Business in Networks

This book is a major outcome from a programme of business research that has stretched over the past thirty years. The aim of the book is to set out as simply as possible the ideas that have developed from this research and what they mean for the study and practice of business. The book seeks to explain what happens in the complex networks of companies in which business takes place. The book provides an overview of the process of business interaction and an explanation of how companies work with each other interactively in business networks. The book draws conclusions about the way that business evolves and develops and about how companies can operate effectively in an interactive world. The book is illustrated throughout by case examples drawn from our research.This seminal book, based on 30 years of research, provides a radical insight into the reality of the business landscape and the operations and management of companies within it. The book challenges orthodox ideas of the business market and business management and presents a comprehensive analysis of the structure and process of business and the tasks that managers and policy-makers face.§§Business in Networks is strongly grounded in empirical research and illustrated throughout with case examples. The book analyses the complex network of interdependencies that exist between companies and which determine their characteristics. It fully analyses the process of interaction through which companies and networks evolve and are transformed. Specifically, the book thoroughly examines the following:§ The dynamics and interrelatedness of the business landscape§ Interaction as the basic business process§ Business development in time and network space§ The nature of management in an interactive world§ The implications for policy-makers of the networked business landscape§§This book is essential reading for all those interested in understanding the complex business world. This includes academics and their students taking advanced courses on managing in business networks at MSc, MBA and executive education level, managers operating in business companies, and those involved in industrial policy.§§The authors are central researchers within the international IMP (Industrial Marketing and Purchasing) Group (impgroup.org). The empirical and conceptual research work of the Group is widely used by academics and managers throughout the world.