Inter-firm Networks: Antecedents, Mechanisms and Forms
Abstract
This paper is an effort to review and organize the now vast literature on inter firm networks, with the aim of assessing the important current forms of net work, the organizational mechanisms supporting them, and the main variables that have been shown to influence network emergence and shape. These results are achieved through a literature review encompassing a number of approaches across the social sciences. The paper can therefore be used as a typological state-of-art on inter-firm networks, and as a basis for developing hypotheses of relationship between network antecedents and forms.
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The principal benefits of networking identified in the literature include obtaining access to new markets and technologies.
“obtaining access to new markets and technologies (Grandori and Soda, 1995);”
From Networking and innovation: a systematic review of the evidence (2004) · cites this paper as Grandori and Soda, 1995
A study of the UK/US defence industry has highlighted that dependency in relationships occur because of the breadth of links between partners, and such dependency and breadth often leads to the emergence of more complex networks.
“A study of the UK/US defence industry, for example, has highlighted that dependency in relationships occur because of the breadth of links between partners, such dependency and breadth often leads to the emergence of more complex networks (Grandori and Soda, 1995;Coles, Harris and Dickson, 2003).”
From Networking and innovation: a systematic review of the evidence (2004) · cites this paper as Grandori and Soda, 1995
Cites
Comparative Economic Organization: The Analysis of Discrete Structural Alternatives
Williamson, O. E. (1991) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2393356 · Cited by 7,151 · see citing works
(1993) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195076165.001.0001 · Cited by 3,069 · see citing works
A transaction costs theory of equity joint ventures
Hennart, J. (1988) · Strategic Management Journal · doi:10.1002/smj.4250090406 · Cited by 1,843 · cited 1× · see citing works
“…the ‘hostage exchange’ function effectively played by the proprietary commitments implied by joint ventures under conditions of weak appropriability of the results of collaboration, low measurability of partners’ performances, and highly specific transactions (Hennart 1988; Williamson 1983).”
BackgroundThe Dynamics of Interorganizational Coordination
de Ven, A. H. V., & Walker, G. (1984) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2392941 · Cited by 532 · see citing works
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Networking and innovation: a systematic review of the evidence
Pittaway, L., Robertson, M., Munir, K., Denyer, D., & Neely, A. (2004) · International Journal of Management Reviews · doi:10.1111/j.1460-8545.2004.00101.x · Cited by 1,747 · see citing works
Castañer, X., & Oliveira, N. (2020) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206320901565 · Cited by 525 · see citing works
Ravindran, K., Susarla, A., Mani, D., & Gurbaxani, V. (2015) · Information Systems Research · doi:10.1287/isre.2015.0572 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
- Authors
- Grandori, A., & Soda, G.
- Affiliations
- Bocconi University (IT)
- Venue
- Organization Studies
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1995-03
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 183-214
- ISSN
- 0170-8406 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-3044
- OpenAlex
- W2139455113
- Cited by
- 1,337
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 47 · 2019: 46 · 2018: 42 · 2017: 63 · 2016: 51 · 2015: 76 · 2014: 76 · 2013: 91 · 2012: 80
- FWCI
- 51.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Organization Studies (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Business Strategy and Innovation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Innovation and Knowledge Management
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
- Keywords
- inter-firm networks, network emergence, network structure, organizational mechanisms, network typology, interorganizational relationships
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
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