Networks and organizations : structure, form, and action

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Bibliographic Information

Networks and organizations : structure, form, and action

edited by Nitin Nohria and Robert G. Eccles

Harvard Business School Press, c1992

  • : pbk

Available at  / 83 libraries

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Note

Papers originally presented at a conference held in August 1990, sponsored by Harvard Business School

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Networks form essential links in all organizations. They exist among co-workers, among firms, and among individuals and institutions. They establish patterns that both propel and impede activity. Since networks are such a vital component of how organizations function, it is increasingly important for businesses to understand how they work. "Networks and Organizations" explores the significant link between the structure of an organization and how it affects action. Using the perspectives of leading scholars and practitioners in sociology and management, it examines such timely issues as: is entrepreneurial activity easier in some networks than in others?; can electronic ties substitute for face-to-face relations?; are industries such as biotechnology better learning systems because of extensive networking?; do highly networked economies, like Japan's, have a comparative advantage? Based on a Harvard Business School colloquium, this book considers networks in various firms, industries and economies. It aims to provide managers and researchers with new insight into understanding the pivotal role of networks in organizations.

Table of Contents

  • Part 1 Linking structure and action: problems of explanation in economic sociology
  • the social structure of competition
  • agency as control in formal networks
  • Nadel's paradox revisited - relational and cultural aspects of organizational structure
  • doing your job and helping your friends - universalistic norms about obligations to particular others in networks
  • structural alignments, individual strategies and managerial action - elements towards a network theory of getting things done. Part 2 Different network ties and their implications: centrality and power in organizations
  • the strength of strong ties - the importance of philos in organizations
  • information and search in the creation of new business ventures - the case of the 128 Venture Group
  • complementary communication media - a comparison of electronic mail and face-to-face communication in a programming team
  • face-to-face - making network organizations work. Part 3 Organizational environmental relations as inter-organizational networks: strategic alliances in commercial biotechnology
  • the make-or-cooperate decision in the context of an industry network
  • competitive co-operation in biotechnology - learning through networks? Part 4 Network forms of organizations: the network organization in theory and practice
  • fragments of a cognitive theory of technological change and organizational structure
  • small-firm networks
  • on the limits of a firm-based theory to explain business networks - the Western bias of neoclassical economics
  • the organization of business networks in the United States and Japan. Conclusion: making network research relevant to practice.

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