TY - CHAP
T1 - Foreword
AU - Capaldo, Antonio
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Alliance networks are increasingly important strategic weapons available to firms in their attempts to gain competitive advantages. Therefore, the management of alliance networks should occupy a preeminent position on the agenda of both academics and practitioners in the strategy field. Our knowledge of alliance network management is still underdeveloped, however, and research efforts that shed light on them are particularly welcomed. Sroka and Hittmar contribute in such a direction with their book that, while building on the extant scholarly literature on strategic alliances and interorganizational networks, is primarily aimed at offering to practicing managers insights on the alliance network management process.
In the following, I will briefly frame alliance network management in the context of the strategy debate over the last decades. I will argue that exploring alliance network management and related (inter)organizational processes and capabilities has the potential to, on the one hand, allow firms to deal more effectively with network-based forms of competition, while, on the other hand, adding to our understanding of the sources of firm heterogeneity and competitive advantage, thus generating significant implications for strategy theorists and practitioners alike.
AB - Alliance networks are increasingly important strategic weapons available to firms in their attempts to gain competitive advantages. Therefore, the management of alliance networks should occupy a preeminent position on the agenda of both academics and practitioners in the strategy field. Our knowledge of alliance network management is still underdeveloped, however, and research efforts that shed light on them are particularly welcomed. Sroka and Hittmar contribute in such a direction with their book that, while building on the extant scholarly literature on strategic alliances and interorganizational networks, is primarily aimed at offering to practicing managers insights on the alliance network management process.
In the following, I will briefly frame alliance network management in the context of the strategy debate over the last decades. I will argue that exploring alliance network management and related (inter)organizational processes and capabilities has the potential to, on the one hand, allow firms to deal more effectively with network-based forms of competition, while, on the other hand, adding to our understanding of the sources of firm heterogeneity and competitive advantage, thus generating significant implications for strategy theorists and practitioners alike.
KW - alliance network management
KW - firm heterogeneity
KW - relational capabilities
KW - alliance network management
KW - firm heterogeneity
KW - relational capabilities
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/36810
M3 - Foreword/postscript
SN - 978-3-642-34245-5
T3 - SPRINGERBRIEFS IN BUSINESS
SP - 1
EP - 6
BT - Management of Alliance Networks
ER -