New venture acquiring position in an existing network

This paper deals with a small Italian company in the automotive business attempting to enter an existing business network in order to sell cars in the Italian market. The analysis focuses on the process of embedding the new venture in an existing business network and on the interaction strategies such embedding requires between the businesses involved. We identify and discuss the critical issues a new venture faces as a new entrant in developing a position in the relevant network. Drawing on an empirical case regarding the development of a distribution network, we discuss how firm’s development strategy is always contingent on the involvement of external actors and their resources and activities. This paper contributes to the discussion on strategizing by analysing the interactive nature of strategizing at the actors level and by focusing on an overlooked case of strategizing, namely when a new venture tries to acquire a position in an existing network. We argue that strategy development in business networks is dependent on other actors co-operating in creating new solutions and conceding space to the new entrant.