Economics of Interfirm Networks

Firms produce an increasing part of their value added in networks. Therefore, managing the boundaries of the firm is essential to the success of such interfirm networks. It has become obvious that firms as well as networks need rules for good governance. Developing and enforcing these rules is one of the tasks of the network management, which is one of the prerequisites for successfully operating networks. In this volume, well-known economists and organization research scholars analyze the many facets of interfirm cooperation.Foreword
1. The Rationale for interfirm networks
Oliver Williamson: Networks - Organizational Solutions to future challenges - Thomas Straubhaar: Globalization and cooperative business strategies - Jacques Santer: The Cooperative Initiative: A Constituting Element of the European Economy
2. The formation of interfirm networks
Thomas Malone: The IT-Shaped Organization - Arnold Picot: Characteristics of virtual networks - Stefan Klein: The Cooperatives' Advantage: Stabilizing in a Changing World
3. Governance structures in interfirm networks
Marco Becht: The Importance of Good Governance - Theresia Theurl: Between Corporate and Cooperative Governance - Helmut Dietl: Cooperative Net Governance: Organizing professional sports leagues
4. Managing the boundaries in interfirm networks
Jörg Sydow: Forming and Managing networks - Tage Skjoett-Larsen: Problems of Creating Inter-Organizational Value Chains - Holger Kern: Slicing the Value Chain - Retail banking in the 21st century