likely to be brokers; (2) the relationship between event bridging and brokerage was stronger for entrepreneurs with broader prior career experiences; and (3) network brokerage mediated the event participation–performance link. It appears that events may limit structural opportunities for brokerage and that individual differences matter for exploiting these opportunities. Overall, this study increases understanding of how and when particular networking behaviours are beneficial for entrepreneurs.     

Moving to the Next Strategy Stage: Examining Firms' Awareness,Motivation and Capability Drivers in Environmental Alliances

Complementing extant studies on the antecedents of firms' environmental strategy, this article focuses on the trajectories of corporate engagement in proactive environmental alliances. Specifically, we build an awareness–motivation–capability framework and analyze factors that drive the move beyond incremental pollution prevention and facilitate firms' engagement in transformative, sustainable development strategies in their alliances. Based on 212 environmental alliance‐related observations, our test results indicate limited explanatory power of regulatory pressures, but highlight the role of firms' environmental networks to sharpen their awareness to engage in transformative alliances. Further, we elaborate on the nuances and boundary conditions of firms' risk‐taking propensity, industry concentration, financial capacity and especially prior sector‐spanning experiences as motivation and capability drivers. These insights contribute to the discourse on firms' environmental strategy and alliance formation by depicting how and to what extent environment‐specific and more general firm attributes predispose them to engage in transformative rather than incremental environmental projects. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Retracted: Dynamics of Unclosed Triangles in Alliance Networks: Disappearance of Brokerage Positions and Performance Consequences

We depart from previous research on brokerage advantages in interorganizational networks by shifting focus to the dynamics of brokerage positions. We investigate causes of the disappearance of these positions and its influence on organizational performance. Using a subnetwork consisting of a broker and its two partners as the unit of analysis, we postulate that the brokerage position disappears either when the two partners develop ties or when the ties between the broker and the partners dissolve. We predict that the patterns of interactions in which this subnetwork is embedded exert multilevel influences on the disappearance, and that embedded structures promoting persistence constrain brokerage advantages. Our analysis of codeshare alliance data in the global airline industry supports the theory and demonstrates that the persistence of brokerage positions decreases broker performance. The findings explain why brokerage positions rarely persist and why the persistence of brokerage positions does not benefit brokers.     

先进制造业集群网络化协作模式探索 ——以苏州、无锡、南通高端纺织集群为例

采用案例研究法以江苏省苏州、无锡、南通市高端纺织集群为研究对象,对高端纺织集群的主要特征、网络化协作实施路径进行分析,探索建立畅通互联的先进制造业集群网络化协作模式.研究结论表明:具有典型特征的集群网络化协作模式由集群促进机构、协同运行机制、信息交流网络组成,其中集群促进机构采用联盟形式,是集群发展的基础和核心;协同运...     

Crisis Management Competencies

Since public networks became widespread, doubts have arisen over how to make them succeed. Scholars have traditionally addressed the issue in different ways, thus variously shedding light on the network structure, mechanisms, or managers as predictors of the network performance. The aim of our article is to explore the possibility of an interaction effect between the abovementioned factors. Our results show that there may be a relationship between network structure, mechanisms, and managers that jointly affects network performance. Therefore, important suggestions can be made about how to manage public networks successfully: (1) ensure that your network mechanisms and managerial abilities are coherent with the structure of your network; and (2) if you are in a well-established and integrated network, allow yourself some flexibility. Data were collected through a multiple case study that focused on collaboration for joint provision of home care services in Switzerland.     

Cultural embeddedness in supply networks

Recent studies on structural and relational embeddedness suggest that favorable position and connections in supply networks benefit a firm. While fruitful, this focus misses the motivations that prompt firms to take economic action in the first place. Understanding cultural embeddedness provides insight into why individuals and firms behave as they do and how their behavior can influence network structure. Contrary to the belief that firms act solely for profit and growth, we note that cultural contents such as values, social issues and political ideologies explain firms’ motives and guide their economic activities. We explore the role of cultural embeddedness through a grounded study of Country Natural Beef, a sustainability-oriented agricultural cooperative in the western United States. This supply network demonstrates strongly competing cultural claims among its members as well as a unique institutionalized culture. Cultural interactions at the node and network levels explain the functioning of and changes to the network. Through interviews, analysis of archival information and direct observation of pivotal events over a period of 5 years, we unpack cultural embeddedness and take an incremental step toward a theory of cultural embeddedness in cooperative supply networks.     

