Cooperative Strategy and Networks

Introduction

The basic question in strategy is ‘why do some firms succeed and others fail?’ Our usual and traditional answer to this essential question has been explained by the fact that successful firms have developed a competitive advantage. A challenge with this expression, and with the basic strategy question, is that the unit of analysis is an individual firm. Yet, today we know that more and more firms depend on relationships to others; firms are interdependent, not independent.

Taking interdependence as the fundamental starting point for the understanding of business performance has a number of significant implications. Rather than focusing on individual firm competitive advantage, we need to acknowledge cooperative advantage in relationships and networks.

Course content

Day 1:

• Introduction to the Relational View and Business Networks
• The concepts of interaction, relationships and networks.
• Actors, Resources and Activities
• Knowledge and value creation
• The Actor dimension

Day 2:

• The Resource dimension
• The Activity dimension

Day 3

• Business relationships and trust

Day 4:

• Different network perspectives
• Summary