STRATEGIC NETWORKS Ranjay Gulati, Nitin Nohria, Akbar Zaheer ...

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generating resources would not only include elements such as brands, technologicalcapabilities, management talent, and so forth, but would also include the networkresources or social capital of the firms. The relationships a firm has are a unique andinimitable asset. Both the specific network to which a firm belongs and also its relativelocation in that network are likely to be important. Firms whose relationships allow themto occupy a more central place in the strategic networks they are a part of enjoy superiorreturns because of access to better information and opportunities than those firms that aremore peripheral.A network perspective is also useful to strategy scholars who focus on contractingand governance issues and how these choices influence firm performance. A networkperspective suggests that both contracting and coordinating costs can be influenced byviewing each transaction as simply an event in an evolving network of relationships. Anew transaction with someone with whom one has a history of prior relationships or whohas ties with others to whom one is also connected poses far lower transaction andcoordination costs than might be expected within a more traditional analysis.Finally, we also showed the promise of a network perspective in the dynamics orevolution of firms and industries over time. There has been a great deal of attention paidrecently to how disruptive technologies or other shocks can alter the competitivelandscape of industries over time. A network perspective can provide important insightsto better comprehend these dynamics because they provide a way of understanding why24
some firms get locked-in and why others get locked-out of old and new dominantdesigns.Our objective in this brief recapitulation of the themes and ideas we haveadvanced in this paper is to show the enormous promise that lies in incorporating adeeper understanding of strategic networks into the mainstream of strategy research. Thepoints of opportunity we have identified are but the tip of the iceberg. We believe thereis much more to be learned by adopting such a relational perspective in strategy research.The papers in this special issue are a great illustration of the insights that can be gainedby adopting such a perspective. We hope this paper will provide a further impetus forthis growing body of research.In an oft-cited volume titled, Fundamental Issues in Strategy Research (Rumelt,Schendel and Tecce, 1994) the authors laid out a research agenda for the field to pursue.There are many promising paths identified that have since been much discussed. We hopeto extend this comprehensive agenda by proposing that another important direction forstrategy research lies in adopting a relational or network perspective. This not onlyconstitutes an independent research agenda in its own right but cuts across many of thethemes that are fundamental to past and present strategy research.25
Page 1 and 2: STRATEGIC NETWORKS 1Ranjay Gulati,
Page 3 and 4: source of both opportunities and co
Page 5 and 6: process, all of which have signific
Page 7 and 8: are sometimes spelled out in formal
Page 9 and 10: performance. Furthermore, network c
Page 11 and 12: within the firm for these valuable
Page 13 and 14: how firms benefit not just from the
Page 15 and 16: there is clear support for the econ
Page 18 and 19: y the threat of US and European tra
Page 20 and 21: When RISC “won” the UNIX wars,
Page 22 and 23: learning quickly and bailing out. B
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Page 28 and 29: Gomes-Casseres, Benjamin (1994).
Page 30 and 31: Kogut, B. (1988) "Joint ventures: T
Page 32 and 33: Richardson, G.B. (1972). ‘The org
Page 34: Zukin, S., and Dimaggio, P. (1990).

STRATEGIC NETWORKS Ranjay Gulati, Nitin Nohria, Akbar Zaheer ...

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