Propelling diverse leaders to the top: A developmental network approach

Scholars and practitioners are making a strong business case for greater representation of women and other underrepresented groups on senior management teams and boards. A model is developed that highlights how to create optimal developmental networks—groups of developers who help advance people's careers and personal growth—that can assist in propelling diverse leaders into the upper echelons of their organizations and board positions. Several literature streams are integrated in order to identify developmental networks that will help diverse leaders overcome barriers to breaking the glass ceiling in greater numbers. Numerous strategies intended to shape diverse leaders' network structure and content are discussed, as are contextual challenges that may inhibit optimal networks' development. Lastly, theoretical and practical implications for individuals and organizations are highlighted.     

Community connectivity and heterogeneity: clues and insights on cooperation on social networks

While studies on the emergence of cooperation on structured populations abound, only few of them have considered real social networks as the substrate on which individuals interact. As has been shown recently [Lozano et al., PLoS ONE 3(4):e1892, 2008], understanding cooperative behavior on social networks requires knowledge not only of their global (macroscopic) characteristic, but also a deep insight on their community (mesoscopic) structure. In this paper, we look at this problem from the viewpoint of the resilience of cooperation, in particular when there are directed exogenous attacks (insertion of pure defectors) at key locations in the network. We present results of agent-based simulations showing strong evidence that the resilience of social networks is crucially dependent on their community structure, ranging from no resilience to robust cooperative behavior. Our results have important implications for the understanding of how organizations work and can be used as a guide for organization design. This work was supported by Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (Spain) under grants FIS2006-13321-2 and MOSAICO and by Comunidad de Madrid (Spain) under grant. SIMUMAT-CM. S. Lozano was supported by URV through a FPU grant and by the EU Integrated Project IRRIIS (027568).     

On Some Procedures of Forming a Multipartner Alliance

In the article, we study two different ways of forming multipartner alliances between firms with the central idea that procedure is an important factor in multipartner alliance formation. In the first procedure, an alliance is formed simultaneously, while in the second procedure (step-by-step) members are added one by one. In the model we present, each firm is assumed to have a multidimensional maneuvering space, which consists of all alliance positions acceptable to the firm, and an ideal position in this space. Alliances will form between the firms whose maneuvering spaces overlap. The results of the analysis confirm that procedure is an important factor in multipartner alliance formation. Nevertheless, if ideal positions of firms are acceptable to all alliance partners, then the result of alliance formation does not depend on procedure. In addition, it is shown that it can be disadvantageous to be a first mover. Finally, we are able to provide sufficient conditions under which one procedure is preferred in a three-partner case. More specifically, a firm with its ideal position acceptable to the two other firms may prefer the simultaneous procedure to being a late mover if (1) there is a certain balance in the firms' degree of flexibility and their power and (2) if the agreed alliance position of the two other firms is acceptable to the firm in question.     

金融危机下航运企业联盟的经济分析及其对策

金融危机使全球经济受到前所未有的打击，同时也波及到航运业。以本次金融危机为背景，探讨危机下航运企业如何通过企业联盟渡过难关。首先分析了金融危机对国际航运市场的影响，介绍了金融风暴对航运金融市场，运输需求方面的影响。接着，从企业联盟的含义入手，从规模经济方面对企业的联盟作了理论分析，最后分析了金融危机背景下航运企业联盟的意义。     

