The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Causes of Failure in Network Organizations
Abstract
This article forecasts the problems that the emerging network form of organization faces as the result of managerial actions which inadvertently damage the operating capabilities of network organization. It examines the managerial mistakes that have plagued and continue to plague earlier functional, divisional, and matrix forms of organization, actions that are most likely to constrain the network structure. By analyzing predictable mistakes as they begin to occur, the authors hope to help managers prevent these problems rather than become victims of them.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
No references could be resolved yet.
Research works printed but not linked: 15
- 10.2307/41165078 · DOI · Paper page
- For a brief description of both Rubbermaid and Wal-Mart, see the Report Special, Business Month (December 1988), pp. 38 and 42.
- Piore Michael J., 1984, The Second Industrial Divide
- A more detailed description of these three types of networks, and the forces shaping them, is provided in Snow Charles C., Miles Raymond E., Coleman Henry J.Jr. “Managing 21st Century Network Organizations,” Organizational Dynamics (Winter 1992), pp. 5–20. · DOI · Paper page
- Quinn James Brian, 1990, Sloan Management Review, 31, 67
- There are two main types of keiretsu. Many stable networks in the U.S. resemble "supply" keiretsu, which are groups of companies integrated along a value chain dominated by a major manufacturer. To date there are no American counterparts to "bank-centered" keiretsu, which are industrial combines of 20-45 core companies centered around a bank. For discussions of keiretsu-like networks in the U.S., see Ferguson Charles H. "Computers and the Coming of the U.S. Keiretsu," Harvard Business Review (July/August 1990), pp. 55-70
- and "Learning From Japan," Business Week, op. cit. See also "Japan: All in the Family," Newsweek, June 10, 1991, pp. 37-40.
- IBM announced a major restructuring along these lines late in 1991. See “Out of One Big Blue, Many Little Ones,” Business Week, December 9, 1991, p. 33. For a complete description, see Kirkpatrick David, “Breaking Up IBM,” Fortune, July 27, 1992, pp. 44–58.
- Gelb Thomas, “Overhauling Corporate Engine Drives Winning Strategy,” The Journal of Business Strategy (November/December 1989), pp. 91–105. · DOI
- See Taylor William, “The Logic of Global Business: An Interview with ABB's Percy Barnevik,” Havard Business Review (March/April 1991), pp. 91–105.
- Magidson Jason, 1992, Planning Review, 20, 37
- Quinn James Brian, 1990, Sloan Management Review, 31, 83
- These and other examples are discussed in companion articles in the February 1992 issue of The Academy of Management Executive [Bettis Richard A., Bradley Stephen P., Hamel Gary, “Outsourcing and Industrial Decline,” pp. 7–22; and Welch James A., Nayak P. Ranganath, “Strategic Sourcing: A Progressive Approach to the Make-or-Buy Decision,” pp. 23–31]. However, while both pieces bemoan the negative impact of faulty outsourcing decisions on U.S. competitiveness, each recognizes that outsourcing, if properly handled, can be an important management tool, and Welch and Nayak propose models to assist with strategic outsourcing decisions.
- See Daly James, Sullivan-Trainor Michael, “Swing Your Partner, Do-Si-Dough,” Computerworld, December 23, 1991/January 2, 1992, pp. 21–25.
- In contrast to the widely publicized and potentially damaging alliances emerging among major computer firms, many small Silicon Valley firms have built profitable dynamic network relationships. In these networks, many firms do nothing but design custom computer chips while others specialize in manufacturing these designs. In some instances, designers have even shared some of their expertise with large concerns in return for access to manufacturing competence. Such networks emerge and are maintained by trust and by the recognition of unique competencies and mutual dependencies. See Case John, “Intimate Relations,” INC. (August 1990), pp. 64–72.
Cited by
The Collapse of Sensemaking in Organizations: The Mann Gulch Disaster
Weick, K. E. (1993) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2393339 · Cited by 5,000
Trapped in Your Own Net? Network Cohesion, Structural Holes, and the Adaptation of Social Capital
Gargiulo, M., & Benassi, M. (2000) · Organization Science · doi:10.1287/orsc.11.2.183.12514 · Cited by 1,511
Inter-firm Networks: Antecedents, Mechanisms and Forms
Grandori, A., & Soda, G. (1995) · Organization Studies · doi:10.1177/017084069501600201 · Cited by 1,337
Dyadic Business Relationships within a Business Network Context
Anderson, J. C., Håkansson, H., & Johanson, J. (1994) · Journal of Marketing · doi:10.2307/1251912 · Cited by 2,370
Virtual HR: Strategic human resource management in the 21st century
Lepak, D. P., & Snell, S. A. (1998) · Human Resource Management Review · doi:10.1016/s1053-4822(98)90003-1 · Cited by 454
Metadata
- Authors
- Miles, R. E., & Snow, C. C.
- Venue
- California Management Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1992-07
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 53-72
- ISSN
- 0008-1256 (ISSN-L)
- 2162-8564
- OpenAlex
- W2099298627
- Cited by
- 929
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 35.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
About these checks
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.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Causes of Failure in Network Organizations. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.2307/41166703
- The paper
- Miles, R. E., & Snow, C. C. (1992). Causes of Failure in Network Organizations. California Management Review. https://doi.org/10.2307/41166703
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