Vertical Networks, Integration, and Connectivity

This paper studies competition in a network industry with a stylized two layered network structure, and examines: (i) price and connectivity incentives of the upstream networks, and (ii) incentives for vertical integration between an upstream network provider and a downstream firm. The main result of this paper is that vertical integration occurs only if the initial installed-base difference between the upstream networks is sufficiently small, and in that case, industry is configured with two vertically integrated networks, which yields highest incentives to invest in quality of interconnection. When the installed-base difference is sufficiently large, there is no integration in the industry, and neither of the firms have an incentive to invest in quality of interconnection. An industry configuration in which only the large network integrates and excludes (or raises cost of) its downstream rival does not appear as an equilibrium outcome: in the presence of a large asymmetry between the networks, when quality of interconnection is a strategic variable, the large network can exercise a substantial market power without vertical integration. Therefore, a vertically separated industry structure does not necessarily yield procompetitive outcomes.     

企业知识联盟的博弈分析

企业知识联盟的脆弱及非持续性一直是企业建设知识联盟实践时常遇到的问题。本文采用博弈论方法对企业知识联盟中的竞争合作互动关系进行了分析,并就参与方如何建设持续、长久的合作型企业知识联盟提出了策略和建议。     

战略联盟到战略网络的演化分析

随着市场竞争的日趋激烈,战略联盟已经成为企业间合作的主要形式。然而,任何一种组织为了生存和发展必须不断适应环境的改变,因此,战略联盟的演化逐渐成为研究的焦点。文章通过战略联盟与战略网络的比较,基于企业熵理论,分析战略联盟向战略网络演化的途径,找到战略联盟向战略网络演化的关键点——核心企业的形成。     

Do research institutes benefit from their network positions in research collaboration networks with industries or/and universities?

There is scarce empirical evidence on the impact of inter-organizational collaboration across research institutes, industries or/and universities on the scientific performance of research institutes. This paper fills this gap by examining how the research institutes’ bilateral/trilateral collaborations with industries or/and universities influence their research outputs from a network perspective. We construct a unique dataset based on the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ inter-organizational research collaboration networks with industries or/and universities, which enables us to build three homogeneous, heterogeneous and hybrid inter-organizational research networks as our multi-scenario sample. Our study confirms that the scientific performance of research institutes is significantly affected by their network positions in the research collaboration networks with industries or/and universities. Specifically, in the homogeneous “University-Research Institute” (UR) collaboration network, the degree centrality and the structural holes of the research institutes affect their scientific performance respectively in an inverted U-shaped manner and a positive linear one. By contrast, in both the heterogeneous “Industry-Research Institute” (IR) and the hybrid “Industry-University-Research Institute” (IUR) collaboration networks, the degree centrality and the structural holes of research institutes affect their scientific performance respectively in a positive linear manner and an inverted U-shaped one. Our findings indicate that the impact pattern of the network positions of innovative organizations on their performance likely varies with the network structure and composition in different inter-organizational contexts.     

利用产业联盟和机制创新打造产业集群核心竞争力——基于齐鲁软件园可持续发展分析

产业联盟是建立在开拓市场、标准制定和共担风险等基础之上的一种有效集群模式,集群内企业能够共享联盟带来的核心竞争力。从网络和价值链两个方面实现机制创新是产业集群升级的必经之路。基于山东产业区位和中国工业化现状考虑,在齐鲁软件园区内部形成纵向和横向的类矩阵制组织结构和临时组织单元,利于外包等国际业务发展。     

The method of leader's overthrow in networks based on Shapley value

Quantitative methods for leaders' detection and overthrow are useful tools for decision-making in many real-life social networks. In the given research, we present algorithms that detect and overthrow the most influential node to the weaker leadership positions following the greedy method in terms of structural modifications. We employ the concept of Shapley value from the area of cooperative game theory to measure a node's leadership and to develop the leader's overthrow algorithms. Specifically, we introduce a quantitative approach to analyze prospective structural modifications in social networks to make the initially identified network leader less influential. The resulting mechanism is based on the symbiosis of game-theoretic and algorithmic concepts. It presents a useful tool for the technical analysis of the primary structural data in the initial steps of multifaceted quantitative network analysis where the raw data (i.e., linkages) is frequently the only knowledge about interrelations in social networks.